Released: 20th December 2019
Length: 142 Minutes
Certificate: 12A
Director: J.J Abrams
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Ian McDiarmid, Kelly Marie Train and Richard E. Grant
Disney’s foray into Star Wars has been on a peculiar journey over the last four years; it came out swinging with The Force Awakens, only to hit a snag when the middle chapter of the trilogy arrived. Following an enormous amount of divisiveness with 2017’s The Last Jedi, the ninth and proposed final film in the long running saga has arrived, with decidedly mixed results.
One year after the events of the previous film, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) has become the new supreme leader of the first order and has discovered an old enemy; the Emperor (once again played by Ian McDiarmid) has returned from the dead and plans to raise a gigantic planet-destroying fleet to ensure the Sith’s ultimate victory. It’s up to Rey (Daisy Ridley), her friends Finn (John Boyega), Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and the rest of the resistance to make a final push to end the threat. It’s a mad dash across the galaxy to many planets and McGuffins as Episode IX scrambles to conjure up a conclusion to the venerable mainline series. Right from the word go, The Rise of Skywalker is a course correction; following a very wonky reincorporation of Palpatine in its opening, the film drops us right into the action with barely a moment to breath, with numerous contrivances and wonky transitions polluting the narrative. There’s a lot going on the film, but very little of it lands with the impact it aims for; twists and reveals come and go without much weight, the new elements feel very uninspired and as a grand finale to a tale we’ve been following for over forty years, it really doesn’t feel like a strong culmination. The strong base established in the sequel trilogy’s opening has not reached a standout climax, which speaks volumes of a mishandled cinematic roadmap.
While the cast of the sequel trilogy remains committed, the end of their journeys in Rise of Skywalker certainly leave much to be desired. Daisy Ridley is still great as Rey and she’s given plenty to do throughout the narrative, but this quality has become more of a minority than anything else. The other character arcs and their conclusions feel very flimsy, especially for both John Boyega and Oscar Isaac; the potential Finn and Poe had at first, the backstories that are left on the backburner, very little of it is really capitalised on to create a compelling payoff. The one exception here is Kylo Ren; with another strong performance from Adam Driver and some emotive moments, he’s the only other main member of the cast who feels wholly coherent. Other side characters have some light impact to the plot, but the second major problem is that there’s simply too many of them. New faces such as fellow First Order turn cloak Jannah (Naomi Ackie) and Poe’s old flame Zorri Bliss (Keri Russel) have a very difficult time fitting into the story due to a lack of build-up and development. Having missed the boat in the last episode, it feels as if these characters were pushed in to form flimsy connections to threads that were left hanging at the end of The Force Awakens. The appearance of older faces like Palpatine and Billy Dee Williams’ Lando Calrissian range from middling to insufficient as both characters have rather miniscule roles that don’t justify their presence in the film. In short, with so much to wrap up, Episode XI has a difficult time juggling so many different characters, diluting the story’s impact even further.
Moving away from the striking visual aesthetic of Episode VIII, The Rise of Skywalker falls back on the sleeker style that characterises J.J Abrams’ productions. It’s another dazzling presentation style with plenty of memorable visuals and moments of massive scale. The most notable sequence is a showdown amid the ruins of the second death star; with the atmospheric rain and enormous wreckage looming large in the background. Despite the plot’s lack of justification for it, the final confrontation is a feast for the eyes with an enormous battle between multiple armadas of ships. Each action scene is shot well, though when transferring between sequences, things can feel a bit choppy as scenes begin skipping over the characters travelling between locations. The soundtrack feels lacklustre as well, relying too much on nostalgic notes from John Williams’ previous efforts to punctuate the scenes. The final chapter of Star Wars still looks the part, but it’s not without its inconsistencies; a spectacle that lacks the depth it desperately needed.
With its rushed plot and flimsy execution in accounting for its predecessor’s controversies, Star Wars Episode IX stands as a large let-down. While it isn’t the worst of the series, the film tries to do so much and ends up amounting to very little; the performances do well enough and the effects remain strong, but The Rise of Skywalker is far from a worthy conclusion to the once mighty sci-fi opera.
Rating: 2.5/5 Stars (Mediocre)
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