I didn’t do a traditional review of Rise of Skywalker when it came out. Instead I did a list of 17 thoughts about the film. I just did a rewatch and had some additional thoughts. Things I really loved about it and a few complaints. Despite my minor complaints –I’m a diehard Star Wars fan and enjoyed the fun ride of the final film although I really wish some different decisions had been made regarding the a trilogy as a whole.
1. I absolutely loved Babu Frik. What a strange an interesting little character. I’d love to see him as part of some Disney+ series down the line.
2. Rey’s take down of Kylo’s Tie Fighter in the desert was amazing. It may not make sense, but it looked cool.
3. Rey and Kylo’s lightsaber encounter with each other while in different locations was terrific. We finally got the answer to who Rey was. This rubbed some fans the wrong way. I liked it. I just think if the had plotted the trilogy out better in advance or would have been a more effective reveal.
4. General Hux being the spy was useless plot point and wasn’t earned by anything that happened in the films previously. He was a scary imperial in the first film. A joke in the second film and then easily forgettable in the third.
5. I know a lot of people didn’t like The Emperor being brought back into the story again, but I did . The problem again was the lack of planning. It would have worked so much better if there had been a coherent plan from the beginning. It should have been teased in the second film.
6. The whole crashed Death Star scene was terrific. It looked amazing and the lightsaber fight was awesome. Angry Rey, Kylo walking through the sea mist with his lightsaber lit and Leia’s sacrifice. Great stuff.
7. I absolutely disliked Poe’s story in The Last Jedi. Poe is my least favorite of the three main sequel characters. That being said I’d still watch a Disney+ show about him and Zorii Bliss pre -Sequel Trilogy. Their past relationship and Poe’s backstory seems like it would be an interesting tale.
8. Although it lookef cool visually the light speed skipping is ridiculous. I wish that scene was cut. For me that was the Indy in a fridge scene of this film.
9. I know Adam Driver is an academy nominated actor, but my wife is 100 percent correct he doesn’t look anything like either Harrison Ford or Carrie Fisher. I would buy Rey as their daughter before I buy Kylo as their son.
10. I really wish we could have seen more of Ben Solo. If the trilogy had been planned better or Rise of Skywalker had been split into 2 films we could have had more time with this character. Ben Solo on screen was to brief, but the imagination runs wild as to what a movie or series featuring him could be.
11. The horses riding on the ship was lame. The rationale was that the First Order couldn’t jam them but it was just odd.
12. This film did a much better job with Finn’s character- but it was too little too late. His entire character arc in The Last Jedi was a waste of time. I would like to have seen his character progress more towards his Jedi abilities. Again a better planned out trilogy could have done more with his character. I’d like to see him as a full fledged Jedi in a Disney+ series in the future maybe 5-10 years from now.
13. The Emperor’s Throne was totally badass. So dark and evil. I loved it.
14. Lando’s arrival with pretty much the entire Galaxy at the end was cool.
15. I can’t help but wonder how much better the sequel series could have been if it had been planned out better and had one consistent vision from start to finish. I really liked The Force Awakens. The second film although it had some stuff I enjoyed was a major misstep in my opinion as far as moving the story along. I can confidently say the Last Jedi is my least favorite Star Wars film out of the 11 big screen live action films. Unfortunately the 2nd film effected the final film. The Rise of Skywalker had to cover too much story to cover in one film. As result the pacing was fast and if was still fun, but the events that occurred should have happened over a longer period of time and had more time to breathe. The future of Star Wars may be as Disney+ Series that allows for more character growth and more time to develop the plot. The events that occur in The Rise of Skywalker could have been spread over a year or two of storytelling. Maybe a 10 episode Disney+ Series. Even though it was still one of my favorite films from 2019 I definitely enjoyed the Mandalorian better.
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