Our take on... Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker
This film marks a lot of endings in the current iteration of “Star Wars” movies. It brings to an end the sequel trilogy, the end of a new series of five films (“The Force Awakens”, “Rogue One”, “The Last Jedi”, “Solo”, and this film), and the end of the Skywalker saga (for now). With that in mind, there was a lot of pressure on this film from fans and critics alike. Not to mention the behind the scenes turmoil of original director Colin Trevorrow (“Jurassic World”) leaving the film, and director of “The Force Awakens” JJ Abrams stepping in. In addition, it was going to be interesting to see how some of the negative backlash that “The Last Jedi” received was going to be addressed.
Rather than focus on all these outside factors and let them distract from the story he wants to tell, Abrams has instead decided to approach the film in the same way that George Lucas approached “Return of the Jedi” and has delivered a fast paced adventure film that has location hopping and ancient artefact chasing elements more associated with Indiana Jones. We get plenty of new and unique worlds, new and returning characters, and the expanding of force powers which may seem jarring at first, but the film does a good job of explaining how these new powers work and why we haven’t seen them before.
The cast have all grown into their roles at this stage, and the two leads in Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver are excellent in their roles as Rey and Kylo Ren respectively. John Boyega’s Finn is given a lot more to do than he had in “The Last Jedi”, and Oscar Isaac’s Poe continues to be the Han Solo of this series. It’s great to see Mark Hamill and Billy Dee Williams return once again, and Skellig Michael represents Ireland once again and looks amazing on the screen.
While it may not be to the taste of all the fans of the series (what is?) “The Rise of Skywalker” is a satisfying end to a saga that started in 1977. It’s a non-stop, straight forward, old fashioned adventure film that has the feel of the original trilogy, rather than the complicated politics of the prequel trilogy. Given the fact that we’re going to be stuck in for a little while longer, what better time to complete the collection by getting this film on DVD or Blu Ray (Resistance Edition or First Order Edition), and taking a day or two and watch the series from start to finish. “In which order” you ask? I’ll leave that up to you!
These are the intergalactic planetary thoughts of our man Kevin Dillon.
