The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once more as Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron's journey continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle commences.
This Star Wars franchise has seemed to suffer from the prospect of diminishing returns; each film trilogy that was released seemed to get worse and worse. Even the widely praised Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, did little to raise expectations heading into this one. I had yet to care about a single Star Wars film since Disney took over; as a franchise, characters have since been introduced faster than they were removed (and rarely developed), and have shown no creativity at all in its stories.
I regret to report that The Rise of Skywalker is a disappointment.
Now, let's come out and say that if you have enjoyed The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, then this is much of the same, and you will probably enjoy it. Also, if you have young children that are excited by anything that involves lightsabers, spaceships, and pod racing, then they will likely enjoy this too. For my own tastes, however, when I stay up to watch a 12.01am screening on opening day, I want a story that keeps me engaged and makes me fear for the characters' safety. Instead, I would find myself nonplussed if the Empire succeeded and wiped out all of the rebel scum.
The Rise of Skywalker is an absolute muddled mess of characters. As this is the culmination of 9-ish films, and a Disney film, you can pretty much expect an appearance from every single notable character in the saga that still lives (and perhaps some aren't--thanks, technology...). This unnecessary need that Disney has to insert every character and every cute animal it can into the film (one would assume to try and rack up those nostalgia and merchandising points) ends up throwing a wrench in the works, with the fractured story structure jumping from scene to scene and character to character. Yes, we love seeing new planets and new characters, but we also need to stick around them long enough for there to be some form of character development. Without character development, the audience cannot relate to the characters, and without this level of empathy or sympathy, we don't care what happens on the screen.
Too many characters also mean there is physically very little time to actually be spent on a story, as the focus jumps around to allow characters to be introduced and reintroduced. The sheer quantity of introductions take up time and in the end, very little actually happen in this 142-minute long film. Just a very simple "we need to find *insert bad guy name* and destroy the *insert planet-destroying device*" plot that show absolutely no creativity from this screenplay from J. J. Abrams and Chris Terrio. It's simply frustrating to watch because this film involves characters that we have cared about before.
Rey does get some development, thankfully, and the conflict between her and Kylo Ren is the most enticing thing about the film. Everything else is a complete waste of screentime. The threats have grown so large that the ending is too predictable and effectively requires a MacGuffin, which is lazy writing.
The Rise of Skywalker--from a production standpoint--is perfectly fine. It is well shot, looks great, has some adequate cinematography, a soundtrack that--albeit lacklustre--sounds like a Star Wars soundtrack. It is simply too safe. The film makes it clear early on that any danger the protagonists may be in is simply staged to look hazardous, but there is never any risk to the characters. There are no true obstacles; it is a basic A to B scenario. If I'm not enthralled during a giant epic space battle because I fear for the characters lives, then I'm yawning. If I see someone die, I'm not in tears or upset, I'm guessing how long it will be before they return. There is no sense of permanence when it comes to death of main characters, and it turns The Rise of Skywalker into a joke.
When the opening studio credits came up on scream, the audience cheered. When the yellow text started to scroll, the audience was shrieking in anticipation, and then...there was silence for the remainder of the film (with the exception of two moments that got some cheers). Even as the film concluded, there was no standing ovation from this theatre of super fans in cosplay, there was no applause at all, really. Just murmurs of an unsure audience. The nostalgia has truly worn off. The repeated jokes and references to quotes from previous films, the score that mimics classic scores in a new style, the inclusion of older characters who have practically no role in the story at all apart from existing, they did nothing to excite the audience. No longer nostalgia, it is now tired and overdone.
I sincerely hope that this isn't the end of the Star Wars films. I hope now that the Skywalker Saga is complete, that we can get some fresh stories with some new insight. Star Wars needs its own version of DC's Joker. It can have female characters, it can have diversity, but for the love of cinema-god please let it have a good story with well-developed characters too. They aren't mutually exclusive.
The Rise of Skywalker isn't bad. Don't get me wrong. It's just incredibly bland and safe.