Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Movie Review

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker - Movie Review

I went to the theaters last night and I was pretty surprised how there wasn’t many people around for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. In fact, I saw that there was only about 8 of us in the audience of the theater by the time the movie started. Usually, for a big Hollywood movie such as Star Wars, lines would be queuing up all day. I could tell that people have lost interest in this movie franchise.

The movie wasn’t really that bad for my personal tastes. I loved the cinematography and effects. But it wasn’t also satisfying either.

Discontinued plots

It felt like they didn’t really properly follow up on the story line of the previous Star Wars films. An example was the brewing love affection between Fin and Rose in The Last Jedi, which in this movie seemed to have been removed as if she never sacrificed herself for him nor kissed him. Rose became a completely sidelined character and almost like an extra.

Trying to be nostalgic

One pattern most of us have noticed is that in these last three Star Wars movies, they have tried to bring back old characters and references in their easter eggs. Which some was cool and some weren’t necessary. A lot of things and characters from the past came back in this movie, even those main characters who have already died in the past. They just won’t let them die.

New plots seemed rushed

At the opening of the movie, Kylo Ren is seen in an expedition to retrieve a compass that points to the location of an old Sith Lord who we all thought was already dead. Revealing to us later that Snoke was just a puppet leader controlled by this sinister master.  New plots like this seemed rushed and didn’t had enough build up momentum from the past two films. So it was in some ways pleasantly surprising to finally understand where the movie is heading but also a WTF? moment for me.

The power that Anakin always wanted

Darth Sidious seduced Anakin to join the dark side with the power to save someone from death. A power he never acquired since it was never even taught to him by Darth Sidious. But Rey and Kylo exhibited this power effortlessly without the movie franchise showing us how they mastered this skill.

Canon was not expanded enough

At the ending, it actually feels like Star Wars is really over. It’s there’s no more need for new adventures to be formed. Peace has been established and the Sith Lord killed. So this brings up the question if there would ever be new Jedis.

Star Wars: The Rise of the Self-Esteem

The movie’s plot mainly centered in this, the self-esteem of Kylo and Rey… And a little bit of the value of teamwork.