#star wars: episode ix

[msfangirlgonewild]

This is my first Damerey fanfic, and there’s more to come (but the problem I’ve needed someone to Beta’d my work: loopholes and grammar slightly). One-shot/short Fandom: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive 
Warnings

Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey

Additional Tags: DameRey, JediPilot, after the war, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Funeral, Coruscant (Star Wars), Ajan Kloss, Healing Powers, Romantic Fluff, POV Poe Dameron, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Rey Needs A Hug, Implied Sexual Content, Hosnian Prime, Kijimi, Force-Sensitive, Force Healing, Romance, Exegol, Pasaana (Star Wars), Kef Bir

Summary: Poe Dameron’s spark has been burning when he was healed by a Jedi and grasps their brief moment together.

[sesiondemadrugada]

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (J.J. Abrams, 2019).

[ogradyfilm]

Random Thought Before Bed: All Hans on Deck! (SPOILERS)

Between the surprise cameo in The Rise of Skywalker and the recent trailer for F9, I guess the old saying is true: you really can’t keep a good Han down!

Especially when the ninth numbered entry in the franchise rolls around…

[mad-j-j]

Jus saw Star Wars : the Rise of Skywalker. I now ship Reylo, stormpilot and jedistormpilot even more than before. Ah, the joy of multishipping.

[lady-fandom]

Please help my tik tok it’s @ insidiouspapa

[shadows-and-science-gone-mad]

So, I just saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

In short, it felt less like the conclusion to a long-running narrative and more like a victory lap for the creative team.

By the time the credits rolled, I wasn’t left with a feeling of satisfaction at seeing an epic saga reach its conclusion. I was left wondering what the point of it all was. Why did I bother getting so invested in this series if this is what it was all building towards? Are the previous movies even worth rewatching anymore, knowing that this is how the story ends?

It’s weird to say that a Star Wars movie made me feel depressed, but I feel like I wasted the last decade of my life by caring about this franchise.

In other words: I’m not mad. I’m just disappointed.

Also, there was no “In Loving Memory” slide for Peter Mayhew in the credits, which felt kind of disrespectful, given that they did one for Carrie Fisher in The Last Jedi. 

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Reviews: Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (Spoilers)

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review a few days after the movie first drops in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie don’t read on.

Fan-Service:

Alright so before jumping into the character analysis, which I probably should just do because I have a lot to say, I want to quickly talk about a major problem with this movie, and yes I will be saying that a lot, and that is the fan-service.

There is a heeping load of fan-service moments and things just thrown in to either make fans nostalgic of what has come before or just to say they did it and I at large am pissed off because every bit of fan-service here I personally did not ask for and nothing I wanted as a fan was there.

For instance, Lando. I love Lando and will talk about him in his own section further down but I did not see the point of him in this movie. Billy Dee Williams still looks good in the role, but the man did nothing to contribute to the progression of the movie or the mission other than go off and get reinforcements which anyone else already in this trilogy could have done, like Maz Kanata...what did she contribute also?

Also Ewoks, I’m sorry I know the last part of this movie was on Endor because said system is around the place the Death Star fell and Palpatine still resides, but my freakin’ god seeing a split second shot of two Ewoks, who again I loved in Episode VI, but also to get Warwick Davies back to play Wicket (I think that’s the same one anyway)...what was the freakin’ point?

My final rant point is on the quite blatant fan service of LGBT representation. This particular topic is personal to me as a gay man and someone whose academic venture over the last three years has been about LGBT representation.

When you have quite a clear fanbase or sub fandom that are screaming for certain shipping couples, but then refuse to deliiver on the gay male ship in favour of the predictable hetero ship, to the point where this movie gives both Finn and Poe female love interests and makes Finn look slightly like a tool for having two other love interests but still wanting Rey...all of this I can forgive because it is kind of like the “Stucky” ship in the MCU.

However, to then, out of nowhere, have a lesbian kiss between two Resistance members at the end of the film during celebrations, one of whom was apparently the harbinger of doom because she delivered all the bad news and the other was a pilot, who I know was also Rosa Parks in Doctor Who so happy she has a role like this, but again it just felt forced, out of nowhere, with characters no one cares about and honestly I would have been happier seeing Poe and Finn kiss.

Characters:

Rey:

As I said in my non-spoiler review, Rey truly comes into her own as a Jedi in this movie. I do think The Last Jedi only really serviced her and moved her piece forward on the development chessboard.

However, while it is great to see Leia mentoring Rey at the start of the movie and doing a serviceable job, the fact Luke is still mentoring her from beyond the grave and his teachings are being upheld and honoured by Rey is really great to see.

This does not however justify the end of this movie, which is where we begin with Rey’s character.

One of the biggest mysteries of this trilogy has been discovering who Rey is and where she fits in with Star Wars lore. We know that Finn was a Stormtrooper and Poe fulfills that Han Solo role, but while Rey fills the Jedi quota for the trilogy, fans have long-suspected that she is somehow related to either Luke, Leia, Han or even Obi-Wan Kenobi.

I don’t think anyone was expecting her to actually be revealed as the granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine...and to be honest I don’t think anyone actually wanted it.

It’s a losing battle comparing any movie to Avengers: Endgame, but during Avengers: Endgame when big character and plot moments hit, the audience erupted in either shock or cheers. I get the feeling that the reveal of Rey being a Palpatine was supposed to ignite that type of response. I had a moderately full audience and there was no reaction from them.

However, not only does this service Rey as a character for the second half of the movie because her character motivation is not only about battling her inner demons and heritage, but also discovering who she is in her own right...something she has been searching for since we first met the character on Jakku in The Force Awakens

This leads to the last scene of the movie which is a culmination of not just the last three movies but also her confrontation with Palpatine. On Tatooine just outside the Lars Homestead, Rey buries both Luke and Leia’s lightsabers. She then surprisingly pulls out her own lightsaber which happens to be yellow...or gold (if it’s meant to be grey or white the lighting did it no favours) and with her sidekick BB-8 heads off into the twin sunsets, but not before some random old woman asks who she is, she responds with “Rey” but when she asks “Rey who?” she looks to the left and sees the Force Ghosts of Luke and Leia and turns back to the woman answering with, “Rey Skywalker”.

This is what is meant by the title “The Rise of Skywalker” as the name will now live-on in Rey, who has adopted the name only. She is not actually a Skywalker and if you think about the fact Rey and Kylo kissed a few scenes prior to this, it is kind of disturbing that she sees both Luke as a father figure and Leia as a mother figure.

I am not happy with this development for two reasons 1) It’s a cheat, not only is it a cheat of promise in the title but it’s a cheat in practise because Rey wasn’t revealed to be a secret Skywalker she merely decided to use the name as a surname because I guess “Rey Palpatine” would not serve her well.

I also don’t like the idea of a surname being used as a mantle, we now have seen six “Skywalkers” either officially or unofficially so in the movie canon and out of the six, five either are or were Jedi or at least “ones with the force” because both Leia and Ben (Kylo Ren) have never been Jedi at least in the movies but while Ben was a Sith, Leia was an apprentice and both had access to the force.

Shmi I believe (Anakin’s mother) is the only named “Skywalker” to not have any attachment or affiliations with the force. Now I don’t know if Skywalker is her maiden name or married name but aside from her, as I said, everyone with the Skywalker bloodline has at least had a “force sense” so to make Rey the last of the Jedi, that we know of, and also now giving her the name of Skywalker just to honour Luke and Leia and not actually be related does seem a tad cheap to me.

It’s not like when Han and Leia named their son Ben after Ben Kenobi, Obi-Wan’s hermit name, because that was honouring a fallen friend. I get Rey officially has no living family, particularly after killing her grandfather, and choosing to adopt the Skywalker name is both a way for the name to live on in her and to honour both her mentors, but this is supposed to be the end of the Skywalker era and with Rey newly being a Skywalker at the end of the movie and also once again seemingly being on her own (with BB-8) on her adventures at the end it just seems like there is more to come from her and I really don’t think there should be.

I am not saying Daisy Ridley can never come back as Rey in any future Star Wars movies but I’m thinking more in a Harrison Ford/Billy Dee Williams way not a Mark Hamill/Carrie Fisher way, at least not for now.

Also, I mentioned in my non-spoiler that a lot was promised leading up to this movie and something the trailers teased heavily was “Dark Rey”. The two biggest theories surrounding this reveal of Rey as a Sith with collapsible double-edged red lightsaber were that 1) Rey would legitimately turn to the dark side and Ben Solo would be the one to bring her back to the light or that 2) The Dark Rey we saw would be some sort of vision, hallucination or dream akin to when Luke believed he was fighting Vader during his training with Yoda on Dagobah and in fact it was an illusion used as a metaphor for him fighting his inner darkness.

It turned out, of course, to be the latter theory but the movie at least had the reveal of Rey being a Palpatine to explain why the 30 second scene we see this vision in exists...no lie it’s about the same amount of time as Luke battled himself for in Episode V.

Basically when Rey was filled with rage over Kylo Ren while trying to save Chewie from being taken by the First/Final Order, she succumbed to her anger and rather than using the force in the traditional sense she was discovered to have the ability to produce force lightning, as only Sith Lords have been able to do.

While Dark Rey did look cool, I’m glad she wasn’t actually Rey and we actually had to spend a chunk of the movie with her as a Sith, particularly not with that lightsaber.

I’ll be talking about him again when I talk about Palpatine but the only master of the double-edged lightsaber for me is Darth Maul. That’s his thing in my opinion aside from his looks and he owns it.

On the positives of Rey, I do like the fact that they have set her up as the feminist hero in the same sense that Moana and Belle are feminist Disney princesses. I think obviously making Rey the focus of the trilogy meant that more young girls would look up to her as opposed to Leia or Padmé before her and so making her the strong and tenacious Jedi Knight that she is was one of the best things about this trilogy, when done right.

I did also like how she interacted with Finn and Poe, I’m not entirely sure why they have the type of banter they had due to the lack of the trio interacting in this trilogy but I enjoyed the sparring between Rey and Poe over the Falcon damage and BB-8 damage and even when it seemed Finn was about to profess his love for Rey before dying but then not dying and so going quiet about it and Rey effectively calling him out for it.

However, what did Rey wrong throughout this trilogy is just how easy everything seemed to come for her. As I said before she was often off on her own mission without Poe and Finn with only BB-8 and sometimes Chewie for company. The fact we never saw her properly train with a lightsaber or the force before being revealed as an expert with both still annoys me and here, the fact she goes to give up after Leia’s death but is stopped by Luke, a Force Ghost, who then reveals that she is in fact not stranded after burning her ship because Luke has his old X-Wing summoned from the depths of the sea was just stupid.

Also, where did Rey get her new lightsaber from? Because unless Leia left it for her or R2 created it for her we don’t know where it came from or why it is distinctly different to Luke and Leia’s.

Finn:

Finn I feel revealed himself as my favourite character of the new trilogy during this movie, meaning originating in this trilogy, because I haven’t really had one up until now due to the lack of any likeable development throughout.

However, John Boyega really does Finn justice here not only making the character more likeable but also giving him a potentially great character development arc that could see him come full circle from when we first met him during The Force Awakens.

The only problem is, from what we see, this story abruptly goes completely nowhere.

The development comes when the trio arrive on Kef Bir where the Death Star remains are and come across a tribe of freedom fighters led by Naomi Acke’s waste of a character Jannah.

It’s revealed that Jannah and her tribe were once in fact Stormtroopers but, like Finn, decided to rebel against their Sith overlords and vowed to aide the resistance to thwart them.

This could have been how Finn’s story ended had he made the decision to join the freedom fighters by the end of the movie, now granted with no Sith or First Order there’s no need for freedom fighters but just for Finn to have found his people and his place to belong would have been a fitting ending for him.

Also to any shippers out there hoping for a Finn/Poe romance, I think the writers made it quite clear in this movie that both guys have eyes for the ladies with Finn apparently interested in Rose, Rey and Jannah.

The Finn-Poe bromance is in full bloom here though, finally, and it is filled with both the banter that I so hate in laddish behaviour but still enjoy here and also the fact that they can both be real with each other even when it’s something the other may not want to hear.

I am annoyed they never really wrapped anything up for Finn, aside from him finding his tribe but not actually sticking with them. The movie kept throwing out curve balls to do with his story and character but never had them either caught or thrown back, so his story is still all over the place.

Would I want to see John Boyega return? I guess yes if he does return with Jannah and maybe even Lando, I have a theory on where that will go, because at least it is a newer direction for the character.

Kylo Ren:

I never liked Kylo Ren or Adam Driver, I have never really seen the appeal in either of them and believe Kylo is simply Darth Vader-lite. I’ve always hated that mask and even now it has notable cracks I still don’t like it. I just feel as though the mask was always Vader’s thing and Kylo’s is the fact that he has that lightsaber sword.

That being said, once again the most notable plot point in this movie is the relationship between Kylo and Rey. The chemistry is quite easily there, I do see these two as a couple in another reality and Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver do sell that rather well.

I did come to enjoy their shared force communication in this movie particularly as it was noted to have some interesting side-effects, most notably the ability to take something from the other’s location. I audibally gasped when Kylo snatched that necklace from Rey and that’s how he knew where she was, similarly how when Rey accidentally destroyed that plinth with Vader’s helmet on and it fell at Kylo’s feet he knew she was in his quarters.

My favourite example of this go was at the very end when Rey was facing off against Palpatine and Ben (Kylo reformed) was facing off against the Knights of Ren and Rey was able to psychically transport her lightsaber to him. I can’t remember if it was Luke or Leia’s she gave to him but I do hope it was Leia’s because him fighting with his mother’s lightsaber would have been so awesome.

Speaking of his reform, I found that to be the sloppiest moment in the movie. I really did not understand the quickness in which he went from wanting to turn Rey to the dark side to denouncing the Sith altogether. Now yes, your mother dying is going to be a turmoil for any individual and seeing the ghost of your father, because yes Han Solo returns in this movie, is going to throw you...but there was no real internal struggle and it just seemed again very rushed and the almost as if the writers were saying “Well the audience know this is where we were always going to take the character so there’s no need for the internal struggle to be shown”.

Also, I understand that he didn’t exactly have time for a costume change and merely took off his Kylo Ren armour, but then he merely looked like he was wearing pyjamas in that final battle. I wasn’t expecting an Elsa level transformation or anything but something a bit more...more.

Then when it did come to Ben joining Rey in battling Palpatine and Palpatine, quite strategically in my opinion, sent him flying down that pit, the fact that he anticlimactically climbed up the pit I originally thought was the movie saying “See a Skywalker rose” similarly to how The Dark Knight Rises had Batman climbing up that cliff-face. But no, apparently the “Rise of Skywalker” was nothing to do with an actual Skywalker.

The most confusing part of this movie though is what exactly happened at the very end of the movie when Ben died and Leia faded away at the same time. Leia’s “last great act” was to stop Ben from battling Rey, this seemingly caused her to die. However, when Ben died, Leia faded. So are we presuming that somehow Leia enthralled her son to be good? If so, was his redemption a fake? Also if so, did Rey technically kiss Leia not Ben?

Yes, this kiss was the biggest anti-climax in the entire trilogy. Everyone has been pushing for a “Reylo” coupling and it finally happens only for Ben to die immediately after, it was pure and simple fan service.

Poe Dameron:

I have never really cared for Poe, nothing particularly against him or Oscar Isaac but I just felt as if the character was always trying too hard to be Han Solo and failing every time.

This movie not only emphasised how much of a waste Poe had been, but also why you should always be careful what you wish for because it may happen and it may transpire that you are not as attuned to it as you thought you were.

I am talking about Poe now being the General of the Resistance after Leia’s death and effectively leading the Resistance to their doom. I remember when Han was made a general during Return of the Jedi and while he was also slightly incompetent he at least learned from mistakes whereas Poe...got so many people killed he should have been court-marshalled.

Every action he made in this movie seemed to be wrong and he was continuously pulled up on it by everyone, Finn, Rey, Chewie, even 3PO. I quite liked the concept of doing that lightspeed jumping that apparently you’re not supposed to do because it reminded me of Guardians 2, but they weren’t supposed to do it there either and that wasn’t at the consequence of damaging the Millennium Falcon!

Also, they made a blatant reference that Poe had a previous lover in Kari Mitchell’s character, but the only problem with this is we’ve never heard anything about Poe’s history prior to the events of this trilogy so we are supposed to care about it now? When the trilogy is about to end?

Had we heard from episode 1 about hints of Poe’s history and maybe a lost or abandoned lover then seeing their reunion here may have held some weight...but with what we got it didn’t work.

I don’t even know where we left Poe aside from obviously being a war hero for being the leader of the Resistance. But unlike Rey who has gone off to do her own thing and Finn who has the potential to be going off with Jannah and her tribe, Poe doesn’t really have a place.

Even BB-8, who seems to be Poe’s main concern throughout this movie, goes off with Rey, so where does that leave him?

General Leia:

As I said in my non-spoiler review, it is such a shame that this is the lasting impression fans will have of General Leia. I am not saying they should have altered Episode VIII to include Leia’s death but there was something so disjointed about her involvement in this movie.

That being said, I did enjoy some of her lines to Rey at the start of the movie and they did try very hard to make it flow with the story despite clearly being lines meant for another situation. I liked all her pearls of wisdom to her about trusting droids and being comfortable with who you are.

However, this movie’s greatest insult is definitely showing a flashback to Luke and Leia training as Luke was clearly Leia’s Jedi Master at some point after Episode VI.

Now yes, we were shown a de-aged Luke and Leia so they looked slightly like how they did during Episode VI, and it was dark enough a setting that they didn’t look as bad as Leia did at the end of Rogue One, but that one scene sparks a great controversy with this whole trilogy.

Why the heck haven’t we ever had a follow-up movie to Episode VI that simply focuses on Luke, Leia and Han? A movie that shows Leia being trained as a Jedi would have not only satisfied a lot of movie-centric fans curiosities but also would have set up this trilogy slightly better with maybe showing Leia pregnant with Ben and why Luke chose to isolate himself, why Leia and Han’s marriage broke down. Something just to give fans of the original trilogy closure and then introduce these new characters rather than having the original trilogy and new trilogy all try to co-exist and wrap up at the same time.

Also, I swear in this one scene we saw Luke’s lightsaber was green so why were both his and Leia’s lightsabers blue when Rey had them?

Then also with her actual death, as I said with Kylo felt rather anti-climactic and weird. I understand fully that Carrie Fisher’s passing was a complete shock for everyone and so they had to work with what they had, but not only does it simply feel like Leia getting into bed and then death, you have Maz expositioning it before it happens...is that why Maz is back? To be the exposition of the movie?

Again I love Lupita and understand why she was cast in Episode VII because she was the hot ticket to have back then, but she doesn’t do anything in these movies.

I did appreciate her line of “Goodbye princess”, that did spark some emotion that wasn’t annoyance or rage and was sadness for both Leia and Carrie Fisher so the movie got me there.

Lando Calrissian:

Billy Dee Williams as Lando was one of my favourite things about the original trilogy. I loved how similar he was to Han but while Harrison Ford had an almost smouldering rogue quality about him, Lando was suave and cool with this real jazzy vibe about him.

Even seeing him back it was a bright spot in this movie, however, I don’t think he was utilised as well as he could have been. After Leia died and Poe was gathering the Resistance for a mission debrief, Lando looked like that old war veteran that was simply there to lend advice, when in actuality he was the one with the most experience, who fought the Empire once before and won so why wasn’t he saying what was what?

Then at the very end when everyone is celebrating the victory, Lando randomly comes across Jannah who asks where he’s from and he responds “Gold System” while she responds with not knowing where she is from and so he says “Let’s find out”. I don’t know if they’re trying to go down the route that Lando is Jannah’s father maybe but they are definitely pushing for either a spin-off or some form of continuation to this particular story.

Now again, I liked Jannah here, and feel a movie focusing on Lando, Jannah and even Finn would work. But it was so randomly placed at the very end of the movie that it just seemed like the writers had no idea what to do with either character.

Also I did not like the fact Lando never had a scene with Leia in the movie, just simply one scene where the two reminisce about old times or talk about Han would have been good but instead we had another Star Wars alum return and not interact with anyone else from the alumni cast.

The Resistance:

I mentioned the Resistance a bit with most characters but here is my problem with them as an organization, they are not organised! The Resistance was formed in Episode IV to thwart the Empire, they destroyed two Death Stars and seemingly saw the death of the Emperor...when in actuality the Emperor survived and simply rebranded the Empire into the First Order so they failed on their main mission.

Then for the last three movies what exactly have they achieved? Because I cannot point out one successful thing this organisation has managed to achieve on their own. Rey was the one to kill the Emperor which saw the end of the First/Final Order, all the Resistance did was provide cannon fodder.

Also, when Lando finally arrived with the cavelry, I don’t know if they were trying to imply that some of the voices you heard were cameos from the shows but again, I don’t watch the shows. I know I saw both John Williams and Lin Minuel Miranda in cameo roles during the big air battle which I felt were both good and bad elements because they were so random but all in all, I have never been a fan of the Resistance.

Also Greg Grunberg, I like the actor, I liked him on Heroes, I know he is friends with JJ Abrams...but there is doing your friend a solid, and then there is making your movie more pointless then it needs to be. He was unnecessary and I’m glad he died.

Villains:

Okay so I have labelled this section “Villains” because I don’t think even they know what they’re calling themselves anymore. They were originally the First Order, then they changed their name to the Final Order, this got laughs from my audience because it was so stupid. Then Palpatine tried creating his new Empire which lasted all of 5 minutes...there was no order to this First, Final or Any Order.

As for Palpatine himself, his return was very abrupt as it was right at the start of the movie. I did enjoy the atmosphere they set up around the villain with the lightning and the desolate wasteland but what was with that fecking crane? I get he has no legs but the result was him looking more like a Dementor than the all-powerful formidable Emperor Palpatine.

Also, he mentioned how “The dark side of the force grants powers unthinkable”...which still doesn’t explain how he is still alive or reborn after being thrown down that tunnel in Episode VI.

Again, the reveal of him having Rey as a granddaughter came out of nowhere because we never knew Palpatine had a family, despite the fact Palpatine is one of few characters we have seen throughout the first two trilogies.

I did appreciate them establishing Ben and Rey’s bond as a type off life force energy which Palpatine utilised to rejuvenate himself. Although why he didn’t rejuvinate himself back to human form rather than the wrinkled old man is beyond me.

In regards to the First Order, the reveal that General Hux was in fact a spy giving secrets to the Resistance was again laughable, just him revealing “I’m the spy!” was enough to make me laugh.

Again Domnhall Gleeson is a good actor but this role has been so extreme and overdramatic that it has become a cartoon rather than a legitimate threat.

As for Richard E. Grant, people are really quick to insult Idris Elba for Cats but I think the actor who needs a word with his agent is Richard because, as much as he loves this franchise, he wasn’t quite enthralled in the world and rather seemingly playing the part of someone who is lucky enough to be on the movie.

My final point is on the fact that Palpatine claimed he is the culmination of all the Sith, meaning he has all the souls of all the past Sith in him. This is quite reminiscent to me of the Dark Swan arc in Once Upon a Time where Emma, and later Hook, became the Dark One and was able to summon all the past Dark Ones.

However, unlike Rey who was able to hear the voices of all the past Jedi, we only heard two past Sith Lords voices in Vader and Snoke. I know it wouldn’t be right to provide new voice clips for most of them because Christopher Lee, who portrayed Dooku, is sadly dead, but just to hear Darth Maul, Dooku and even General Grievous along with Vader and Snoke would have been a nice touch.

Meanwhile on the Jedi side you apparently had the voices of Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan both young and old, Mace Windu, Luke Skywalker, Yoda...and then you have a bunch of others who I don’t know because I don’t watch Clone Wars or Rebels so I didn’t recognise any of them.

Future:

Alright so where does the future of this franchise leave us...well we know that Disney+ is currently making waves with The Mandalorian and will soon to be hopefully making more waves with the Cassian Andor and Obi-Wan Kenobi shows, however in terms of movies I am not sure where they go from here.

I do feel the most logical step is to focus on rebuilding during the hiatus and then coming back stronger.

Overall I rate the movie a 5/10, this movie was a complete hot mess. There were no solid great moments and aside from some great lightsaber battles between Reylo as well as some okay space battles towards the end of the movie, but the story was practically non-existence and there was no finality that the end of an era requires.

So that’s my spoiler review for Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other posts.

[downinfront]

We deserve ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.’

Overstuffed, overcorrecting, and overthought, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a confused, enthralling mess disguised as a love-letter to a fandom that long ago showed they didn't deserve it. It doesn't suffer for lack of craftsmanship or performance or even spirit, necessarily. This is, if nothing else, a very fun movie. But it's content to paint with a broad brush in a way that falls between smug and skittish; Skywalker merrily rehashes old plot lines, digs up old characters (alternate title: Star Wars — Episode IX: Hey, It's That Guy!) and shoehorns any and every element of fan service it can think of on the way to a conclusion that is rather moving in spite of itself. Here, it seems to be saying, is the Star Wars you all wanted.

In this film's defense, pandering might not be the worst thing in the world — the Marvel movies are 75% fan service and are reliably good to very good — but what this one suffers from is a distinct lack of imagination in a way that none of the other movies could truly claim. The prequels had their sprawling, elemental planets; Return of the Jedi had its toy chest of creatures; even Solo had a droid with a sex drive. In contrast, there's nothing in Skywalker you can't see coming, or at least vaguely sense from a mile off.

That's doubly disappointing in the wake of Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi, which gleefully set fire to almost every Star Wars plot convention and took the new films' dangling story threads in strange, interesting new directions. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) turned out to be a grizzled, regret-filled hermit; Poe Dameron's (Oscar Isaac) dashing pigheadedness got a lot of people killed; looming final boss Snoke (Andy Serkis) got sliced in half at the top of Act Three. The fanboys hated it. So, duly chastised, J.J. Abrams returns to the director’s chair, cracks his knuckles and undoes or muddles nearly all of Johnson's creative choices to bring the saga back to safe, more palatable harbor by bringing an old villain back from the dead and awkwardly maneuvering the boat back into the lane he'd laid out in 2015's fun, reverential reboot The Force Awakens.

To its credit, The Rise of Skywalker retains the zippy joy of that ebullient thriller. This is a very enjoyable movie to watch, all constant motion, thundering pathos and a fair amount of genuine emotional weight. But Abrams' rough remolding unwittingly strips away the nuance from a story that had begun to show tantalizing signs of grey. Rey (Daisy Ridley) always had the potential to move (or destroy) worlds and The Last Jedi fascinatingly cast her as a nobody, toying with the idea that anyone possesses the capacity to do great and terrible things. Now, in keeping with the mysterious groundwork Awakens laid about her parentage, she is revealed to be very much somebody, the heiress to legacies both literal and figurative and thus a more fitting wielder of power. The violent longing of the lonely Kylo Ren (an unchallenged Adam Driver) is folded into the resurrection of Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid, still having way more fun than anybody in these movies); for much of Kylo’s screen time he’s an errand boy for the big bad, finally the Darth Vader knockoff he always wanted to be and that much less interesting as a result. Even the people in the new Star Wars want to be in the original Star Wars, seems to be the message. 

Luckily for them, the people making the new ones want to be making the old ones, too. Abrams opens the gates so legacy characters can pass through for a cup of coffee (Hi, Lando!). Dead characters walk as ghosts. Dead actors are oddly though not unlovingly shoehorned into the narrative. (Farewell, Carrie Fisher. It shouldn't have been like this.) It's not all unpleasant. We, too, are fans of Star Wars, and watching the Millennium Falcon lead an armada into the final battle is not without its visual grandeur, nor is the battle between Rey and Kylo on the splintered, shipwrecked hull of the Death Star. But I kept wishing there was more of Keri Russell's masked bandit, or Kelly Marie Tran's rudely sidelined Rose Tico, or even John Boyega's Finn, who went from rudderless turncoat to generic good guy so fast it barely registered. (Luckily, Boyega's not-asexual chemistry with Poe is one of the movie's consistently entertaining high points, but his connection with another rebel played by Naomi Ackie goes underexplored.) 

That these fascinating characters — born into loss and trauma and the responsibility of finishing the work their parents abandoned — are forced to cede the stage to the familiar comforts of Good vs. Evil may make the internet happy, but it does no service to a story whose charm always lay in its complexity and its imagination. As it is, Rise of Skywalker doesn't have a lot of either. It wants to love and be loved unconditionally and collapses under the weight of its own devotion. It's an IOU that knows not what it's apologizing for, a beautiful bouquet that smells like your ex. It is, undoubtedly, the Star Wars we wanted; it is, depressingly, the Star Wars we deserve.

[lexrambeau]

The Rise of Skywalker mood board

[jersonordavid]

365 Films Part 8: 321/365

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

[wellhotdameron]

oh also is anyone talking about the fact that tros lowkey said luke/lando rights

[awesome-puffin]

fuck reylo honestly

shit tier ship

[synthetic-hearted-midgardian]

If you haven’t read “Star Wars: Resistance Reborn” by Rebecca Roanhorse yet I HIGHLY recommend you do so in the remaining week until Ep. 9 is released. Reasons include, but are not limited too:

There’s a breakdown of what resources and teams the Resistance still has available across the galaxy. (including Black squadron)

An original trilogy character, Wedge Antilles, is back.

You can see Poe being completely and utterly enchanted by every single thing Finn does. Finn is totally clueless; so if that dynamic is your jam you will be gifted and ascend to another dimension.

It fills in some of the blanks between The Last Jedi and whenever the hell Rise of Skywalker is gonna pick up. 

Maz is back in all her glory

Some, but not nearly enough, Finn and Rey interactions and signs of how close they are despite so little time together.

Leia being a mom and showing glimpses of the writers’ original plan where Leia is the “Last Jedi” who trains Rey and the next generation.

Going back to Wedge; he and Luke “...were young men together...” and basically everything I’ve ever said about them doing the do is canon it’s confirmed no one say anything just let me have this thank the force

Anyway, read it because it’s so full of space gays: and based on everything the cast has been saying we’re going to get jack-squat in the movie so get the quality content before hand.

p.s. If you have read it I’d love to talk to you about it, so please message me if you want :)

[ogradyfilm]

The Rise of Skywalker: Letting the Past Die

[WARNING: MAJOR STAR WARS SPOILERS BELOW!]

Return of the Jedi’s controversial revelation that Leia was actually Luke’s twin sister all along has never really bothered me. In my mind, it was always as much a part of the series’ DNA as Vader being Luke’s father; it was, after all, added to the canon before I was born, so I just accepted it, no questions asked.

It sure pissed off plenty of viewers back in 1983, though.

From my first viewing, I have considered The Rise of Skywalker to be perfectly enjoyable; its visual style is absolutely breathtaking, and its various chase scenes, sword fights, and space battles are fun and exciting in the moment. My personal problems with the film exist on a broader, more fundamental level: I simply feel that it fails to serve as a satisfying grand finale because it refuses to build on the themes introduced in the previous installments.

The earlier episodes of the Sequel Trilogy laid such a promising foundation: The Force Awakens explored a galaxy trapped in the shadows of its own dark past, while The Last Jedi argued that the new heroes would need to learn from their predecessors’ mistakes in order to break the cycle of war and violence. The Rise of Skywalker squanders nearly all of that tantalizing potential, instead recycling old, familiar twists and plot devices. Consequently, it’s about as generic and formulaic as the franchise gets—safe, comfortable, and utterly predictable.

As I reflect on my… complicated relationship with the movie, however, I am forced to acknowledge that it doesn’t truly belong to me. When future generations of Star Wars enthusiasts sit down to experience The Rise of Skywalker for the first time, their eyes unclouded by hype and overinflated expectations, will they even care that J.J. Abrams needlessly revised Rey’s origins, or that the unexplained revival of Emperor Palpatine was gratuitous at best?

As an unrepentant Prequel Trilogy apologist, who the hell am I to judge?

This will be my last word on the topic of Episode IX; it’s time to take Yoda’s advice and let go of my anger—before the Dark Side of this fandom consumes me as it has so many others.

[the-rageaholic]

Servin’ up some piping hot rantcakes!

[that-shamrock-vibe]

Movie Review: Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Spoiler Warning: I am posting this review the day the movie formally drops in the U.K, so if you haven’t yet seen the movie don’t read on.

General Reaction:

This is singularly and categorically the most frustrating movie I have ever seen and I genuinely mean that!

I have walked away from this, I believe, two and a half hour movie and have had maybe 3 hours to digest what I have just seen and I still do not know whether or not I enjoyed what I saw or found it completely frustrating.

I know I've talked about my history with Star Wars with the last 4 movies that Disney has released, but I for these two reviews it is imperative to cement my relationship with this universe going in because it should help make my case for my opening statement.

To clarify, when it comes to the Star Wars universe, I only know the movies. I am not old enough to have grown up with the original saga before seeing The Phantom Menace but I did complete the original trilogy before seeing Revenge of the Sith and have watched those first six movies in chronological order numerous times because I am that sad.

When it comes to the Disney-era movies, as I mentioned I have seen all four that have come before Episode IX and again enjoyed all of them to different degrees.

I have not however seen any TV series, as in the animated Clone Wars and Rebels series nor The Mandalorian. I don't really have time to commit to TV shows, particularly the length of animated shows, and with regards to the recent Mandalorian I've had university work to keep me occupied.

I have also not read any Star Wars novel or comic, the main reason for both of these, aside from the time constraints, is because I don't enjoy homework and that's what both the TV and book series feel like.

I get the point of movies these days is to franchise with an expansive universe and, to it's credit, Star Wars was the first franchise to start this despite the MCU simply doing it better.

However, I am not as die hard a Star Wars fan that I want to find the time to fit all of this expansive universe viewing and reading in to get the most out of my enjoyment of the movies, let alone can. I enjoy the movies just fine, and have not yet found a situation in the movies to dig a little deeper into the Star Wars mythology...save for one particular scene in Solo: A Star Wars Movie which I’ll get into during my spoiler review.

The reason I won’t go into why I felt a small urge in Solo of all Star Wars movies is because the element in question from that movie I would have used during this movie but they don’t. In fact, The Rise of Skywalker should really be called The Fandom Menace because, despite the fact this movie promises a lot and delivers some good stuff, it does not deliver on what the Star Wars fandom has either theorised or to a degree been promised, again save for two aspects of fan service that go absolutely nowhere.

In fact “The Rise of Skywalker” as a title is the biggest tease and letdown of the movie. It’s the movie’s biggest promise and equally its greatest obstacle particularly after you’ve seen it once and discover why it is such a letdown.

I will also say, because of how shaky this “sequel trilogy” has been in the development of the characters, they seem to be wanting to wrap everything up, promising this as the “End of the Skywalker saga” which seems to also be a false promise when your title is “The Rise of Skywalker” which in itself is a complete and utter cheat and I will definitely talk about that in the spoiler review, but what the to-do list is really is to both wrap up the original trilogy because they included the original characters and borrowed from the actual original movies HEAVILY, but also wrapping up this new trilogy because I do believe that Disney have heard the backlash this trilogy have been getting and so are trying to not have us go back to this trilogy in future as was the biggest mistake for this trilogy.

But what actually happens is not only do the “wrap ups” seem either rushed, forced and/or sloppy as hell, but then you have new things cropping up or still unanswered questions which either prod or demand exploration in a sequel. I know Star Wars is getting the Disney+ spin-off series treatment but I don’t think LucasFilm are as bold as Kevin Feige, or as successful, and therefore won’t bombard the Disney+ schedule with shows.

It is a shame this trilogy has somewhat fizzled out the way it has because there are new characters and concepts introduced during the trilogy that I would enjoy seeing continue, because I’ve either liked them from the start or have been rooting for them and they finally had their pay-off moment here.

But if Star Wars ever wants to stand a chance at reclaiming its former glory not only as one of the most beloved universes in film but also, even with the prequel trilogy, one of the most successful cinematic universes, then I believe this extended hiatus is a blessing since Benioff & Weiss dropped out of a future trilogy for everyone in-house from Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy to even the actors involved such as the newer main cast to revise what the last four years have amounted to for the franchise and what the takeaways can be from it.

Cast:

All this being said, there are still good and impressive points to this movie, largely in the cast of the movie. It is just a shame that for the large part they will be affiliated with such a shambles of a movie.

The sequel trilogy’s new trinity of characters finally all come into their own in this movie with not only the three of them actually sharing a reasonable amount of screen time together but also the three of them falling into their respective roles that particularly made the likes of Han, Leia and Luke so loved.

However, while Daisy Ridley finally comes into her own as a Jedi and the bromance between Poe and Finn is reignited, the writing and pacing of the movie does very much fall back into that rushed wrapping up I touched on earlier because they haven’t really been that way for the entirety of The Last Jedi.

I really don’t understand the fascination with either Kylo Ren or Adam Driver personally. While I do think they’ve played on the two sides of the same coin angle not just with Rey and Kylo but also Kyle and Ben rather well and Driver does play both quite well, Kylo Ren is no Darth Vader yet that’s the road they’ve been trying to take the character down.

It’s also a very sad and somewhat distracting aspect for this to be Carrie Fisher’s final outing as Leia, Distracting because of course Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing almost three years ago to the day casts a looming shadow over this movie, but sad because as great as digital reconstruction can be, and Star Wars can definitely say they are early pioneers of it, doesn’t change the fact that there Leia’s scenes are being scrutinised to see which lines are archive footage, where there’s a body double and ultimately how the character and actress will be honoured in their final scenes...unfortunately as a whole they do not pay off.

But speaking of old favourites, three aspects of this franchise that will never get old for me are the Droids, Chewie and Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian. As much as Donald Glover tried during Solo, no one does Lando like Billy Dee.

Chewie I became surprisingly emotionally invested in during this movie.

Meanwhile, R2-D2, BB-8, C-3PO and even new droid D-O are essentially the house fixtures, you could not imagine a Star Wars movie without them.

The rest of the cast are serviceable, despite their roles either being minimal or laughable. Not only do the returning minor characters continue to either be minor or practically invisible, but the new characters they introduce simply take away extra screen time to further develop our main cast.

Recommendation:

I can’t not advise people to see this movie, particularly if you have followed the Skywalker saga (all nine-movies or even just this trilogy). I do not believe a virgin to this universe seeing this movie would get any enjoyment out of it aside from the occasional laugh either with it or at it.

It’s definitely not a great movie, I can’t even say it’s commercially a good movie but I think it’s a movie that needs to be seen for the pure and simple reason of closure for the trilogy. I for one as an Aspergic OCD individual cannot leave things unfinished. If I start something I have to finish it and I do believe for the foreseeable this is finished.

What I will say in the movie’s defence is if you do find something in this movie you like, defend and support the movie for it because I feel it is going to need all the help it can get.

So that’s my non-spoiler review of Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker, what did you guys think? Post your comments and check out more Movie Reviews as well as other reviews and posts.