I went into Rise of Skywalker with high hopes. I’d read a few reviews that called it disappointing, but I don’t think those reviewers really get Star Wars. They said it was predictable, didn’t break enough new ground, and undid too much of The Last Jedi’s progress. Knowing these potential shortcomings going in, I was prepared for a fun romp with lots of cool action scenes, but that doesn’t blow me away with originality. So, how did it measure up to my expectations?
I loved it. It had lots of action, great special effects, and it wrapped up this trilogy quite nicely. And what's more, I actually like The Last Jedi a bit more now, now that I can see where things were going. If I have one complaint about The Rise of Skywalker, it's that it's damn near exhausting. There's almost no downtime, no good time for a bathroom break, and it jumps from scene to scene so quickly at times that my brain was still processing events from three scenes ago.
It's two hours and twenty one minutes, but it still feels over-edited in places, like they wanted to guarantee we wouldn't get bored. Which is not to say it's all action. But even the expositional scenes kept up the pace. After watching the world's slowest car chase in space in The Last Jedi, this movie really sped things up.
The reviewers who called it “disappointing” mostly complained about what wasn’t in the movie, and I don’t like that. Always review a movie for what it is, not what it isn’t. It’s true that Rise of Skywalker commits the same sins as Force Awakens – it retreads too much on past ground, and it doesn’t do much new or clever with the series. Oh darn. I wish the prequels had been that “disappointing.”
…So I’m torn here. On the one hand, I think everyone is entitled to their opinion. We all want different things out of movies, and one person’s trash is another ones treasure, yada yada yada. But… This a fantastic movie. It has everything I want out of a Star Wars film. And if you don’t like it, then I don’t like you.
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