Rise of Skywalker Hits Big in the Box Office, but Did it Tank with the Fans?
Oh my Bombshells, the time has come for my review on the highly aniticpated ending to the latest Star Wars Trilogy. I haven’t quite been in full excitement for this film, but I was very curious to see what they were going to do with it after the back and forth opinion of the previous two. Now I typically try and write my reviews spoiler free so you guys have a chance to see the movie and I can tell you if its worth watching or not. Not this time. The only way I can really discuss this film is to go all in. So this review is going to have some SPOILERS. I have some thoughts for this film that don’t really include major plot points and others that do so fair warning now do not read if you have not seen the movie. Did you get that? This is your last chance, walk away if you don’t want the movie spoiled, won’t hurt my feelings. Okay, still with me? Let’s get into it.
Watching the film, I had a lot going on in my head on how I was going to best organize my opinions for you guys, but I think the best way to start is to rewind a little bit. I am a huge Star Wars fan, but never deemed myself as a critcal fan. What I mean by that is that I actually enjoyed the original trilogy and the prequels. I don’t hate Jar Jar Binx and yes Anakin was a lot sometimes, but the prequels were still a big part of my childhood and loved Star Wars as a whole. I can’t quite say that anymore. I was not a huge fans of Force Awakens and while The Last Jedi pleased me more, I still overall have not been a huge fan of this newest trilogy. Therefore you can imagine how I felt very indifferent about the Rise of Skywalker coming out. I wasn’t going into the theatre with any expectations, no automatic reason to hate it and no immediate excitement. At this point I just wanted to see how the story was going to end since throughout the whole trilogy, I’ve had a lot of moments of scratching my head and questions. So I just want to put that out there because I think it will help to explain my final thoughts. My final thoughts are pretty much meh.
I found the movie to have some highs or at least moments that made sense to me and then other things that were just kind of like really?! So I’m going to kind of break it down on the highs and lows throughout the movie from beginning to end and then sort of summarize the trilogy as a whole.
Right off the back, one of the lows I felt was happening in the first half hour was pacing issues and figuring out what was happening in each characters plot. The beginning text introduction was pretty short and didn’t explain much so I felt the beginning of the movie needed to show a lot of what everyone was up to. However, I felt the back and forth between switching from the Rey’s training to Poe and Fin’s mission trio to Kylo Ren and his exaggerated fighting choreography kind of left me as okay let me understand how eveyone got to this point. Rey training was fine for me and understandable, but I still don’t know if I’ll ever be okay with the fact of how she was able to grasp her powers so fast even with the final history of her we were given. It’s not a big deal and it is what it is, but it always seemed a bit strange. Her connection to different characters also has been bothersome to me. She is not a Skywalker or related to Leia, but her strong connection to her never felt explained well enough to me. No what it really is, is Rey’s character as a whole. This chick was a scavenger and is able to use the force, have magic visions when she touches things, feel the need to join the resistance, and be close with the Skywalkers. I’m sorry, but in three movies, I still just don’t get why she felt the need to feel so strong and connected to this mission. It didn’t seem like she cared that much about remembering her parents before, but whatever.
Now let’s look at Rey’s relationships other than with Leia. Now it has been shown before that Poe can be a little defiant and a pain in the you know what, but since when did him and Rey bicker like an old married couple. The way their whole friendship played out in this film was just odd to me. Of course Fin is still showing his love for her even if he has never told her so she knows he has her back. And then there is Kylo Ren. Their relationship is whole lot of something else and I tell you what I don’t mind it. The most riviting thing for me in this whole trilogy was seeing the dynamic bettwen Rey and Ren especially their battle seen in the Last Jedi against Snoke. However, what I do mind is how their little connection thing works. Everything about it like a lot of things in the movie just feels way too “convenient”. How come he can see with Rey with some things and not others and why does it reveal some things at certain moments and just a lot of what? I just find it annoying and I hate when things are obviously put in just to make a story work.
Speaking of Rey and Kylo Ren’s little magic trick, I found them and many many other things in the movie reminding me of Harry Potter. I didn’t mean to make that connection, but I was like wait a minute, there were a lot of similarites. The way Kylo Ren calls out to Rey made me think of Voldemort and Harry’s connection. Then you also have Rey fighting the “darkness” in her reusing to believe she is meant to be Sith just like Harry trying to think He isn’t a Slytherin or reincarnated Voldemort. Harry and Rey are also some sort of chosen one who is suppose to solve everything with the past wisdom of the elders who have been there, done that, but then also die. We even have a dagger type knife in this film that is suppose to help find the answers while Harry has the Sword of Gryffindor. Plus spoiler alert, Rey bury’s Luke and Leia’s lightsabers at the end of the movie as Harry destroys the Elder wand. I’m sorry to be a pesk, but I really could not stop seeing these things which if a story makes you think of others too much, doesn’t make for a great film. I also found a lot of weird comparisons to Austin Powers. What I mean by that is how many times are villains going to have the good guys in the palm of their hands and do nothing but continue the cat and mouse chase? In fact the majority of this movie is let’s chase Rey and her friends. We will find her, mess with her a little bit, but she still gets to keep hopping on the ship with her powerful force jumps and get away. I just kept hearing Seth Green in Austin Power’s voice saying how dumb Dr.Evil was to let Austin getaway. To me obviously Kylo was letting her do it for deeper reasons, but why the heck was everyone else letting him do so.
So getting past the cat and mouse chase throughout the whole movie, the main trio of Rey, Poe, and Fin are still dealing with problems of finding their missing pieces to complete the mission as a whole. Which brings me to my next point of this movie doesn’t give a lot of room to breathe. There isn’t much comedic relief or any relief because it seems the movie is constantly on edge and someone is about to lose their mind. They are just rushing to the next step and the next one. If something is in their way, they are like nope no time for that just going to keep going. Even in dramas or action films, I like some time to breathe or laugh. I saw the moments they thought would be funny, but I really don’t think the humor landed with the audience dealing with all the issues going on in the story. I heard maybe one or two chuckles in the audience, but not much of anything else.
Coming to the climax of the movie, there are probably some major moments that pissed some people off and I may or may not agree. I fully expected for Kylo Ren to snap out of it become Ben and go help Rey. I also expected for the movie to reveal to us an actual romantic connection between the two. This may have offset some people, but look George Lucas originally said his movies were meant to be portrayed like soap operas which usually involves dramatic romances so it is not unusual that pattern still finds its way in now. Secondly, all of the triologies have ended with some sort of sacrifice and love. Darth Vader saved his son and passed, Padmae gave birth to her children and passed, so now we have Kylo (Ben) saving Rey and passing away. It all makes sense to me. What did not make sense to me is seeing his and his mother’s body disappear, but having no scene of their spirits coming together. Instead they gave the moment to Rey and show her Luke and Leia’s spirits together, but I honestly wanted more of a family reunion between the Solo’s. Kylo’s story was important in that he had an inner struggle between light and dark so I wanted that final moment together somehow. I think him coming full circle was just as important as Rey.
I also can’t believe that Rey kissed Kylo, he dies saving her, and she kind of just rushes back on Luke’s ship to go back like no big deal. Again people, very weird rushing and pacing in this film. Rey also now knows the truth about herself and where she comes from, but this does not matter because she decided to take on the name Skywalker hence Rise of the Skywalker. Like really? I don’t know about that Rey. Like I get it you were close to them and don’t really want Palpatine attached to you, but you realize Skywalker comes from Darth Vader so not exactly a clean name. I still just find her seeing the Skywalkers like family a bit much and I could never really go along with it.
So here is the thing. This movie isn’t horrible, but it was not made well nor was it like an oh my gosh, this movie is amazing. It really was a meh. Here is one way I can put it. In both of the other trilogies, I have cried at least once, but did not cry at all in this trilogy. I feel what this trilogy really missed was the magic and originality of the previous films. There was fun and excitement along with the action and drama which I don’t feel this triology served. Instead I feel we got a lot of fan-boy made content with some dramatic and hokey characters and action that didn’t make me fall in love with anyone. I didn’t feel myself taking sides or feeling passionate about the protagonists or antagonists. I didn’t really care about the new characters other than sort of being into Rey and Kylo’s love fest. I think BB-8 was really the only sort of fun they added in which made me love a new character, but his attraction only lasted for the Force Awakens. Overall I’m glad this trilogy was made for younger genrations and a chance for new fans, but I just don’t think they served what the originals could do. Ironically enough, the only new film I have really enjoyed was Rogue One which gave me more of what I hoped for in these films. It is over and done with and I do think they closed everything up, but these aren’t films I can turn to for entertainment. Sorry, just my opinion, but hey I’m one person who I’m sure Disney is fine without pleasing.
Have you seen Rise of the Skywalker yet? Were you disappointed? Has this trilogy lived up to the previous films? Which was your favorite movie in this trilogy? Do you want them to continue the Star Wars franchise? Any opinions on the movie? Let me know in the comments below, I would really love to know how other fans thought of this film. Also be sure to like, share, and subscribe to get notified of new posts. You can also keep up with Bombshell on Bombshell’s social media pages. Follow Bombshell on Facebook (@bombshellgamingandstyle), Twitter (@bombgame_style), and Instagram (@bombshellgamingstyle). Until next time my Bombshells, Bye and May the Force Be With You!
