2019 Reviews – Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (Part 2 of 2)

The franchise finally did something with Poe Dameron and I was happy about that. I’d imagined him being a smarmy rich-boy, and an ace pilot for the new Republic, who followed Leia when the Resistance was formed. But apparently, he has a past as a scoundrel, running spice with bounty hunters. His past is a bit too similar to Han Solo and Cassian Andor for my liking, but at least it’s something. Until now, all I knew about Poe Dameron was that he was good at flying, and couldn’t follow (non)-orders if Admiral Holdo was in command, so this is certainly an improvement.

Finn actually made me laugh in this movie – when Poe gets shot by a Stormtrooper on the First Order Star Destroyer, I just knew Finn was going to scream out Poe’s name in panic… and he did, even louder than I’d anticipated. Finn is really like a child, that exists in these movies to scream out “REY!” and “POE!” when his friends are in trouble, and yell out “YAHOO!” when he shoots a Stormtrooper or something else good happens. It’s such a shame, Finn had a shot to be a great Star Wars character; set up as a defective Stormtrooper, who had that awesome stoush with Kylo Ren and held a lightsaber in Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Since then, despite it being a well-known fact that Stormtroopers are mostly manipulated child slaves, and he was one of them, Finn goes around shooting them at will, and gladly celebrating. It’s not even unique that Finn was able to break First Order programming anymore, because Jannah (Naomi Ackie) and her band of horsemen did it too. After three movies, Finn is basically still just following after Rey, even though it’s clear that she has moved on, wrapped up in Kylo Ren and their private drama. It infuriated me that Finn wasn’t made more heroic in the last movie, now it’s just funny.

Also, apparently Jedi force-ghosts are extremely lazy; apparently, they have the ability to catch a flung lightsaber and raise X-Wings out of oceans, but they can’t help the Resistance in combat. Hey, since Qui-Gon Jinn is supposedly the first force-ghost, why didn’t he tag along with Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars movie, and just mess with the Death Star landing bay doors so our heroes could escape with Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi never had to die? When this movie shows us that characters have abilities without explaining how they suddenly exist, it only raises questions of the previous work (it’s the same as Rey’s force-healing that I mentioned in Part 1 – maybe Qui-Gon Jinn didn’t help Obi-Wan Kenobi on the Death Star, because as he was bleeding to death in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, he was really thinking, “Padawan Kenobi, if you’d just focused more, you could have mastered force-heal, and you could be saving me right now. One day the last Jedi is going to master this technique in a year of dodgy training, and you’re yet to obtain force-heal attending Jedi Temple, where you’ve trained since you were a child”). Since force-ghosts can now physically interact with the natural world, how cool would it have been if Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker all appeared as force-ghosts to help Rey take on the Emperor in the final battle? Yoda can summon lightning in the previous movie; it would have been epic. Instead, all these characters can do is appear as voice cameos to help Rey feel like she’s part of a community; that’s great, but a Sith can literally cheat death, help a sister out! This is the only thing that really bugged me about this movie, because I had a quick look at the voice cameos, and on top of hearing Yoda, Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker, we also hear Mace Windu, and Adi Gallia, Aalya Secura and Luminara Unduli – three of the most noticeable female Jedi of the prequel trilogy (there’s also Kanan Jarrus and Ahsoka Tano in there, but again, the cartoons aren’t my bag). I feel like I’ve been more than understanding of Disney’s agenda to diversify Star Wars and be more inclusive of women, but as far as I’m aware, there were only five Jedi that were able to transcend the force, the first five I mentioned, so I don’t know how the other Jedi are showing up now, and I don’t know why only female Jedi are showing up to support Rey on her big day. Where is Ki-Adi-Mundi, who actually spoke in the prequel trilogy, where the three girls did not? Where’s Kit Fisto, or Plo Koon, or Saesee Tinn? Where’s that green cone-headed bloke who jumps the gun in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, tries to attack the Geonosian balcony too early and gets pathetically cut down by Jango Fett? Where’s Yaddle?! For this movie to cherry-pick the franchise canon for a moment of sexist pandering is gross, but I shouldn’t have expected anything more. This movie is so preoccupied with being virtuous, that it doesn’t stop to think if its tactless, even down to the fact that Maz Kanata finally gives Chewbacca a medal for heroism (hooray!), but its amidst celebration while the Resistance is returning and hugging their friends that didn’t die. I’m sure Chewbacca is ecstatic, but also thinking “C’mon Maz, time and place. Let’s wait for a proper ceremony”. I like to think of Maz Kanata running through the forest with a bag of medals handing them out to everybody like orange slices at a little league game. Unless the medal is supposed to be Han’s original medallion, and Leia was holding it, then Chewbacca is merely receiving a second-hand heirloom from his dead friends, and Kanata is choosing a moment of joy to break the news…

This movie just continually makes problems for itself. There’s no explanation to where Lando Calrissian has been for two movies, so when he finally shows up and all the characters are honoured to see him, I wanted them to question him – why hasn’t he been helping his old friends and aiding the Resistance that was almost annihilated in the last movie. So often this movie falls back on the feels instead of actually dealing with what is going on – our heroes are humbled by Lando Calrissian but they don’t know him like we do. We know he is great, and we know Leia is great, so we don’t need the movie to remind us how great she is about four times – Poe is like “I’m not as good as Leia”, and Finn says something like “yeah, you aren’t” – all these moments made me do was reflect on how Leia hasn’t really done much in this trilogy; I know actress Carrie Fisher had her trouble on set for the last movie, and she was tragically unavailable for this movie, but don’t constantly tell us how amazing she is when she shows up half way through Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, is in a coma for most of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, and passes on halfway through this movie. Apparently, Leia is able to train pupils to be Jedis too – I don’t think so; I don’t know, but I don’t think so. I think it’s cool that Leia has got her own lightsaber and I’m sure Luke showed her a technique or two, but way to shoehorn a skillset into the movie that she’s never been seen to have. Since Luke died in the last movie, that’s like firing the chef and getting the maître d’ to cook. I like that she force-connects to Ben though, because Leia certainly does have an understanding of her force sensitivity. I think Leia was used very well when she was on screen, with the limited footage they had. Rest in Peace, Carrie Fisher. I don’t think I would have included Lando Calrissian in the movie until the mega-fleet of allies at the very end; give all his parts to Maz Kanata, so she can actually do something in this trilogy after talking the talk in the first movie, and being on a separate mission in the last one. It would make more sense for her to simply show up in the middle nowhere, due to her roguish lifestyle, than sudden friend-of-the-Resistance Calrissian, popping up to help Rey and Finn.

I have hardly felt the need to mention Kylo Ren, and I think it’s because the movie doesn’t know what to do with him either. I know Adam Driver has had a busy 2019 schedule, and perhaps that’s why Kylo Ren has such a minimalist role I honestly can’t remember a single thing he says in this movie and I’d like a count on his lines of dialogue actually. Palpatine takes over as the main villain of this movie right at the beginning; I guess since Ren declared a strong desire to “kill the past” in the last movie, he doesn’t really fit in that much, in this safe mix of nostalgia. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be believable that Palpatine would want Kylo Ren to run his organisation, before Palpatine later goes on to offer it to Rey – Palpatine is not one to give up his powers, and I don’t see him picking the conflicted son of a Skywalker if he were to do so; and not one who is more whiny and less gifted than the chosen one, Anakin. Ren has a visit from dead Han Solo and for five minutes after I kept thinking, “where have I seen this before and absolutely hated it?” – it was in Batman v Superman, where Clarke Kent climbs Mt. Everest to share a conversation with Jonathan Kent. I hated that, and always thought for the impact of Kent’s father’s death to matter, it needs to be unchangeable. At least Han Solo makes it clear that he’s only repeating what Kylo Ren already knows in his memory, and he’s not adding anything new, so it’s not as bad. And who are the Knights of Ren? They didn’t strike me as anything more than Kylo Ren’s drinking buddies.

Disney inspired our imaginations with the announcement of a completely new Star Wars sequel trilogy in 2012, but unfortunately our imagination wasn’t matched by their creative team. How anyone plans to make an organized three-part narrative on existing material without a key plan is beyond me; I dare to say it’s yet to be done. Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker seems like a project that was boxed into a corner after the previous anti-climactic Episode. It has to create its own dramatic story on the fly, and what results is completely underwhelming. What made the original trilogy great, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe at Disney for that matter, is not a reliance on nostalgia, sensationalism or political agenda, but characters and world-building. From day one, I’d say Disney placed their importance on replicating the Star Wars feels, over continuing on the Star Wars story. Earlier this year I gave Terminator: Dark Fate a 4/5 rating, because I had fun with it, understanding that the franchise’s best punches were well behind it. Maybe it’s time to consider Star Wars bankrupt as well, and drastically decrease anticipation for any future projects that come out of this western fantasy in space. But, Disney made a squillion dollars and kept us intrigued with new Star Wars for the best part of 7 years – this is the longest review I’ve ever written, and there are countless videos on YouTube surrounding the intricacies of Disney Star Wars; it’s surely kept us occupied! It seems like new Star Wars wasn’t made for me, and I hope it made some little girls happy, as it seems like Star Wars has been skewed for them. Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker probably hits me too close to the chest right now, and time will consolidate my true feelings on this trilogy, be it more favourable than it is now or otherwise. As this trilogy finds its place in history, I’m sure parts of me will assimilate, but the fact that I can nitpick this movie so readily is not a good indication for the future. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is just not the cohesive or sophisticated ending I was hoping for, to this preestablished faltering trilogy.

2.5