When Disney bought Lucasfilm back in 2012, many thought the studio would save the franchise from the clutches of George Lucas. After all, his continuing changes to the “Age of Rebellion” trilogy and the lackluster “Age of Republic” trilogy has put a bad taste in the mouths of Star Wars fans everywhere. Unfortunately for us, Star Wars fans, the “Age of Resistance” trilogy is not faring well either. The last iteration, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, has split the fanbase in two: Those who relentless defend the movie and those who vehemently hate the movie. With J.J. Abrams back in the director’s helm, does he bring back the “balance in the Force” with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker?
Although The Rise of Skywalker is an improvement over The Last Jedi, the movie will undoubtedly keep the fanbase divided. Nevertheless, the movie is a hugely entertaining movie that’s chock full of fan service. After all, this is the last movie in the Skywalker saga.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker follows Rey, Finn, Poe, and the rest of the Resistance as they take on the First Order. Little do they know that a familiar foe is lurking behind-the-scenes for one last final battle.
Despite what you think of the “Age of Resistance” trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker caps off the entire Skywalker saga nicely. Oh, and don’t worry, the movie will answer the rest of the unanswered questions from the entire “Resistance” trilogy. However, it’s almost a guarantee that this movie will be as divisive as The Last Jedi was. Skywalker seemingly undoes all of the development from The Last Jedi and tries to correct them in this one. As a result, if you liked The Last Jedi, then you’ll most likely dislike this one. If you disliked The Last Jedi, then you’re going to like The Rise of Skywalker. Nevertheless, there’s a lot to digest in this movie.
Also, it even feels as if this movie is a direct sequel to The Force Awakens than it does The Last Jedi. There are slight references in the last movie, but a lot of the character development from the last movie is cast aside here. Because there are so many things in this movie that it tries to correct, the movie moves at a breakneck pace. Even with a 2 hour and 35-minute runtime, there’s still a lot of convoluted course-correcting in this movie.
It’s just a shame that the two films have to conflict with each other. Instead of one epic trilogy, we’re getting an uneven trilogy that never quite had much direction. Unfortunately, that unevenness applies to the plot as well since there are one or two storylines that never really go anywhere.
Regardless, The Rise of Skywalker features a completely semi-original storyline. It’s thankfully not a total rehash of The Return of the Jedi. There will be some story elements similar to Return, but it’s still a story you’ve never seen before. At the same time, this is also Rey’s story since the movie primarily revolves around her. As you can expect, everyone else is just supporting characters.
Rey has seemingly grown significantly as a character between the last movie and this one. She is much more mature and has grown into a full-fledged Jedi. She’s not the only character that has grown as well. All of the main “Resistance” trilogy characters have grown into more mature and fully dimensional characters. Also, it’s great to see Rey, Finn, and Poe together for most of the movie. Their on-screen chemistry has never been better. After being together for so long, their friendship is finally on full display here. Unfortunately, this focus on Rey, Finn, Poe, and Kylo means that other characters get less screentime.
Since this is a J.J. Abrams movie, expect to see a lot of satisfying action set-pieces—especially in Skywalker‘s climactic battle. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t quite have that huge epic lightsaber finale such as an Anakin vs. Obi-Wan or Luke vs. Vader battle.
Overall, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is an enjoyable end to one of the greatest movie sagas of all-time. It may not be perfect, but it’s still an incredibly fun, heartfelt, and bittersweet ride.
Rating: 4/5 atoms
The post Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review appeared first on Nerd Reactor.
from Nerd Reactor
0 comments: