The final installment in one of the most beloved science-fiction sagas of all time ended not with a bang, but a whimper. Stars Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which saw J.J. Abrams return to the camera following Rian Johnson’s genuinely engaging The Last Jedi, is an epic disappointment, both in thematic concept and execution. Where the previous film managed to reinvent Star Wars myths and set up a new and bold vision for the franchise, The Rise of Skywalker is a massive course correction, a dull, un-engaging finale overweight on nostalgia, seemingly catered to the worst corners of Star Wars fandom. We have identified five ways that The Rise of Skywalker betrayed the boldness of The Last Jedi, resulting in a film that is as muddled and unsatisfying as it is safe and unmemorable. Read on below to see what we have to say!
The Past Never Dies
Following tradition from Knights Tales of yore, the Star Wars saga has always focused on the importance of legacy. After all Luke Skywalker is Anakin, aka. Darth Vadar’s son, a man born from darkness who choose the light. With the introduction of Rey in The Force Awakens, fans immediately scrambled to guess who she might be the daughter of. The Last Jedi rubbished those theories completely, with Kylo Ren telling Rey that she is the daughter of nobodies who sold her for drinking money. Then he delivers the most important line of the film: “Let the past die”.
It’s a bold and brilliant moment, changing the theme to show that anybody can be a hero, regardless of status, given extra impetus by the fact she is also a woman. J.J. Abrams didn’t seem to like that all; dredging up the long-dead Emperor Palpatine in a Marvel-inspired reveal that is both nonsensical and completely uninteresting. Suddenly this girl from nowhere is in fact the granddaughter of an arch-fascist, totally undermining her story in favor of a pointless “shocking” reveal. This tracks with a lot of The Rise of Skywalker’s revisionism and nostalgia baiting, bringing back old favorites for no reason other than to impress upon viewers a mild sense of “oh yes, that guy”.
The Complexity of War
The Last Jedi genuinely expands the world of Star Wars, using a classic hi-jinks sub-plot, Rose and Finn’s journey to Canto Bight, to put the endless war into some kind of context. The adventures of these two in the Monaco of Space, funded by selling arms to both The First Order and The Resistance, shows that war is profitable and innately tied to capitalism. It’s an interesting comment upon modern capitalism and war that is rather bold for a Disney-Produced movie, something that J.J. Abrams has no interest in expanding. Instead Palpatine’s vast collection of destroyers are conjured out of nowhere, with armies able to be magicked Thanos-like instead of actually being bought off morally compromised arms dealers.
Creating a Story That Matters
The best action in Star Wars has always been tied to character. The Last Jedi, taking a page from Mad Max: Fury Road perhaps, is simply one long chase scene, with the decisions Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren and Rey take linked to their sense of ego and what they believe is best. The story constantly subverts our expectations of what is going to happen to then comment upon the very nature of expectation. For example, Poe takes a bruising from the women in charge of the ship for thinking he knows what is right while Kylo Ren turns the film on its head by suddenly killing Snoke. These are thrilling, bold, clever moments; none of which you will find in The Rise of Skywalker, which focuses on a mystery dagger that forces characters to rush breathlessly from place to place while never giving us time to breathe.
The Power of Diversity
You have Finn, Poe, Rey and Rose on one side, General Hux and Kylo Ren on the other. In years to come it may get tired to cast white men as the bad guys while women and people of colour are the good guys, yet at the time The Disney Saga started it breathed fresh life into the franchise. Now anyone can be a Jedi Master, and not just white boys. The Rise of Skywalker betrays this ethos by relegating Rose, one of the key players in The Last Jedi into a supporting character who has to stay at home and no longer goes on missions. The casting of Dominic Monaghan seemed particularly meaningless here; often being used to speak lines that would’ve gone to Rose otherwise.
The film also missed a step when it came to LGBTQ+ representation, giving Poe a female love interest when he’s obviously attracted to Finn and providing pointless lip-service with a lesbian kiss so minimal the Russians couldn’t even be bothered to censor it.
Winning by Saving Those We Love
“That’s how we’re gonna win. Not by fighting those we hate, but saving those we love.”
These words, spoken by Rose at the end of The Last Jedi, are some of the most impactful in the whole of the Star Wars saga. It’s an important message: In a world so riven by hate, only by loving each other and fighting for what’s important will goodness conquer. Nonetheless, there is a curious lack of interest in this idea in The Rise of Skywalker, which believes, less impactfully, that you can only win by solving endless boring myths and puzzles.
The relationship between Kylo and Rey tries to develop this theme by making them romantically involved in order to take out Palpatine together. So does Leia’s sacrifice to stop her son. Nonetheless, her real friends, such as Finn and Poe, who have stood by her all this time, are not involved in saving her at the end, instead preoccupied with setting off explosions that don’t even matter because by killing Palpatine all the enemy ships will just deactivate anyway.
The idea that Kylo, who is a typical manipulative bad boy boyfriend, is really the one who can save Rey, is a pretty harmful message. While Adam Driver acts the hell out of the scene and sells the sacrifice, it can’t quite fulfill the promise of “saving those we love” seeming that his love is based more on wanting control than genuine appreciation. It’s probably for the best he died too, because that would’ve been one awkward celebration party!
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