Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Review by @Kush_Hayes
Three out of Six Blueberries - Just to help you avoid anything you may potentially think of as a spoilers.
Its safe to say that the ninth episode of the Star Wars Skywalker saga was never going to be as good as I could hope. Having said that, regardless of what I think, I hope you enjoy the newest entry into Star Wars and Ill do my best to avoid spoilers, which feels incredibly difficult.
As promised in the various promotional trailers, Emperor Palpatine has returned from the dead and has been the puppet master in everything the last two films. And unlike a very dramatic reveal, hes a main antagonist from the beginning of the film. While they give a Star Wars answer for how he was rejuvenated from a reactor core planetary meltdown - its not really clear how this seems to have always been a Plan B in his back pocket, although the only thing that is clear is he needs a proper successor to keep The Sith in power. This is where Rey and Kylo Ren come into play.
We start the movie with Ren on his mission to murder as many people as possible in order to find the GPS token that will lead him to The Emperor. And once he does hes on his quest or mission to find Rey. And despite what his orders are, he has his own agenda. Which with Palpatine being as powerful as he is, feels weird that he would overlook this feeling within Ren. Rey, on the other hand is training in the ways of The Jedi… by none other than General Leia, played by the late Carrie Fisher. We were told they had some archival footage of Fisher before her passing away in 2016, but its hard to watch. I now understand the feelings so many people expressed during Rogue One in 2016 with the Late Peter Cushing. And once Daisy Ridleys Rey learns about the GPS token, she and the gang, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac go on their own quest to find the macguffin that will lead them to their own GPS token, as there are only two in existence.
Thankfully through dumb luck the macguffin is found and has the details of the second location imprinted upon it, but unfortunately C3P0 cant decipher it because its in a a Sith Language, which of course is in his programming to censor, because the Rebellion, 40 earth years ago, didnt want their equipment translating enemy information… and we need to stretch this story out by 20 mins.
Oscar Isaac is a better performer than what he delivers in this film. And to be fair to him, theres a lot of nonsense in this movie, so I'm prepared to blame the writer of Batman V. Superman for it. John Boyega, is definitely a better performer than whats written for him, which for a third movie in a row, goes nowhere. Throughout the movie, a secret he’s carrying gets brought up, and by the end of it, without spoilers, you can guess what it was, but its never established.
Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver, continue to have exceptional chemistry together, and its Driver who helps carry the weight of the team. They manage to build upon what has been building up over three films, but its the writing again that fails this movie and its actors.
Quite frankly, Ian McDiarmid steals 90% of the scenes hes in. You feel The Emperor's evil, the direction on them are pretty fantastic, even if the motivation feels off. If I was to see this again in theaters, Id be going simply for his performance. Ultimately we do get to the end of this story and it does feel like a complete ending. There’s lots of negatives within this film, but I really do not want to risk any spoilers. JJ Abrams knows how to direct a fun action scene, but many times I found myself saying out loud “That was unnecessary” and “what was that all about?” What is supposed to be the final climax of a 40 year escapade, felt hollow and-or shoehorned. I will say theres one scene in the end, with two characters, none other than simple background extras, embracing giving more emotion within their half of a second than there is within all of this movie.
My nostalgia for Star Wars wants to enjoy this movie more.
Three out of Six Blueberries.
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