Title - Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker
Studio - Walt Disney Pictures, Lucasfilm
Starring - Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Kelly Marie Tran, Joonas Suotamo, Billie Lourd, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Dominic Monaghan, Matt Smith, Keri Russell, Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Ian McDiarmid, Greg Grunberg
Writer - J.J. Abrams, Chris Terrio, Derek Connelly, Colin Trevorrow
Director - J.J. Abrams
Release - 20 December 2019
Where do I even begin? The most disappointing movie of 2019.
J.J. Abrams had such a great start with The Force Awakens. And while the whiners were louder than the fans of The Last Jedi, it did dampened my excitement for the saga. Still, watching it back again today, I could really see the merits of where Rian Johnson wanted to take the story and its expectations. The end of Luke in that movie was actually beautiful in its quietness, and courageous on Johnson's part. And it was actually a nice ending to old man Luke.
Abrams tried to please everyone with this movie. Obviously the fans, but also Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm's stakeholders. And that was the mistake, because you can't please everyone.
The smallest mistake he made here was using the old footage of Carrie Fisher as Leia. All her dialogue felt jarring. But given the circumstances, I would overlook these. However, had they recast her, it would have given Leia a better character arc, no doubt.
The McGuffin of the movie was that silly dagger - a dagger that contained a map but also used as a weapon. Too many conveniences surrounded the subplot of this dagger. The worse one being how it pinpointed to the Wayfinder inside the Death Star. Did no one, during the scripting, saw how stupid this idea was? It's worse than finding a needle in a haystack.
And why would anyone use this as a weapon to execute? The whole subplot of Ochi was a big mess as plotholes were everywhere, starting with his ship being left there for over a decade, to how Rey kept thinking she's encountered him before back on Jakku.
The Knights of Ren were very mistreated and very wasted, but not as much as Kelly Marie Tran's Rose who had very close to nothing to do in this movie after being one of the top bill in The Last Jedi.
John Boyega's Finn also had a bad character arc. From distracting Rey during her fight with Kylo, to never revealing what he wanted to tell Rey when close to death. This was all due to the writing of Abrams and Terrio. The duo tried to do too much with so little time.
The characters of Jannah and Zori were very unnecessary. Jannah's role should have been filled by Rose, that would have given Rose a chance to close her character arc as well.
And the biggest mishap was the revival of Palpatine. First time they revealed his reappearance I have already thought it was going to be a bad idea. I wanted Abrams to prove me wrong, and that he could write a proper story for his return. Alas, there were no explanations given after what happened to him in Return Of The Jedi. There was no fuss about his return, everyone just looked scared for a second and then moved on. But also, if nobody remembered the Jedi as setup by Abrams in The Force Awakens, then why would anyone remember Palpatine as a Sith Lord?
My biggest gripe with Abrams was that he tried to undo almost everything Johnson did in the last movie. The last straw was the mention of the "Holdo maneuver" and how that was a "one in a million" move. Why even bring this up.
But I also hated the idea that Leia's dying act was to give Chewie his medal - the medal she denied him back in A New Hope which was decades and decades ago. Can we not move on?
Still, this movie was not without positives. The best thing Abrams did was put Richard E. Grant in this movie. That was the only good addition he brought. (Even D-O was forgettable.)
Abrams also gave the Force tele-conversation from The Last Jedi a name - a Force diad. And he expanded that beautifully with Kylo trying to locate Rey. But the lightsaber thing towards the end was pushing it a little.
Speaking of pushing it, Force healing. Not because it was employed, but how it was being used and who used it. That was pushing it.
But still, as an entertainment package, this was filled with fast paced action with consistency fast pacing that never lost steam. Lightsaber fights were not as good as the previous movie but still entertaining enough. At least there were these to make it a mindless flick in the same standards as The Fast And The Furious franchise. Yes, it has come to this.
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