You can feel that here, the onus of history. Going into the movie Abrams has said he felt the pressure of not just completing the trilogy he started with The Force Awakens but also of ending the trilogy of trilogies going back to 1977’s Star Wars. Rise’s story is smart in that it brings back the one Big Bad who has loomed over the whole franchise, effectively tying this final movie to all the episodes that preceded it. What unspools after that is a series of quests and fake-outs leading up to one epic battle, just like every Star Wars movie that came before.ĭo you sense it yet? That disturbance in the Force? Yeah, that’s the thing. Can he pull her to the Dark Side? Can she lure him to the Light? Who knows! It’s a little bit “Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen Go to King’s Landing,” except they’re not related (probably). (Same as it ever ‘twas.) Kylo agrees, but has other plans-namely, to join (forgive me) forces with Rey, defeat Darth Sidious, and rule the galaxy together. Palp promises Kylo/Ben the keys to a new kingdom known as the Final Order if he kills Rey and ends the Jedi for good. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) has retrieved a Sith Wayfinder (actual name) and located Emperor Palpatine (surprise!) in a far off corner of the galaxy. As audiences discover, thanks to the opening crawl’s pulpy first line-”The dead speak!”- Rise is not only picking up where The Last Jedi left off, with Rey (Daisy Ridley) leading the Resistance in a fight to defeat the First Order, but she’ll also be facing the Ghosts of Star Wars Past. Lucasfilm has built an empire out of giving the people what they want while also weathering-and deflecting-those fans’ most imprudent demands. It was clear, from the story, the characters, even the jokes, that it was an attempt please (appease?) as many folks as possible-lifelong Star Wars fans, movie critics, people who loved The Last Jedi, people who hated The Last Jedi, ReyLo shippers, the gays. It was built, by someone who knows how to make a paint-by-numbers blockbuster under the auspices of the Disney juggernaut, to win. That’s not surprising it had far too many people to satisfy. In fact, judging by its current green-splat Rotten Tomatoes score, many people don’t. In that, it's incredibly successful.ĭoes that mean everyone will like it? Absolutely fucking not. Abrams’ final installment of the Skywalker Saga was meant to be a wildly entertaining spacefaring allegory about the power of good to overcome evil, of light to drown out the dark. There are films that qualify as movies and movies that qualify as films, but Rise of Skywalker is definitely a movie. Movies sell popcorn and play in multiplexes.

First, a seemingly controversial opinion: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a good movie.

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