Twenty years ago, a new Star Wars trilogy began, and set the nascent internet aflame not long thereafter. Now, another one ends, and it seems is doing much of the same reaction wise. Between it all, what do I think of the conclusion of the trilogy that began in 2015 with Force Awakens, and indeed, proclaims itself as the capstone of the whole saga (just to add a teensy bit more pressure to the whole thing)?
To set the context, prior to this we had the fairly squarely average Solo, and the, erm, divisive Last Jedi. Despite everything, my opinion on the latter film from Rian Johnson hasn't really changed much--I remain in the middle about it, liking some of what it had to offer, liking the idea moreso than the execution of some of the rest, and then finding some of it just a bit silly. Still, with Knives Out cementing for me that Johnson does have some filmmaking chops, I had more trepidation about Abrams returning--when, by all accounts he never expected nor wanted to originally. The original director for this, Colin Trevorrow, had been removed (for being an asshole, apparently), and with that and Carrie Fisher's tragic untimely death, Abrams and writer Chris Terrio didn't have much time to scramble together a story to tie it all together. With Abrams not known for his stellar conclusions, I didn't expect a finely woven story going in, hoping at the minimum some decent action and for it to exceed the first two prequels. And it does that...but there's a whole lot more to unpack.
As such, watching the first two thirds, I didn't think it as bad as some of the early reactions made out. The pace was absolutely breakneck, with Abrams apparently having snorted all of the yeyo on Tony Montana's desk for this one, but that's nothing new for him. The story really rushes from planet to planet as we do on a madcap treasure hunt story--some interesting ideas were hit on, but not really developed nearly as well as they could've. Again, nothing new for Abrams--and in truth, I was having some enjoyment from the upped level of jetpack-fuelled action sequences and lightsaber fights. All extremely manic, but in some ways hitting that pulp feeling of the Flash Gordon style serials that inspired the franchise in the first place.
Then we get to the last chunk of the film, where things...started to get off the rails. At this point, it started to feel too much like an overreaction to some contested parts of the Last Jedi than actually trying to tell its own story moving forward--and while Terrio felt like he was taking the approach of embracing all the Reddit ideas of 'how to fix Star Wars' earlier, there were points by now were it got a bit too much. And then, yes, we get to the matter of McDiarmid's return as former head baddie of the series Emperor Palpatine. You can't deny he's having fun as he did in his last onscreen appearance in Revenge of the Sith--but then things start getting a little silly, and in a way where I honestly wish they went all the way and got even sillier.
Before I get too far ahead, I'll touch on the cast. Daisy Ridley as Rey once again seems to be trying with what she's got, but while the script tries its hand at new twists and tribulations for her character, they're not fleshed out well enough or given that much time to breathe. Now, we still have Adam Driver as Kylo Ren--so far, the highlight of the new films to me. While he still carries a lot of it with his facial emoting, he sort of drops off in a weird way in the last part. John Boyega and Oscar Isaac likewise also give it their best shot, and while the script does try and do new things for their characters, once again, those fall victim to the coke-binging pace. Anthony Daniels, weirdly enough, is probably the original cast member that gets the most focus here as C-3PO (not forgetting, of course, Billy Dee Williams finally returning as Lando).
There's of course a slew of new characters--Richard E. Grant plays an older, more ruthless alternative to Dominic Gleeson's General Hux, and while he does come off as a threatening bad guy he's still wedged in between all the other eleventy billion things going on. There's new bounty hunters and new minions galore, so if you don't mind the relentlessness of it all, the film at least keeps things moving constantly between all manner of different colorful places and people.
It does feel like it could've used an extra half-hour to really give itself some breathing room; I felt Force Awakens was a bit hyperactive, but it does feel positively restrained in comparison. Indeed, that film, while not ambitious in the story it wanted to tell, told it fairly consistently and straightforwardly; here, I sense there was too much cut, especially at the beginning. And the ending, well, let's just say they could've had Rey and Palpatine flying through space shooting lasers from their fingers at that point, (to the tune of Black Sabbath's Mob Rules preferably).
But does that make it all a waste of time? If you're able to turn off your brain and just go with the flow, there's still plenty of dogfights with TIE fighters, duels and gunfights, things going boom, Force powers pushed to ever new levels, and lots of vibrant colorful visuals. I won't say I never had fun at parts, and if you're up for just going along with the ride, I think others might just too.
Still, I wouldn't call it the perfect ending for this trilogy, let alone the saga--looking back, while the prequel trilogy may have been inferior in acting and other aspects, it still felt more cohesive if only for the more consistent directing and vision of Lucas. I certainly don't personally buy the idea that the Last Jedi 'left nowhere for them to go', and while Abrams didn't have the best hand dealt to him for this, there's some choices I...certainly question.
But do I feel that shook up about it? Strangely, no. Maybe it's down to my less than stellar expectations, but in parts, I do feel some vague sense of relief that the franchise can now move on, to hopefully new ideas, new characters, and new stories. Compare to Marvel's Endgame--though I wasn't quite as swept up in the hype as others, I found it a decent conclusion to that cinematic universe up to that point; but perhaps a little too decent, as I'm finding it harder by the day to really get excited for the subsequent projects. Maybe that's down to a straight decade of that, but elsewhere, we have The Mandalorian grabbing everyone's attention with acclaim across the fandom, and more streaming projects on the way. Indeed, ever since Lucas announced a live-action series almost 15 years ago that never got off, I've felt this is the way for the franchise to go in many respects.
Ultimately, Rise of Skywalker has some entertaining moments, but is an imperfect end to the trilogy and the trilogies before that--but Star Wars will go on. If the hypothetical Holiday Special I've debunked didn't end it, this won't. It's certainly not the worst of the films, as Attack of the Clones still exists, though I'd struggle to put it any higher than Revenge of the Sith. Nevertheless, I certainly hope to devour The Mandalorian (which, in the infinite wisdom of Disney, I can't watch outside of clips currently) soon enough, and to the other television projects, animated and otherwise. If anything else, this film leaves me with an appreciation of all that came before, despite everything. Like a Jedi in a state of zen, I'm not going to get angry at this or anything as some others have.
Star Wars will go on, hopefully to explore areas it hasn't before, and who knows, in time we might see a more appropriately done Special Edition for this one to even things out. It's time to move on either way, and, I feel, more than one new hope still shines in the future...
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