Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Movie Review: Saga Comes To An End With A Dud!

Duration: 142 minutes
Language: English

Story: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker starts a year after, The Last Jedi ended, where the Empire has lost to the Rebellion once again and is gathering more forces to raise another fleet. It's when an old formidable force comes to their aid, The Sith. On the other hand, Rey and the Rebellion are in their own search for allies to help them win the war over the Galaxy. Kylo Ren and Rey are forming a strong bond, which makes her wonder if she has the strength to not reach out for his hand, with visions of joining the Dark Side clouding her mind.

Review: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was one of the most awaited releases among the fanatics since it will not only wrap up an entire saga, it will bound to answer questions regarding the beloved character, The Force, Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo, Rey, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Skywalker. While the original trilogy and prequels had stories about love, hope, sacrifice, and betrayal, we now have a female protagonist being thrown around in sticky situations. With amazing imagery, locations, good cast, and sheer nostalgia, Disney has brought the Star Wars franchise so far.

The film starts with its iconic intro, 'In a galaxy far far away,' where the dead now do more than sharing advice to their apprentices. We are introduced to Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) right away and are dropped into the action, on an unknown planet he is fighting for a Wayfinder that takes him into the uncharted parts of the galaxy aka to the Sith colony. On the other hand, rather immediately, Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) and the rebellion find out about Palpatine being alive and joining forces with Kylo. Back at the new rebellion base, with very few crew members to spare for an adventure, the main characters Rey, Poe and Fin head out to hunt their own Wayfinder.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker looks amazing from the start to the last minute and has some of the most incredible action sequences, (if you can count them as such) but it lacks in almost everything else. We don't see a character arc or any set of emotions from Rey, Poe or Fin. They are all given a single feeling and they carry it out faithfully till the end. Rey is the struggling one, Fin is brooding over something that we never find out about even though it is mentioned several times. Poe truly doesn't have much to do, he is the reckless pilot who always does something crazy, apologises and ends up the general of the rebellion. He is supposed to have Han Solo's charisma and the brains but he seems to lack both. Adam Driver has done his best as Kylo and he actually has a little more spotlight than the others, rightfully. (Spoiler: That too is such a waste in the end.)

Throughout the 142 minutes of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, we have the main characters being puppeteered around from one adventure to the other, one location to the other, just to join some plot dots from the original trilogy. We have the cast jumping at light speed so often in this one that the whole problem of fuel and aircraft's limits of jumping to light speed from The Last Jedi seems insignificant. If you think Princess Leia coming to the aircraft like Mary Poppins was more than enough, we have matter moving in time and space in this one.

All leading up to one moment in the scene which could have been done better. Also, now everyone can feel the force, the dead can use the force from the other side and make things happen as Luke Skywalker (played by Mark Hamill) returns for his apprenticeship.

The makers of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker have concentrated on the plot more than the character arc, which gives us repetitive material, as there is a lot of unnecessary back and forth between the characters. Even though we undoubtedly will miss the late Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, the old footage used in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker adds to some awkward screenplay.

There are so many subplots and character additions that you can't bother to be affected by anyone. As for the deaths, the only one time you can truly feel emotions flowing off the screen is when Leia passes on and Chewie finds out, he is now truly alone from the old franchise.

One very evident move in the filmmakers' plan on chasing in with the franchise is adding small characters with big eyes. Since younger Yoda, baby Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy and Wall E have been fan favourites, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will introduce you to species or characters that make you want to go 'aww' every 15 minutes.

Overall, the entire new Star Wars trilogy ends with a soft blow that is only a reminder of how much better the original films of the series were. With all the connections to the old films now gone, there is no telling what will happen to Star Wars. Since the franchise is still bringing in big bucks, we are sure to get more films in the Star Wars universe. But that may probably run low on the story and make fans reminisce the first few films.