Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

'The Rise of Skywalker' attempts to backpedal its way out of the fiery rubble left behind by Episode VII, only to find itself lost within its own plot drowning in convolution and seemingly random storylines.

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42 years on from A New Hope, the (assumed) finale to the Skywalker Saga has arrived with a massive weight upon its shoulders; not only wrapping up the trilogy of trilogies but also picking up the pieces that was The Last Jedi. After the backlash of its predecessor, expectations were a bit low, yet the fact remained that this may be the last episodic Star Wars story, creating very big shoes for The Rise of Skywalker to fill. With a massive hurdle ahead of them, Disney ploughed forward and, for better or worse, presented an ending that may have been destined to fail before it even began.

Each trilogy within the Star Wars franchise has had its fair share of problems. Whether it was the underwhelming ending to the original trilogy that left fans a tad disappointed, or a whole trilogy filled with banalities that was still able to end on a bit of a high note; there has never been a perfect set of films within this beloved franchise. And the sequel series are far, far away from it. After the release of The Force Awakens, fans were delighted to find themselves back within a world they once loved yet excited to see how the the next two instalments were to pan out. One terrible movie later, and Episode IV was our only hope.

Who are Rey's parents? How will they defeat the First Order? Is it possible to salvage the remains of this apparent final trilogy? Everyone waited with bated breath for the poorly titled The Rise of Skywalker (which still doesn't compare to Attack of the Clones), anxiously patient to witness the end of a cinematic era, and, after four decades, it can only be said to be yet another let down.

The plot follows Rey (Daisy Ridley) on her search for a McGuffin that would allow her to follow Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) to the impending doom that is Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). On her travels, she is aided by her companions Finn (John Boyega) and Po (Oscar Isaac), who constantly bicker like 8-year olds yet never hesitate to call upon each other in their times of need; while other series standouts such as R2-D2, Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong'o), and Dominic Monaghan (wait, isn't he in Lord of the Rings?) circle around the main cast as they make their way to an obvious climax between good and evil. Across the 2 hour and 22 minute run time, we are taken across the galaxy and back, so many times in fact that at some point you start to no longer care.

Although the cast do an excellent job, C-3P0 (Anthony Daniels) turning into a comedic genius for this last hurrah, the script feels as if it is being made up on the spot; going from planet to planet in a similar fashion to that of secondary school narrative essay. From the moment the infamous Star Wars text scrawl appears on-screen, the plot already begins to feel convoluted, as if the it was written last minute the day before the film shipped. There is no epic-ness within the few paragraphs of exposition, only a handful of sentences that give a bland explanation to the current happenings.

But what can only be to blame for the poor narrative is that it feels lost, empty. It feels as if during its penning there were two aims for the film: a build-up of tension leading to an explosive ending, and the retconning of its forerunner (not to mention writing around unused footage of the late Carrie Fisher from the previous film). These two clash throughout the whole film, leading to mediocrity within both fields: an anti-climactic and seemingly cheap and Marvel-like ending alongside futile efforts to draw attention away from The Last Jedi. One thing that J.J. Abrams does well amidst this confusion is the portrayal of new Force powers and techniques, slowly implementing and hinting at them throughout the film to make it feel as if it fits within the cinematic universe.

Ever since the first film's release, the soundtrack has become iconic within pop-culture; every child humming the imperial march when they are chosen to be the villain for that day's playground activities. Yet, once again, The Rise of Skywalker misses the mark as the soundtrack seems to fade away into the background of the shots, no longer taking control of our emotions and senses only to merely aide a few of the on-screen scenarios. The hole that the music leaves is great and is never truly filled but the pain is numbed by some very beautiful shots, effects, and set pieces which visually resemble the style of this trilogies brilliant beginning (no surprises there considering both were directed by Abrams).

Overall, the film contains little to no tension while the moments of surprise and revelation are bogged down by the underwhelming fact that a lot of the connections being made feel tenuous and far-fetched at best. Plot points set up at the beginning of the Rey Saga seem to be forgotten about and discarded while those remembered take completely left-hand turns into the unknown and, after having a while to think about it, make little to no sense at all. The light-hearted moments turn into some of the highlights of the film, the story taking a backseat to the chemistry between characters and some of their personal goals.

It is certainly hard to take such an enormous and important series and create a satisfying end to it. With already so many lows in the science fantasy epic, it is hard to imagine a credit scrawl where everyone in the audience will be happy at how everything wrapped up, and while the film may not be the worst in the franchise it is certainly nothing to write home about.