The Rise of Skywalker - Big, Fun, and (Hear Me Out) Simple

Note: For reference as to why I’ve mellowed out so much on this trilogy since The Last Jedi, check out this article I wrote about my changing feelings regarding Star Wars. In short, I’ve stopped putting Star Wars on a pedestal, to quote The 40-Year-Old Virgin.

The Rise of Skywalker is a big, ambitious end to the Skywalker saga. It answers a lot of questions and presents even more, all while planet hopping and sprinting to an action-packed, (hopefully) crowd-pleasing conclusion. The pace of the film, along with the decision to keep the core group together for most of the story, make this the simplest and most enjoyable film in the new trilogy. 

Some might scoff at the idea that this film is “simple,” but it is, from a certain point of view. To be fair, there are a ton of questions raised by this film (this article does a great job at listing them), so in that regard the movie is quite convoluted. But if you can just let those unanswered questions go, you’ll find yourself enjoying a refreshingly straight-forward adventure. 

The Rise of Skywalker is about Rey and company trying to find the resurrected Emperor Palapatine, so they can stop his new planet-destroying fleet of starships and save the world twice and for all (yeah, right). This causes them to pick up the search where Luke left off, going from planet to planet following clues and battling Kylo Ren and the First Order along the way. It’s action packed, funny, and you always know exactly why the characters are doing what they’re doing. Like I said, simple.

Many fans (like the guy I overheard right after my screening who said, “That is probably the worst out of all of them”) will not be able to get past the questions raised by this film and/or its dismissal or lack of followthrough with some themes presented in The Last Jedi. And that’s a shame, because the one thing that should be undeniable about this trilogy is that the new characters are likable and have great chemistry, and this film allows them to spend the most time together.

In most Star Wars films, the main characters have to split up early on, only reuniting briefly at the end (and sometimes not even then; I’m looking at you, Empire). But The Rise of Skywalker presents the importance of friendship as a theme many times. So instead of a character taking off because they have something they have to do on their own, we get characters flat out telling them, “Okay, but we’re still coming with you.” It’s a little cheesy, but it’s also the strongest aspect of the film. For all the action of this new trilogy, it pales in comparison to the joy of watching Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and BB-8 work together for most of the film.

But this is still an action movie at heart. In that regard, it’s very satisfying. All the blasters and stuff blowing up is fine, but the lightsaber work here is the best it’s been in the trilogy. This is by design, since Rey and Kylo became more powerful as the series progressed. Rey, in particular, has been training since the last film, so she’s much more formidable this time around. I was so used to seeing adept Force users in the prequel trilogy that I assumed anyone in this trilogy with a lightsaber would be badass with it. Looking at the trilogy as a whole now, I can appreciate the development of Rey and Kylo Ren rather than be disappointed by their initial clumsiness (Rey) or lack of control (Kylo Ren). (I admit that the throne room sequence in The Last Jedi is pretty awesome, but aside from that, the lightsaber stuff is pretty sparse in that film.)

Speaking of The Last Jedi, it does seem like this movie is more of a direct sequel to The Force Awakens than to Jedi, and that might bother fans of The Last Jedi. But this was bound to happen with Disney’s plan of going from one filmmaker to another for each film only to go back to J.J. Abrams for the third film. Of course, Abrams was going to focus on more of the stuff he set up with his film than with Rian Johnson’s. Still, it’s understandable if some fans are disappointed with this film in that regard.

For me, I went in to The Rise of Skywalker with new expectations after my disappointment with The Last Jedi.  I just wanted to see the story wrapped up with a lot of fun character moments and plenty of action. And that’s exactly what I got. 

It might sound like I'm actually a bit lukewarm with this movie, but I sincerely loved it. It's just that these movies are never going to be on the same level as the George Lucas films for me, and I've made my peace with that. I'm just happy to see a big, fun Star Wars movie. I left the theater wanting to immediately watch The Rise of Skywalker again, and that's all I can hope for from my favorite franchise.

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I'm Just a Star Wars Fan

*Note: Since this article is about Star Wars, some fans will completely disagree with everything I write. That’s fine. I’m not saying any of this is fact. I’m just writing about my experience as a fan through the years. 

Being a Star Wars fan has never been so complicated. It used to be simple: the original trilogy was seemingly loved by all. Then the special editions came out, and a lot of fans were pissed off about changes George Lucas made. Then fans started reevaluating things and realized they didn’t actually like Return of the Jedi that much. Then the prequels came out, and most fans hated them. Then, as some young fans got older, more and more people claimed to love the prequels (I have loved all of them unapologetically since they were released). Then Disney came into the picture and really fucked things up by not only adding a new trilogy, but also introducing spinoff films for us all to argue about. I became a Star Wars fan a couple years before the prequels came out, so I can remember a glorious, pre-ubiquitous-internet time when we were all just fans (who maybe disagreed about Ewoks). There were still debates and whatnot (just watch early Kevin Smith movies for examples of the stupid shit fans would talk about), but it seemed like the fan base was fairly united. 

After the prequels, it became much worse, but it was still fairly straightforward: do you hate or love the prequels? With Lucas claiming to be done, it finally got to a point that the prequel divide was no longer that big of a deal. Then The Force Awakens came out, and it seemed to unite fans anew by bringing back the old gang and introducing some compelling new characters. Sure, it was a borderline remake of A New Hope, but we, or at least I, didn’t care at the time. We had a new Star Wars movie, and it seemed to be more like the original trilogy than the prequels. Now that they established the new characters, they can go anywhere with them. Things seemed okay.

Meanwhile, Rogue One came out. It was a Star Wars movie, kind of? (I loved it, by the way.) It felt weird to see a movie that was adjacent to the main story of the saga. But it was interesting and entertaining. But was Disney really going to be cranking out these side stories until the end of time? Can there be too much Star Wars? 

Then The Last Jedi came out, and all hell broke loose. Fans of the film can claim it’s a vocal minority that doesn’t like the film all they want, but check any comment section about the film, and it seems a lot more like a 50/50 divide than fans of the film want to admit. There’s no way to prove this (I just told you to check comment sections as my source, for fuck’s sake), but in my experience it seems like more than just a vocal minority had severe problems with The Last Jedi. Maybe I just want to believe that a lot of people have issues with it because I have a lot of issues with it (I wrote three articles about it).

I’m not trying to start another debate about The Last Jedi. I’m just going to explain what it changed for me as a Star Wars fan. I left the theater after watching it, and instead of immediately wanting to see it again (which is my usual response to a Star Wars movie), I started to complain about it. I told my brother (who I watched it with) that when they freed the horse things on Canto Bight I thought to myself, “I fucking hate this.” I’ve never had that feeling during a Star Wars movie. I’ve softened on the film since then, but it’s still my least favorite of the series. 

The Last Jedi made me realize I can dislike (even if it’s only momentarily) a Star Wars movie. This made me question whether I was even a true fan anymore. Before this, in my mind, a true fan loved all the movies. So I guess I finally understood how the prequel haters felt, and I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t want to say I was a Star Wars fan, but I don’t like this one or this one. Star Wars is about hope, so I found something good to focus on. My expectations for what a Star Wars movie could be had to change. I didn’t have to love every single film. I could just like a movie. I could even hate large portions of a movie. I stopped seeing Star Wars as this sacred part of my life and started seeing them as just movies. This is a good thing, and I think more Star Wars fans would be happier with their experience if they tried this. (By the way, for those of you who do still hold all the films sacred and love the new movies with all your heart, I envy you.)

With that mindset I watched Solo, and I really liked it. I didn’t understand the hatred a lot of people had for it. I agreed with most of the faults I read that people had with the film, but they just didn’t bother me that much. I just thought it was a fun movie. 

It’s one thing to bring that mentality to a spinoff film, but what about a saga movie? For me, bringing that mentality to The Rise of Skywalker allowed me to completely enjoy my experience. I have so many questions about so many things with the movie, but none of them nagged at me the way they would have before. (Slight SPOILERS for Rise of Skywalker until the end of the paragraph.) Palpatine’s back? Okay. Snoke was just a puppet/clone? Okay. Palpatine has a kid and a grandkid? Okay. No one wanted to help the Resistance a year ago but now the entire galaxy is ready to fuck shit up for them? Okay. Obviously I either have a few issues with some of these things or at least want to know a lot more than the film provided, but none of it took me out of the movie. I just went with it, and I was able to enjoy this movie the most out of the new trilogy.

For me, being a Star Wars fan means enjoying Star Wars movies. If that means I need to alter what I think a Star Wars movie is supposed to be, so be it. I’ll always have the first six movies that are magical to me. And now I’m going to have a lot of different movies that I can enjoy to a lesser degree. I know this sounds a little delusional. It’s okay to not like, or even hate, something, even if you’re a fan of the overall series. I just don’t want to. Star Wars will always be special to me, but there’s a lot more in my life to focus on rather than getting bent out of shape when a movie doesn’t live up to what I want from it. (This only applies to Star Wars for me. As a film journalist, I still plan on hating all kinds of shit.)

I'm done saying I'm a Star Wars fan, and I like the prequels, but I don't like the Disney trilogy, but I do like the spinoffs, and The Force Awakens is okay, I guess, and Rise was pretty great, and I like parts of The Last Jedi, etc. No more qualifiers. I'm just a Star Wars fan.

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