Movie Review Star Wars The Rise Of Skywalker

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2019 – Spoiler Alerts What? Still no Jar-Jar? Lol. Seriously, there is much to like here but rather more to be disappointed by. It is often visually stunning and they work very well round the limited footage available of the late great Carrie Fisher. There are a few neat cameos, some more expected than others. One family reunion is particularly emotional. Then there are the negatives. Much of the film is a McGuffin hunt quest, with each McGuffin just leading to the next. Find a blade, find the wayfarer, find the hidden planet, find the hidden fleet and the hidden once dead Emperor. Find someone who can literally deprogram C3PO. His memory wipe is poignant but he gets it all back five minutes later. The Emperor and his fleet are on a planet no one can find without one of two wayfinders though the fleet needs a crew of thousands and its ships are further hidden under ice in case someone does find the satnav wayfinder I guess. The heroes all sink in quicksand but it just drops them in a cave tunnel underneath - though only and and water, nothing stops the quicksand just falling through to the floor of the cave. It is supported on nothing. People die, oh no they don’t - here they are safe and sound. Chewbacca got blown up, but no, he’s not actually on that very ship we plainly saw him being taken onto by his captors. Kylo’s got a fatal chest wound, but it’s OK Rey has some new convenient super-Jedi healing touch and he’s OK and returns the favour later. As for Palpatine, he’s OK too, and says himself it is just a supernatural power. I’ll say. We saw him plummet down a deep shaft. Now to be fair, Luke did the same one film earlier but that shaft wasn’t on a space station that was about to explode like a supernova. The chunks found on the sea-world by Rey and co have also been through a planet’s atmosphere. Rey, a desert scavenger, navigates a small skiff boat through a raging sea storm that would not be easily crossed by an experienced round the World yacht crew. Lando is found on Pasaana having gone there with Luke in search for the Wayfarer but stayed there 30 years after Luke left. Why? Lando laughs his way through everything, and gets no chance to react to the deaths of Han, or Leia. Zoni Bliss – tendency to stay more helmeted than Judge Dredd, looks like a romantic interest, but not seen enough. Rey is Palpatine’s Grand-daughter!!!! Just when did he find time to have a family? Second Death Star remains are treated as a secret despite the size of the bits. They would have been vapourized. Jannah, another new instant love interest, (for Finn who has lost interest in Rose after their near sacrifice for each other last movie) with an urge to take totally impractical cavalry into a space battle, (She seems reminiscent of Valkerie in Endgame). Mutual healing, Jedi teleportation (used to steal jewellery from round someone’s neck) and no love interest at all. The original (middle) trilogy was hinged on the Luke/Leia/Han triangle, that might have got incestuous if Luke hadn’t learned the truth in time. The prequels were a Romeo & Juliet tragedy for Anekin & Amadala. This time we get Finn & Rey, abandoned for Finn & Rose abandoned for er ….. Jannah likes Finn, but ends the film flirting with Lando, (come and see my old spaceship little girl….) Rey gets to kiss Kylo right before he drops dead. It is a bizarrely soul-less romance free finale. Arthur Chappell