I guess I shouldn't delay the inevitable expression of my thoughts on the (supposed) closing chapter of the Skywalker saga...Star Wars, The Rise of Skywalker. I've refrained from posting comments earlier for two reasons. I didn't want to divulge any spoilers and I needed to see the movie again and have some time to process.
So yes, there may be SPOILERS in this post. You've been forewarned.
First, like the yellow crawl before each Star Wars movie, let me provide some context. I loved the original trilogy, was disappointed by the prequels and was skeptical when a closing trilogy was announced. I thought The Force Awakens started well and then faltered in the second half as it pretty much mirrored the original A New Hope and Return of the Jedi with yet another attack on a planet killing base. But I gave TFA some room for doubt because I assumed it was a movie that was simply laying the foundations for a larger and greater story. I remember walking out of the theater on first viewing and thinking to myself that at least it was better than the prequels (although my estimation for Revenge of the Sith has only grown over the years).
Then, The Last Jedi screwed everything up. Trust me, I wanted a fresh and original story. But the execution of the new directions explored in TLJ was sloppy and amateurish. The casino side story was a narrative waste. The Holdo Maneuver was a cheap cop out. The Poe Mutiny was unnecessary. The throwing away of Admiral Akbar's character, unforgivable. Unfortunately any criticism of the Rose Tico character has been shielded with automatic responses that you must be racist if you didn't like her. Yes, there were terrible racist trolls who cyber-bullied Kelly Marie Tran on her instagram page. That is despicable behavior. But that shouldn't rule out legitimate criticism of a poorly conceived and executed character. I found Rose's sister a much more compelling figure in just the few seconds she had onscreen. Rose's character was introduced clumsily and even more clumsily forced into a romantic relationship with Finn when his feelings toward Rey had already been alluded to. It felt like forced inclusion of ethnic diversity rather than an organic relationship.
TLJ reeked with "look how clever I am" direction from Rian Johnson. Look, I'm going to take everything JJ set up in TFA and flush it down the toilet. The opening scene of Luke throwing his light saber away over his shoulder was a "screw you" to both JJ Abrams and Star Wars fans. All the Star Wars fans I know don't mind their expectations subverted if done in an entertaining way that's faithful to the character development previously established. TLJ was simply a hack job done in lazy fashion. I could go on and on about the deficiencies of TLJ, but this post was originally supposed to be about my thoughts on The Rise of Skywalker. So I'll end my TLJ rant there.
And with the fear that this post is getting too lengthy I'll post my detailed thoughts on TROS tomorrow. But suffice it to say. I left the theater both times I saw it satisfied. It was a very well done course correction...a massive attempt to fix what had been ruined in TLJ. But I have some overall thoughts about whether or not this new trilogy was necessary and other thoughts on TROS. More tomorrow.
