Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Okay, I should start by saying I've avoided spoilers, barely seen trailers, and set my expectations pretty low. I always say that endings are hard, and building the end of a 9-episode Star Wars sequence is a burden I wouldn't envy. It doesn't help that Episode 8 upended a lot of established content in ways that were... questionable. Where does one go from there?

With all that in mind, I think The Rise of Skywalker did okay. I don't feel betrayed or seriously let down. I also don't feel radically uplifted and into Star Wars more than before. It felt more respectful of the canon than The Last Jedi, but it couldn't totally ignore that movie either. There are a lot of references and call-backs as major series characters and threads are gathered up as best as possible to try to tie things together.

And with all that going on, things are cranked up to 11. I felt that was unnecessary, but also almost inevitable. Sequels are supposed to be "more and bigger" right?

One a technical side, it did feel rushed and crammed today. Again, I sort of feel that was unavoidable.

I'm reasonably satisfied with how things turned out. There's at least one twist I didn't guess (because it really wasn't established), but it wasn't particularly meaningful. And that's okay, you don't need hugely-impactful twists for have a decent movie. I'm a bit disappointed to not have seen Ahsoka in spite of an interview indication she might have been involved somehow (maybe her voice was there, but I didn't pick it out).

Overall it's fine. I hope Star Wars can shake off the burden of the Skywalker series now and move on to more interesting, varied, and original tales.

Comments

  1. KynElwynnDecember 28, 2019 at 12:32 AM

    Finally got around to watching it. Not.. wholly satisfied I guess. It ended. It had the redemption arc it needed to. It went in a direction I did not expect, but given what the first two films built up, I guess it had to do something different for the Big Bad and the Galaxy level threat.
    I suppose I wanted more, but have to settle for what this has been. Let us hope the new movies and series can expand the universe the way the prior books once did.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RedwolfDecember 28, 2019 at 9:03 AM

      Yeah. With both 8 and 9 I find myself liking the movies less the more I think about them. There are a lot of details that come across as unnecessary, forced, nonsensical, or disrespectful to established canon. All of that bugs me on some level.
      The last three movies really, really suffer from not having a clear vision as a unit. Even the prequels had an arc (like it or not), the last three just sort of had to deal with one another - and it shows.

      Also, whenever a series goes full-on McGuffin Quest my expectations drop radically (see Mass Effect 3).

      It didn't bother me so much in Jedi Fallen Order, though. Hmm. I wonder if that's because it was a game, because that wasn't part of a series, or because there was enough other stuff going on that the search for a holocron felt meaningful rather than like a crutch for a real story. Curious.

      Delete

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