399: Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker

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[00:01:02] Let's get to the final film in the sequel Star Wars trilogy,

[00:01:06] which is Star Wars Episode IX, The Rise of Skywalker.

[00:01:10] And this one came out in 2019.

[00:01:13] It's directed by J.J. Abrams.

[00:01:15] Stars pretty much the same cast as the others.

[00:01:19] And the synopsis is a surviving resistance

[00:01:23] faces the First Order once again

[00:01:25] in the conclusion of the Skywalker saga.

[00:01:28] So I believe we did review this one

[00:01:29] back when it first came out.

[00:01:31] So you can check out that review.

[00:01:33] But it's been a while since I'd watched it

[00:01:35] all the way through.

[00:01:36] And I think that it's one that is generally considered

[00:01:41] to be the worst and a pretty disappointing conclusion,

[00:01:45] which after having seen it maybe three times now,

[00:01:49] all the way through, I would agree.

[00:01:51] I think it's not horrible,

[00:01:54] but considering this is seemingly the last one

[00:01:57] in the Skywalker saga after nine movies,

[00:02:00] it is pretty disappointing.

[00:02:02] And I remember seeing some, I think, interview

[00:02:04] with J.J. Abrams saying that he's a little disappointed

[00:02:08] and or the movie production was rushed.

[00:02:12] And that's something I really do not understand.

[00:02:15] I understand that there are a lot of moving pieces

[00:02:17] and you need to keep up with certain trends

[00:02:20] or release dates, whatever.

[00:02:22] But I think rushing the last movie

[00:02:25] in really the most successful franchise of all time

[00:02:28] seems absurd.

[00:02:29] And I don't know why, like,

[00:02:30] hey, let's take an extra year to get this out.

[00:02:33] And maybe there's some underlying reason

[00:02:36] where they said, hey, we have to do it, whatever.

[00:02:38] But it still seems from what I understand,

[00:02:40] from my point of view, it's like,

[00:02:41] why would you rush this?

[00:02:42] And it feels rushed.

[00:02:43] The script feels rushed.

[00:02:45] The overall connections and how things are tying

[00:02:48] to previous films and et cetera, et cetera

[00:02:51] is feels really lazy, very poorly thought out.

[00:02:55] And so I think that I am with the majority once again.

[00:02:59] I think this is by far the worst.

[00:03:00] It's the only one I really would not even give a pass to.

[00:03:04] I would say maybe I'm close to a three,

[00:03:07] but so far it's been around two and a half, two

[00:03:09] for the most part.

[00:03:10] And it's eons worse than seven and eight.

[00:03:16] And I think that while there are still certain elements

[00:03:18] of the movie that I like and I want to love it,

[00:03:20] you know, I want to defend it to end of the earth

[00:03:24] and say it's amazing, but I just can't get there yet.

[00:03:26] And I don't think I'm ever going to.

[00:03:28] But starting off with some things I do like.

[00:03:31] The opening sequence with Rin and Palpatine.

[00:03:35] I like that.

[00:03:36] And overall, the movie looks very good.

[00:03:38] I think the blue and red color palette especially

[00:03:41] looks fantastic.

[00:03:42] It's a great looking movie.

[00:03:44] The festival sequence, whatever you want to call it,

[00:03:47] where there's that chase and they meet Lando.

[00:03:50] I think that's really good.

[00:03:51] The sequence where Rey is facing one-on-one with the ship

[00:03:57] and like jumps in the air and spins,

[00:03:59] that looks awesome.

[00:04:01] And I do like how the reveal of Palpatine is done

[00:04:05] with Rey.

[00:04:06] And the fight between Rey and Rin on that Oceanside

[00:04:12] cliff, ship, whatever it is.

[00:04:14] That's awesome.

[00:04:15] I think visually looks great.

[00:04:17] The choreography like again, as I said in 7 or 8,

[00:04:20] that review, the lightsaber fights are top-notch

[00:04:23] in a variety of ways in all three.

[00:04:25] I'll always praise those regardless of the rest

[00:04:28] of the film.

[00:04:29] But besides that, there's really not a lot of other things

[00:04:33] I'm a big fan of.

[00:04:36] And I think probably the biggest thing is,

[00:04:40] and I teased it in the earlier reviews,

[00:04:42] is that there are so many cop-outs for potential risks

[00:04:47] that they could take with characters and they don't.

[00:04:49] And the biggest thing is I don't necessarily need Rey

[00:04:54] to become evil.

[00:04:55] Like I'm fine with a good character seeing the dark side

[00:04:59] and sort of battling with that.

[00:05:00] I think that's still interesting.

[00:05:02] But I feel like there could have been more done with

[00:05:04] that where maybe she just takes time in the dark side

[00:05:08] and then comes back.

[00:05:09] It all just feels very Russian.

[00:05:10] You know, I get that it's a movie that don't have three

[00:05:13] seasons to flesh it out.

[00:05:14] But I feel like with all of the teases of her potentially

[00:05:17] going to the dark side, being evil, joining Kylo Ren,

[00:05:20] whatever, Palpatine, it doesn't feel very satisfying.

[00:05:25] And so I think all that build-up feels lost in this movie.

[00:05:29] And then I think everything with Palpatine,

[00:05:32] I just I don't really think it needs to be there.

[00:05:34] When they revealed that when this was coming,

[00:05:36] I was like, okay, I don't really need that.

[00:05:39] I don't really care.

[00:05:39] Palpatine is alright in the prequel trilogy, but I didn't

[00:05:44] need to see him again.

[00:05:45] And then Rey being a descendant of Palpatine feels lame.

[00:05:51] And not only that, but probably the biggest thing overall.

[00:05:54] And if I'm misreading something or reaching too far here,

[00:05:59] I apologize, but this is what I got from it is there's

[00:06:02] so much talk through this whole franchise about your

[00:06:06] name doesn't matter.

[00:06:07] You know, it matters what you do with it.

[00:06:09] If you were born into an evil family, into a poor family,

[00:06:12] into a rich family, whatever, you make your own way.

[00:06:15] You know, you're your own person.

[00:06:17] Do not let a name, a title define you.

[00:06:20] Anyone can be anything.

[00:06:21] Anyone can be a hero.

[00:06:23] That's a good message, you know?

[00:06:25] And so knowing that Rey is a Palpatine by the end, I was hoping

[00:06:33] the first time I saw it, I was like, okay, well she's asked

[00:06:36] what her last name is at the end of the movie.

[00:06:37] That's like the teaser or whatever, or the ending piece.

[00:06:40] And she's like Skywalker.

[00:06:42] And I'm like, okay, so even though this whole franchise has

[00:06:46] teased what I was just saying, how names don't matter, you're

[00:06:49] given something that you weren't necessarily wanting to be a

[00:06:52] part of, grouped into.

[00:06:54] Don't let that define you.

[00:06:56] You can still choose that name and do something with it.

[00:06:59] And I understand that there are some other, maybe looking

[00:07:03] back in retrospect, or how that could have ramifications for

[00:07:07] her later on as a character.

[00:07:08] But at the same time, I think choosing the most prestigious

[00:07:11] legacy name in all of Star Wars is a bit ridiculous and really

[00:07:17] cops out the overall meaning.

[00:07:19] So I thought that the end sequence there was so disappointing

[00:07:25] because I wanted them to say, alright, here's how it's going

[00:07:28] to be. You don't need to do it the famous, iconic, prestigious

[00:07:32] way. Choose the name that you have and go with that. Make your

[00:07:36] own life.

[00:07:36] So I think that there are a number of things like that in this

[00:07:40] that make me feel like, ugh, it just doesn't work. And also

[00:07:45] another thing that is a cop out.

[00:07:47] I don't know why this movie was so plagued with this. Again,

[00:07:50] it feels so rushed and lazy. Is the Chewbacca fake death where

[00:07:56] you see the ship blown up or hit and it crashes, whatever it

[00:08:00] is, and then you think, oh wow, like the characters are thinking

[00:08:03] we just lost Chewbacca and the audience is like, oh my god,

[00:08:06] Chewbacca died. And then he's not.

[00:08:09] It was just a slight of hand misdirection. I'm like, come on,

[00:08:14] y'all. That would have been such a brave move to make. Like,

[00:08:19] alright, you love this character? He's dead in this. And you

[00:08:23] can make other movies with him like prequels, but he dies in

[00:08:26] this definitively. And they have to deal with that.

[00:08:28] And so I thought that was so aggravating and I hate that kind

[00:08:33] of thing in movies. I hate it, especially when you're dealing

[00:08:36] with characters and situations that have weight and you could

[00:08:40] say this character is gone. This place is destroyed forever.

[00:08:44] And so I did it like that.

[00:08:48] Otherwise, score looks good. Performances are good. Still really

[00:08:51] like Daisy Ridley. As I said in part 8, the Oscar Isaac storyline

[00:08:58] I think is by far the weakest. It really just doesn't need to

[00:09:00] be there.

[00:09:01] I feel like he's just standing around talking and it just bloats

[00:09:04] the movie. So don't like that. The final action sequence goes

[00:09:09] on way too long.

[00:09:10] It just feels so like, alright, why are we in this big action

[00:09:14] sequence? Do we really need this for it to be satisfying?

[00:09:17] Couldn't we have more character moments? The kiss is weird with

[00:09:22] Ren and Rey.

[00:09:25] So yeah, it's one that I'll always go back to, you know, every

[00:09:30] so often. I don't think it's horrible like some people make

[00:09:32] it out to be. It's just very disappointing.

[00:09:34] That's the best way to describe it. And if I'm watching all of

[00:09:37] them or if I just need something that is in the world of Star

[00:09:40] Wars, but I don't really need to pay that much attention to,

[00:09:42] I'll watch it.

[00:09:43] But this would probably be second or third least favorite of

[00:09:47] the nine films or just all Star Wars films, including the

[00:09:51] standalone films. So not a great movie.

[00:09:54] Maybe it'll grow on me, but I doubt it will for a long time.

[00:09:59] So that is a heavy two and a half out of five.

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