DISCUSSION: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker (SPOILER TALK)
The Rise of Skywalker is certainly a movie with a lot to discuss and examine. The final film in the Skywalker Saga has made many decisions which have proven to be quite polarizing. From here on out, I'll be discussing some of the most talked-about moments of the film, and what I personally think about them.
Palpatine's return
This was my biggest concern with the movie going in, how they would handle Palpatine/Darth Sidious. The answer? They do the exact same thing they did in Star Wars Legends, which I was not a fan of. He is killed by Anakin in Return of the Jedi, but instead of staying permanently dead, he finds a way to transfer his essence into another body.
I didn't like him cheating death in Legends, and I didn't like it here. It also doesn't help that the film barely glosses over how he survived, and instead focuses on how he and his legion of followers, called the Sith Eternal, created a massive fleet of thousands of star destroyers, each armed with a weapon powerful enough to destroy a planet, and plan on building a new Empire called the Final Order.
Ok. How in the hell did Sidious organize and plan all of this in the thirty years since the Battle of Endor? How is it that he was able to organize and build all of that, with the First Order rebuilding as well, without anyone noticing or Luke not sensing it?
It honestly felt extremely rushed and felt like he was written into the story at the last minute, rather than it be properly set up throughout the first two films.
Rey is a Palpatine
Like I mentioned before in my non-spoiler review, I said Rey was one of my favorite characters in the film, as I was personally invested in her character and in her journey. However, in contrast to what The Last Jedi said about her, being a nobody, this film completely retcons that by saying she is Palpatine's granddaughter.
I'm completely torn about this. On the one hand, it makes for a very interesting dynamic in the film, and leads to high emotional stakes in the film, but at the same time, it ignores one lesson from The Last Jedi that I liked, that being that anybody can become powerful in the force or become somebody from anywhere, instead of, you know, being apart of a powerful force family.
That, to me, was the biggest retcon from the previous film to this one. There were certainly lines that served as jabs towards the film, but this was by far the biggest thing that was changed from episode 8 to 9.
Also, in case you were wondering about "Dark Rey," just like I predicted, it was a vision Rey fought in the film showing what she would be like if she turned dark.
The story of Kylo
By far, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is my favorite character from the sequel trilogy, and one of my favorite characters in general. He has the best arc in all three of the films, and any scene involving him was fantastic. In the beginning of the film, he works with Palpatine but wants to backstab him, but in the end, he renounces his name Kylo Ren, and becomes Ben Solo again, fighting against Palpatine as a reborn Jedi.
While it's something we've seen with Anakin before, I think how they implement it in this film works well and is compelling to me.
One of the best scenes in the film takes place after a vicious lightsaber duel with Rey (which I will get to later). He's at his lowest point, and who comes to him, a vision of Han Solo played by Harrison Ford.
I did not expect Ford to come back at all, but it was a treat to see him, as the scene between the two was moving and compelling, and plays off their previous conversation/encounter in The Force Awakens, only this time, Han "helps" Ben shake his dark path and lead him towards the light again.
I also want to say that the dynamic between Ben and Rey in the film was great, as not only were both characters compelling together, to me, but they each had two great lightsaber scenes, including one where Kylo wins and nearly kills her. Their dynamic also allows the idea of what can be done with the force to expand beyond anything I could have imagined.
Finn and Poe's journey
As mentioned in my non-spoiler review, while I had fun with Poe and Finn in the film, they don't nearly have the same amount of care put into their stories as in past films. For Poe, he learns, once again, how to become an effective leader and Resistance member, which was displayed in the last film. For Finn, it seemed like they didn't have much for him to do in the film, other than be a part of the team-up, which again, I liked the dynamic between Rey, Poe, and Finn.
One interesting thing about Finn in the film though is that Finn, throughout the film, keeps trying to tell Rey something. He never gets to, but as an audience, we are able to piece it together that Finn is force-sensitive, which is a fan theory I had about him going as far back as The Force Awakens. I just wish the film explored this plot point more.
New characters
In my non-spoiler review, I said the new characters, Zori Bliss, Jannah, Pryde, and D-0 were fine, but felt like they were only there to serve a purpose, rather than be truly compelling.
Zori is a former love interest and spice raider with Poe, which is cool, but, that's all we really know about her. Jannah is revealed to be a part of a group of stormtroopers that defected from the First Order like Finn, which I thought was really cool, and an idea that I would like to see explored more. It's also heavily implied that she is Lando's long-lost daughter, who he lost when she was two. Pryde is a no nonsense commander who actually worked with Sidious in the Empire, and helps him in this film. D-0 is a droid of a former Jedi hunter, who helps the group.
It honestly feels like these characters were made to eventually lead to new books or comics about them in the future, which, on the one hand, I would like to read, but on the other hand, feels lazy to do after a film comes out.
Returning characters
As far as returning characters go, they are a mixed bag. Once again, Chewie is the loveable sidekick. C-3PO has a big arc in the film, in which he sacrifices his past memories in order to help the group out in finding Sidious' Sith planet. (Yeah, the whole element of finding the Sith planet of Exegol was way too convoluted for me to try and explain properly) C-3PO gets his memories back by R2-D2 at the end, who shares some nice moments with him. R2 isn't in the film a lot, which is once again disappointing to me, but he does have more screentime than in the last two films.
Luke returns as a force ghost in the movie, and his scene with Rey, similar to scenes with Ben and Luke in the original trilogy, were handled well.
And then we have Rose, who completely gets shafted and tossed to the sideline in the film, with probably less than ten minutes of screentime. Considering the amount of online bullying and harassment her actress, Kelly Marie Tran, received after The Last Jedi, a lot of people are taking issue with her reduced role in the film. Why couldn't she have gone with the group during the film, especially since there are times in the film where they could have certainly needed a mechanic like her around.
The Knights of Ren
In the film, the Knights of Ren look cool, and have a cool action sequence with Ben during the climax, but ultimately are barely in the film and serve little to no purpose before they are killed off. Remind you of anyone.........cough........Phasma..........cough.
Snoke's backstory
We actually get a backstory for Snoke in the film, though it's something I'm sure you weren't expecting. It turns out, Palpatine created Snoke to serve the purpose of reorganizing the fallen Empire into the First Order, which in turn led to Snoke turning Ben to the dark side. I actually don't mind that explanation, as it explains why we haven't gotten any backstory on him in the four years he's been introduced, and why he appears to just show up out of nowhere after Return of the Jedi. I also found it funny how there were literal failed clones of Snoke sitting in a jar, like, yeah, Snoke was always meant to be a tool.
Leia
It's obvious that Leia was originally going to have a much bigger and important role in episode nine, and that everything changed with the unfortunate passing of Carrie Fisher. It's a miracle that not only was there enough leftover footage of Leia to be in the film, but there is enough footage to finish her arc up as best as it could have been.
We find out that Leia trained as a Jedi under Luke, but gave it up to go into politics, but has now begun training Rey in Luke's absence. Once again, Carrie Fisher is magical as Leia, even if the scenes were deleted from past films.
In the end, Leia sends a message across the galaxy to reach out to her son through the force, (which stops Ren from killing Rey in their duel) which leads to Leia's passing in a similar way to Luke's death in The Last Jedi. I had a feeling Leia would die in the movie, but it was still emotional and moving to see Leia in her final moments, which helped turn her son back to the light.
Hux is a spy
An early plot point in the film shows that there is a spy in The First Order giving information about Palpatine's return to the Resistance. As it turns out, the spy is General Hux, who is promptly killed off by Pryde. It turns out, he doesn't want the Resistance to win, he just wants Kylo Ren to lose. On the one hand, I can totally see him be a weasel like that, but on the other hand, would he really sacrifice the First Order, of which he served years with, all because of his rivalry and hatred towards Kylo?
The final battle
In the final confrontation, the Resistance tries to stop the Sith fleet from leaving Exegol, while Rey confronts Palpatine, who is later joined by a redeemed Ben. I liked the action throughout the space battle, especially during a charge on the main capitol ship. There was also a nice "Avengers Endgame" moment where reinforcements come in when all hope seems lost, led by Lando, which features a ton of callbacks to past Star Wars media, including the Ghost from Rebels, and a cameo by Wedge Antilles, played by original actor Denis Lawson. (I should also mention longtime Star Wars composer John Williams has a cameo earlier in the film, which was nice.)
Meanwhile, Palpatine, who up to this point is weakened and bound to a machine to survive, wants Rey to strike him down so that he can transfer himself to her. This is when Ben shows up. However, despite being weakened, Sidious easily overpowers the two and steals a majority of their life essence, leading to his rejuvenation. This leads to him pushing Ben off a cliff, and blasting a massive storm of lightning at the rebel fleet.
This leads to voices of Jedi of the past, in an awesome scene, (which includes Anakin, Luke, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan, Mace Windu, Ahsoka Tano, Kanan Jarrus, Aayla Secura, Adi Gallia, and Luminara Unduli) giving Rey the strength of every Jedi who ever lived, which allows her to destroy Sidious once and for all.
In theory, I like the final battle a lot and what it represented. I also liked how Rey herself didn't defeat Sidious, rather it was her with the strength of all Jedi, that allowed her to defeat him. However, like the rest of the film, I thought the actual implementation was rushed, and didn't feel as grand as it should have been.
This act causes Rey to die, but Ben sacrifices himself to revive Rey, which kills him. I know a lot of people didn't like Ben dying, but I thought it was a noble death, considering he becomes one with the force. I'm indifferent on how I feel about the "Reylo" kiss right before he died.
The ending
During the final scene, Rey and BB-8 travel to the Lars moisture farm on Tatoonie, where the saga essentially began, where Rey buries the Skywalker lightsaber and Leia's lightsaber, which I thought was a nice moment. We see Rey has constructed a new lightsaber made from parts of her staff, with a yellow blade, which I liked.
At the end, she comes across a traveler who asks what her name is. With the spirits of Luke and Leia watching and giving their blessing, Rey says her name as "Rey Skywalker," adopting the Skywalker name, before watching the binary sunset from a distance, ending the film...and the saga.
I mostly like this reveal. I don't think she is "stealing" the name, rather choosing to honor it, and not be associated with Palpatine. On the other hand, I've seen people say she should have just been known as Rey, or actually use Palpatine as her last name, giving her a chance to redeem the name. I can see both sides, but I think the way she adopts the Skywalker name is honorable, and allows the name of Skywalker to live on, even if all blood members are now gone. Plus, I don't think people in the galaxy would take too kindly to someone named after Sidious.
Overall, like I mentioned before, I like the film, but I have a lot of problems with it, whether it be wasted potential, questionable decisions, or matters being rushed. Still, the stuff that I love about this film, I really love, and even though it's not the conclusion I would have wanted, I still will say it's not my least favorite film in the franchise. That honor still goes to Attack of the Clones.
