The Rise of Skywalker, the third proper entry in the Disney iteration of the hallowed Star Wars franchise, or its ninth “episode” depending on how much you care about this kind of thing, is a bit of an odd duck. Creatively a bit compromised from the outset, The Rise of Skywalker faced numerous challenges before making it to the big screen, both tragic (star Carrie Fisher’s death), necessitated (the firing of initial director Colin Trevorrow), and reactionary (fan furor over the Rian Johnson’s preceding The Last Jedi). With LucasFilm head Kathleen Kennedy navigating so many choppy waters, and the outright failures of the “Star Wars Story” spinoffs, it’s no wonder she returned to the steady hand of JJ Abrams, he who brought the franchise roaring back to life in the first place with the triumphant The Force Awakens. His return was seen as an opportunity to get things back to the median, and to close out the saga of Rey, Kylo Ren and others in a grand fashion, just as it started.
The biggest risk, of course, in this kind of scenario is the potential for overcorrection; the idea that the preceding entry was far too radical that its revelations would need to be walked back zealously and reductively in an approach that veers towards the sort of “made by committee” filmmaking of the consistent but bland Marvel Studios. In truth, The Last Jedi was both revelatory and prosaic in equal measure. Severely overpraised by its adherents, and drug through the mud by those who felt as though it ruined the franchise (an ongoing complaint among the Star Wars faithful when their favorite toys are dented even remotely), The Last Jedi was a perfectly serviceable film that attempted to toss in a few new ideas into a fairly dusty franchise, at its best.
But there’s something about the image of a zombified Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDirmond), resurrected from the dead and ordering Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) around, that acts as a better metaphor than one possibly could have imagined. Rather than letting old things die, they’re being resurrected and utilized to stuff a few other genies back in the bottle too…for better or worse.
You see, the Emperor, attached to a pretty neat looking Giger-esque device that’s keeping him going, and stationed on what is basically the home planet of the Sith, has been the guy calling the shots all along. That guy in Kylo’s head? The Emperor. Snoke? The Emperor’s doing. And now he offers the former Ben Solo the opportunity to build his own Empire, utilizing an incredible fleet that the Emperor has been amassing since his fall. All he has to do? Kill Rey (Daisy Ridley), and the “Final Order” will commence.
At the same time, Rey is training under General Leia (Fisher) to “truly earn” Luke’s (Mark Hamill) lightsaber, opening with a bit of a tossaway sequence constructed to make best use of the footage of Fisher they have on hand. While Rey is dealing with more esoteric concerns, Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac), and Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) continue the dirty work of fighting the First Order, and they learn that there is a spy within their enemy’s ranks. But their small victory is short-lived, as through that intel, they discover that the Emperor has returned. At that point, it becomes a race to get doodads here and other doodads there, so they can find the planet, in order to set up the inevitable confrontation of Jedi vs. Sith – what it always boils down to.
It’s funny, for all the compliments the preceding film gets for its daring sense of ideas (did you know there isn’t just white and black? There’s also grey???), it’s actually Rise of Skywalker that I think produces the most interesting thematic throughline; the idea that your enemies thrive by making you think you’re alone in your ideals, but in reality, you outnumber them. That can be read a few different ways, and surely will be, but it smartly turns the ho-hum final note of The Last Jedi on its head and eventually into a rallying cry. Screenwriter Chris Terrio, who you might remember as the writer of the somewhat daring, somewhat idiotic Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, doesn’t quite address any of the hazy realpolitik of the universe, but he does at least give it just enough lip service that viewers can at least come to understand how those not representing one these two warring sides are affected in a larger sense. And from there, provides Poe with more character development and a greater three-dimensional nature than he’s had this entire series. He has a back story! And a kinda-sorta love interest! Played by Keri Russell no less!
Finn, sadly, does not fare as well. On the bright side, he’s no longer saddled with a go-nowhere romance with Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran, who takes a deep backseat in this film), but on the other hand, he just returns to his puppy dog affection for Rey and gets very little else to do. It’s a shame, of all the new characters, Finn as a reformed Stormtrooper had the most promising potential arc. But as it turns out, he was cool idea that they didn’t know what else to do with.
And then there’s Rey and Kylo, easily the most successful characters of the entire trilogy. They are once again intrinsically linked and in regular communicado, though with a good deal less understanding of one another. As you may have ascertained, Rey’s past once again plays a major role here, and there is some level of decision making that will deeply anger some fans, particularly as it quickly becomes the backbone of the film. While the revelations on hand are less severe than expected, it does speak to a sense of pacifying those fans who felt out of step with previous decision-making, and it’s difficult to not grimace a bit at the wrenching effort to get there. But Kylo? Easily the most gracefully handled character throughout, and the final turns of his arc are artfully handled, anchored by another sterling performance from Driver.
But, this is a film, as with all entries of this series, one of set pieces. And to be frank, The Rise of Skywalker is littered with them just by virtue of the non-stop “fetch questing” that our heroes must go on. The script is so overstuffed with mythos, mystical items, and other side tangents, that it becomes one of the most bewildering experiences I’ve had within this universe. I knew once a mystical dagger was involved, trouble was brewing, and even as someone who has a Masters in Gobbledegook, I was getting completely lost in the weeds. On top of that, and this is where my disappointment in the film is perhaps clearest, the action is rather boring. While The Force Awakens was often tagged for its strict adherence to the structure of A New Hope, it still applied a beautiful new sheen with wide open vistas that made a viewer feel like they were sucked deeply into its various crevices and outerspace dog fights. But here? Everything just looks like a mess with no real definition of surroundings, and at points, my brain just turned off until the talking resumed. That’s not to say the film lacks for beauty, as the widest of wide-screen Abrams we know and love does creep out in scenes on the Sith homeworld and in a really lovely coastal planet visit towards the film’s middle. But everything else is drawn toward interior spaces, cramped hallways, and a small gathering space in the jungle. While it leaves you wondering if Abrams was attempting something different from his last effort, it just gives off a more claustrophobic vibe than something with the Star Wars label on the tin.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a messy, troubled film that offers just as much good as bad. It has far too much on its mind and is deeply concerned with the need for perceived course-correction for the franchise. While its flaws are evident, it never quite derails, and its high points pull it back from the brink that it’s continually threatening to careen off of, with each misguided idea quickly being replaced by something a bit more thrilling. It’s not the exceptional closer to the sequel trilogy that we all hoped for, but it gets the job done.