There is a lot to like about this film. Firstly I thought that the plot was much stronger than in the last film. It hit the ground running and never really stopped. The plot gave Rey, Finn and Poe enough to do and my main issue with Episode 8 was that it felt like Finn were being side-lined with the casino stuff. The plot is this film never felt like it was stalling, during episode eight the whole casino scene just felt tacked on and in this film the plot felt like some thought had been given to it.
Bringing back the Emperor seemed like a clever way of getting round the fact that Snode was killed in the previous film despite being pushed as the new Emperor. I thought that the Emperor was very good in this although his plan was slightly rehashed from Episode 6. The sight at the beginning where all the battle ships are in the air and there is thunder and lightning was a brilliant shot and it was just as good when it was shown again towards the end. The big scene between Rey and the Emperor was quite good and it was done in a way that got rid of the emperor by Rey’s hands but not an act of murder which is what the Emperor wanted.
This whole film seems like J.J. Abrams was trying to make us forget episode eight and its understandable. With the exception of Luke and Snode, there is very little reference to the last film. The character of Rose who seemed to be destined for a bigger role after episode eight, gets relegated to looking at computer screens. I thought the character was irritating in the last film and its not the fault of Kelly Marie Tran but more of Rian Johnson who seemed incapable of making her less whiny.
I thought they did a great job of dealing with Leia. Carrie Fisher passed away just before Episode 8 came out and she was involved enough in the story to feel like she wasn’t being side-lined but when the time came she got a dignified exit. I also thought that bringing Han Solo back for his brief cameo was a great idea.
There are a few issues with the film. I thought that the revelation that Rey was the granddaughter of the Emperor was a bit disappointing. I think that she should have been related to either Luke or Leia but then people might have really gone negative with that but I just think that being the grand daughter seemed like a bit of a cop-out in narrative terms. Also there is one effects shot where they do a mini-flashback where we see a young Luke Skywalker and a young Leia in training and it just looks bad but thankfully its not on screen for very long.
Rise of Skywalker is much better than The Last Jedi but I don’t it’s quite as good as Force Awakens. This film does a great job of telling its own story and let it wraps up the saga perfectly. The running time was perfect and I cant really pick any faults with the film. It was nice to walk out the cinema and feel that it was as good as I hoped it would be. I don’t know what the future holds for the Star Wars franchise but if this was the end of it then I would be ok with that but I suspect Disney have plans for more but just not yet.
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