REVIEW:  Star Wars Episode IX:  The Rise Of Skywalker (Chris)

Is The Rise of Skywalker perfect? No. Not by a WIDE margin. It's pretty far from perfect. Few movies are, but it's more than that. I'm not going to lie. The Rise of Skywalker gets downright hokey at times almost to the point of being laughable, but, as I've said many times, a bunch of teddy bears taking down a mechanized legion of the Emperor's best troops is also laughable. Sometimes you just need to move past these things. In the afterglow of seeing The Last Jedi I wrote that I liked it. Liked it a lot, as a matter of fact. I wish I could have a do over on that one. Each subsequent watch of that movie made the warts surface more and more to the point where I now consider it a legitimately bad movie. So I'm nervous that I'm suffering from that same afterglow effect right now when I say the following: I didn't like The Rise of Skywalker. I loved it.

I lived through the Original Trilogy from ages 5 through 10, having first seen A New Hope in 1978. At times during The Rise of Skywalker I felt 10 years old again. I haven't felt that way once since 1999, which is another reason why I'm worried that my enthusiasm is premature. I felt that way after seeing The Phantom Menace the first time, but eventually that movie would break my heart just as everything in the Skywalker Saga has done since 1983. To that point about heartbreak, I was following the spoilers pretty closely. If TROS would also break my heart, reading it via the spoilers felt like the lesser blow, and it certainly seemed the case. Form the spoilers, this movie seemed terrible, but I always caveated that with the fact that it really depended upon the execution. Those spoilers you've read are mostly true insomuch as some are half truths since they present an incomplete picture. If you were considering staying away from this movie due to the spoilers, don't. Go see it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how it unfolds. They done good.

Finally, if you hear from anyone that I was watching through tears at times, THAT'S A LIE! I kept getting things in my eyes.

*** SPOILERS AHEAD ***

If you haven't seen the movie, stop here. Otherwise keep scrolling past the image.



As mentioned above in the spoiler free section, I'm not going to lie. The first act of The Rise of Skywalker is hokey, clunky and rushed. A certain ginger First Order spy gets word to the Resistance that Emperor Palpatine is on the planet Exegol in the unknown regions, and that he was planning to obliterate the Resistance in 16 hours with his secret, massive and world killing Sith Fleet. Yes, seriously. The Emperor has the capacity to obliterate the Resistance, but like Dr. Evil, he's not going to do it now. He'll wait the exact amount of time necessary for the Resistance to mount a counter. Even when the First Order learns that they have a spy in their ranks, they still don't decide to step up the attack. They'll do it in 16 hours, damn it. It must have been a big TV night on Exegol.

Upon hearing the name "Exegol", Rey realizes that she is familiar with the name from the journals she secreted away from Ahch-To. It turns out that Luke Skywalker was wise to the fact that Papa Palpatine was still alive and was trying to track him down, and had figured out most of the path. Apparently this was the b-plot to Luke reforming the Jedi Order even though it seems like it should have been the a-plot. This is where The Rise of Skywalker gets its silliest, and almost lost me. The crew of the Millenium Falcon, which includes the new big 3, Chewie, 3PO, BB-8 and eventually D-0, then embarks on an artifact hunt that is National Treasure meets Goonies in space. A Sith Knife leads to a Sith Wayfinder which shows the path to Exegol. The Sith Knife is actually reclaimed by the First Order and Rey senses she needs to retrieve it from Kylo Ren's quarters on his capital ship. While there, Ren confronts Rey through their Force bond, and The Rise of Skywalker's first big shoe drops. While Rey's parents were indeed nobodies, by choice, her grandfather was kind of a big deal. You may have heard of him: Emperor Palpatine. It helps to explain why Rey started her Jedi path on 3rd base, but this power is also a curse should she be unable to control it.

The Sith Knife literally acts like One-Eyed Willy's doubloon in Goonies to point out the location of the Sith Wayfinder on the remnants of the second Death Star in the Endor system. Fortunately the Death Star crashed exactly the right distance from the shore to make the perspective work. At least in TROS they didn't have a map written in Spanish that, when translated, rhymed in English. Corey Feldman must have been busy. It's at this point in the story where the "whiskey tango foxtrot" plot points fade away and the movie finds its legs. It's also when the feels start to get battered.

Kylo Ren tracks Rey to this location where upon he pitches his Darkside team up plan once again, this time to take out Palpatine. She declines and a fairly engaging lightsaber duel ensues. Rey even employs a reverse grip like Ahsoka at one point. It was a neat subtle nod. Kylo appears to get the drop on the scavenger when Leia calls out through the Force to her son. It freezes him in his tracks which allows Rey to run him through, but she can't commit to the act, and uses the Force to heal Kylo. The exertion of using this Force call causes Leia to die and both Kylo and Rey sense it. It you are an OT fan and the death of Princess Leia doesn't leave you a somewhat quivering mess, you have no soul. Rey is clearly broken by her death and escapes with Kylo's TIE Silencer. At this point, Kylo has a discussion with the memory of his father. If your eyes stopped sweating from Princess Leia's death at this point, they might stark leaking again with this scene. The combination of his mother's intervention and the memory of his father brings Ben Solo back to the light. This might be one of the meanings of the title.

Meanwhile, Rey has retreated to Ahch-To to become a recluse like her former Master. Rey destroys Kylo's Silencer to ensure her life of seclusion. As her final act of rejecting the Jedi path, she tosses Luke's lightsaber into the burning wreckage. A hand emerges from the flames and catches the saber before it is destroyed. A decidedly shimmering ghost of Luke Skywalker emerges from the flames and delivers Rey the pep talk she needs to snap here out of her brief "Superman 3 barfly" phase. Luke is optimistic and positive, and for many OT diehards, this all we needed out of the ST. Why Disney waited until the franchise had lost half of its relevance to deliver this is beyond me. The New Hope reminds the Last Hope that she's gone into hiding over fear, and every Jedi must face their fears as part of their journey. She has everything she needs. The Wayfinder is still in Kylo's burning Silencer. She has transport, that is once Luke raises Red 5 from the seabed floor. Finally she has the Skywalker family lightsaber...and a second lightsaber, that of Princess Leia who Luke had been training as shown in a flashback (this helps sooth the jarring Mary Poppins scene in The Last Jedi). She is to take both to confront the Emperor. Rey is off to Exegol in Red 5 while transmitting the Byzantine course back to the Resistance to follow.

The tattered Resistance fleet lead by acting General Poe Dameron heads off to Exegol with his newly commissioned General of the ground forces, Finn. Old friends Lando Calrissian and Chewbacca head off in the Millennium Falcon to round up the calvary of sympathetic forces which Lando insists exists. Back on the surface of Exegol, Rey begins her final encounter with her grandfather, who I personally believe to be a reanimated corpse and not a clone, or meant to represent the surviving form of Palpatine. He says Rey must strike him down at which point his spirit will join hers, and she will assume her rightful role as Empress Palpatine. As instructed she draws the Skywalker family saber to strike him down. She draws it back behind her head. As her arm moves forward we see...that her hand is empty! It's the old Statue of Liberty play! She has allowed an onrushing Ben Solo to Force pull the saber toward him. Now armed, Ben dispatches the Knights of Ren with great alacrity. Together they prepare to charge the Frankenstein Emperor. But together, they form something unknowingly powerful. They are a dyad in the Force. Two who are one. It's the power of life itself, which Palpatine manages to draw upon to fully resurrect his physical form, and he appears more powerful than ever to the point that he no longer needs Rey. He'll just rule the Sith Empire himself. This wasn't Palpatine's plan at the onset. It was a surprise. For him, a real nice surprise.

I don't remember the exact order of events, but Palps Force pushes Ben like a rag doll into a convenient chasm in this throne room while also filling the atmosphere of Exegol with Force Lightning to disrupt the Resistance fleet. Rey is dispirited and beaten as is Poe above. That's when each receive their "Knights of the Vale" rescue. That sly Lando was being coy when he said the Resistance had allies. The Resistance had ALL the allies as we watch a fleet that dwarfs the Sith fleet jump out of hyperspace. The pilots include old friend Wedge Antilles. Here is also where one missed opportunity will haunt me for a long time. If Abrams had given us a cockpit shot of an aged Hera Syndulla saying "Spectre One standing by," I would have been a puddle on the theatre floor. Alas that was not to be. It's also at this point where the spirits of thousands of Jedi rally to Rey, and tell her to rise to include something else the ST could have used long before now. The ghostly voices conclude with Luke saying, "Remember. The Force will be with you. Always."

As the Resistance "Navy" pulverizes the Sith Fleet while General Finn and Jannah manage to destroy the command ship, Rey, with the power of all the Jedi within her, deflects Palptine's deadly lighting volley back upon him using a cross of the two Skywalker sabers. It's what Mace Windu did in Revenge of the Sith, but this Force dyad infused Palpatine appears exponentially more powerful, so instead of merely being disfigured, he is destroyed. The process also appears to kill Rey. It's at this point that Ben Solo emerges from chasm. He holds Rey in his arms and just as she had done on the shell of the Death Star, he uses Force healing to bring her back. They share the kiss that Reylos had been clamoring for as the exertion claims Ben's life. He disappears into the Force while back at the Resistance base, the body of Princess Leia does the same. His redemption allowed her soul to be at peace. That salty ocular discharge may make an appearance again at this point. I will say that a true Reylo ending would have been more emotionally impactful. There's nothing wrong with "all the happy endings". Napoleon Dynamite has all the happy endings and everyone loves that movie.

The final shot of the movie shows Rey at the Lars homestead. A passing wanderer ask Rey what her full name is. After contemplatively pausing, Rey glances upon the Force ghosts of Luke and Leia, her "parents" in the Force, and proclaims that she is Rey Skywalker.

To quote another beloved story, The Rise of Skywalker feels a bit like butter spread over too much bread. This is manifest of the fact that it's apparent that the overall narrative of the sequel trilogy was clearly not planned out form the onset. That point is pop culture criminal. They needed the "dreamer" to plan out the big picture. The Steve Jobs, if you will. Unfortunately they told him to pack sand. That will remain a criticism for the ST and one that TROS seeks to course correct, and does so satisfactorily in my opinion. So while the entirety of the ST is still a bit iffy, TROS succeeds in a vacuum. I mentioned that I felt 10 years old again. That's probably because The Rise of Skywalker is really just a new skin on the frame of Return of the Jedi. What can I say? I'm easy to please. Sometimes I'm the guy who isn't mad that Greta Van Fleet is a rip off of Led Zeppelin because I really wanted more Led Zeppelin.

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