Soulless

Rating: 4/10 (21 December 2019)

After being disappointingly underwhelmed by The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, my excitement and anticipation for Rise of Skywalker was remote. Thanks to a gesture by a friend I was able to see the film opening night as I had no intentions of buying a ticket to see it myself.
Despite my low expectations, I was taken aback by how poor the film is. As the end credits rolled, a sinking feeling set in, that what was once a charming, charismatic, well made set of films have now become heartless, devoid of any story arc, bland and utterly soulless. The Disney trilogy as it is referenced by many is a poorly thought out set of films and Rise of Skywalker is a prime example of this.
The prequel trilogy, written and directed by George Lucas, has divided fans in a similar fashion the past, myself included, a trio of films I have mixed emotions about and I've certainly not been shy in my criticism of them. What is there in a positive sense is a clear story arc with some genuinely intense and entertaining scenes surrounded by a magnificent set of scores by the brilliant John Williams.
The Disney trilogy has none of this, with even the greatness of Williams reduced to bland and uninspired work. Rise of Skywalker, along with The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi clearly lack the atmosphere and heart the previous six films had with the Original trilogy, A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi being the best examples of world building, character arcs that are interesting and entertaining and pacing.
Rise of Skywalker, has no sense of pacing, bad acting particularly the main protagonist who is wooden and could easily receive the same criticisms prequel star Hayden Christensen received in the past.
Dreadfully written dialogue, cringe humour and zero sense of atmosphere in almost every scene. On a positive note, its special effects looks absolutely gorgeous at times, it's looks simply paper over the many cracks sadly . A film trying to appease, trying to show it has heart yet it clearly hasn't got one.
As previously stated, my expectations were low going into this film and they still managed to disappoint. A slight bewilderment of how it's got to this stage dominated my thoughts after leaving the theatre. A set of three films that had potential have been turned into a lacklustre and soulless experience. It's all desperately sad.