Corpse Run 937: The Rise of Oyyyyyyyyy
Ok so I saw The Rise of Skywalker. I’m not going to mention anything specifically spoiler-y here in case my opinion might color your impression of the movie or if there are any user comments below that contain information, let this be a potential spoiler warning.
Before we talk about the movie, here’s a picture my girlfriend drew and I love it.
OK NON-SPOILER (MAYBE) MOVIE TALK TIME:
Initially coming out of the theater my opinion was that while I was pleasantly surprised with how much fun I had watching the movie and how generally on board I was with the thematic choices they made, there was one issue that stuck out like such a sore thumb that I felt it ruined all the decent things that they established.
This was the high point for my opinion of the movie.
The more time I spent thinking about the plot, the more and more not just the “trilogy” came apart at the seams but the entire established narrative of the main Star Wars series. I’m not just talking about unexpected events: I’m talking about retconning major narrative points, I’m talking about removing the significance of the original trilogy, I’m talking about failing to understand the major thematic message of their own story.
Given that the sequel trilogy had the creative control change hands between each movie, this can’t really be called a trilogy at all. The Last Jedi undid elements that were set up in The Force Awakens, and The Rise of Skywalker undid elements of The Last Jedi but could not save the seeds that were planted in The Force Awakens. The end result was a set of three movies that are definitely fun on their own but are otherwise a confusing mess of plot points and characters that are constantly at odds with each other.
I’ll admit that I had a ton of fun watching The Rise of Skywalker, the setpieces were excellent and the action as fun and engaging. The movie was a total nostalgia trip that had numerous “oooooh” and “ahhhhh” moments that made me giddy.
…but that’s all it is: a fun nostalgia trip that feels more like a really interesting fanfiction than the final act in a trilogy produced by a multi-billion dollar company that has every possible resource to make the best movie they can.
Yep, there was no point to these movies. Just disney brand spectacle. Thats not bad, but neither is it a classic.
I now wonder if the reason Disney isn’t going to do the Trilogy format for future Star Wars movies is because, narratively, they realized they didn’t do a good job of doing that for the Sequel Trilogy and are now going to go slowly so they can try to get it right at some point down the line.
I’m a big critic of episodes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8, but I thought that 9 was great.
If you disconsider the wrong choices in episodes 7 and 8, the movie feels like a great ending for the Skywalker saga.
It gives plenty of new pieces and touches a lot of stuff from the original trilogy without spoon-feeding it to the audience.
It also delivers a lot for us that read the DH comics.
Looking at the discrepancy between professional critics and the general public in the tomato meter for episodes 8 and 9 (which interestingly are opposite to each other), I feel that I’m not alone in this line of thought.
While I have no qualms with 1 and 6 (and I really did not like 2 and 3), I have to agree with your main point here. I think you hit the nail on the head in looking objectively at the 9 as a continuation of the Skywalker saga. I think this is why I thoroughly enjoyed the last movie: I pulls those nostalgia moments and rolls them into the story and legacy of the Skywalker name. I really enjoyed the dichotomy between the two main characters, and while the origin was a bit contrived, so was the majority of the Star Wars saga (contrived), so it really felt nice to call back to the core of what the Star Wars story was about: the most powerful jedi line and how they shaped the course of this section of history.
The extended edition book for “Rise of Skywalker” had a bit more info, and also included the opening that they didn’t go with. Was a fun read. I enjoyed the movie, tho