This article contains no spoilers.
The Rise of Skywalker seeks to ratify its predecessor’s division through an unimaginative plot that retcons much of what The Last Jedi introduced in favor of fan service. As of Thursday night, the goal of pleasing hard-core fans seems fulfilled, with it sporting an audience Rotten Tomatoes score of 87 percent based on over 5,000 reviews.
But the movie’s 57 percent critics’ score is not undeserved. Cheesy messages, corny transitions, and altruistic characters litter the Star Wars canon, yet in The Rise of Skywalker, Ray, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren, and others are not just cheesy, they’re caricatures of themselves. Their arcs lack the weight and importance seen in the previous two installments, mostly due to a breakneck pace.
The main cast of characters sticks together throughout most of “The Rise of Skywalker.” The new direction appears to be a response to the backlash that ‘The Last Jedi’s” subplots received.
Multiple times, continuity is interrupted with jump cuts that seem designed for a YouTube video set on enrapturing the viewer rather than for a movie. The motivation behind multiple edits is a pace increase, like a character’s abrupt jump from standing to sitting. Look at the action scenes, which employ fast cuts, sacrifice scene direction, and inflict whiplash if not viewed passively. Not to mention the laborious second act that recycles the same sequence in different locations, with different characters, focusing on different conflicts that are quickly shelved when the enemy arrives or the hero’s plan goes awry. The Rise of Skywalker fast pace requires it to brush past meaningful character conflict\; and when it chooses to focus on character, cheesier-than-usual lines litter the script and motivations feel one-note or undeserved.
The Rise of Skywalker is not designed to be great. It is designed to appeal and satisfy the majority of fans. Yet as spectacle eclipses story, J.J. Abrams’ gift to fans unremarkably ends an incohesive trilogy. Reaching its ninth installment, the novelty of seeing a Star Wars film is slowly fading save those willing to be whisked quickly along.
Ansel Johnson ◊ Jan 13, 2020 at 8:07 pm
Thanks for the reply Eric
I don’t even think it was necessarily disney’s fault for the lack of cohesiveness in the trilogy because other parts of the franchise, most notably The Mandalorian, have been hugely successful under disney. I think it was mostly due to the disorganization of Kathleen Kennedy and the lack of a predetermined storyline. For example both the trilogies that were directed by george lucas were far more cohesive than this one because of the fact that he had a predetermined vision for the movies.
I agree with you in the fact that the Rise of Skywalker had major pacing issues. It goes through major details and simply brushes over them instead of giving a more in depth explanation. This movie could have kept the same plot but should have been a part one – part two in order to provide a more cohesive ending to an otherwise good trilogy. However it was more important for them to have 3 movies than have a good finale to the trilogy.
I also believe it wasn’t necessarily the fact that there were subplots in the Last Jedi that made people dislike it. I think it was more the fact that what some of the characters were doing seemed more important than some of what the other characters were doing. One example would be the sequences that took place in the Kanto-Byte Casino which was uninteresting compared to all the other subplots which were far more interesting and much better paced. Part of the problem with the sequence on Kanto-Byte was the similar atmosphere to Earth which made the environment, something uniquely important in Star Wars, far less interesting.
In conclusion the sequel trilogy isn’t awful but the wasted potential of the last 2 movies is evident to even the common movie-goer.
Eric Plotkin ◊ Jan 9, 2020 at 9:49 pm
Thank you, Ansel Johnson, for your response. I appreciate any discussion generated by my article.
In response, I agree that cheesy lines are a part of “Star Wars!” In your example, the Han Solo line “I know” develops his character and works perfectly with who Han is, as well as serving to develop his relationship with Leia and add an emotional punch to the scene. My main gripe is that “The Rise of Skywalker” doesn’t use its cheesy lines to effectively develop character or plot.
As for the character arcs, my main criticism is in the structure, specifically the pacing. The rushed nature the movie adopts due to a fast pace does not grant character moments the weight they deserve. Scenes don’t linger; they move along. The fast pace affects Kylo Ren’s character in that he feels like a brushed-over version of himself, lacking depth or subtlety.
My assertion that “The Rise of Skywalker” appealed to fans was based on the Rotten Tomato scores from the Thursday night of the movie’s premiere. The Rotten Tomatoes scores were meant to introduce that “The Rise of Skywalker” was made in response to “The Last Jedi.”
I agree with you that the trilogy deserved more cohesiveness. It’s ludicrous that Disney scheduled the release of a trilogy, then failed to plan that trilogy. Many of the underlying issues of “The Rise of Skywalker” comes from this lack of planning, making a finale tough to land. But that is no excuse to be lenient, especially considering I would describe each movie in the trilogy as an all-but standalone movie. Had the scriptwriters of “The Rise of Skywalker” focused on making an excellent film rather than a finale to a messy trilogy, they might have made a movie I enjoyed more.
Thank you, again, for the comment. One of the best parts of movies is talking about them!
Ansel Johnson ◊ Jan 9, 2020 at 8:09 pm
yeah, anakin was the chosen one. But apparently not anymore. I don’t think its the best star wars movie far from the best actually. But people have tended to greatly exaggerate how bad it is
Andrew ◊ Jan 7, 2020 at 7:39 pm
horrible movie. They made it seem as if the previous movies did not exist. J.J Abrams does not know how to direct a star wars movie. This movie was made for the GP. Also, Palpatine should of not gone down that easily. Makes no sense.l
Ansel Johnson ◊ Jan 3, 2020 at 8:48 pm
Also don’t use rotten tomatoes critic score it tells you how many critics liked it instead of how much they liked it. And anyone who registers on rotten tomatoes as a user can input a critics score on their website.
Ansel Johnson ◊ Jan 3, 2020 at 8:28 pm
I completely disagree with this article. To start the “cheesy” lines in the movie are part of what makes star wars star wars. For example in Empire Strikes Back the lines between Han Solo and Princess Leia were “I love you” “I know”. We don’t think of these lines as cheesy and cliche now, it’s just part of the movie we love. In 10 to 20 years this won’t be looked upon as a weak or cheesy line it will just be a part of the movie. In addition I feel as if the arcs in this movie were far greater than the Force Awakens and the Last Jedi. Kylo Ren in the Force Awakens to me was just the “big bad guy” this movie expands on his connection to his father and the other characters he actually becomes a complex character. Even C-3PO who is widely considered to be the comic relief in the movies had an arc. Another huge improvement was the relationship between Kylo Ren and Rey. Contrary to what you say in my opinion the only people who won’t like this movie are the hardcore Star Wars fans. The hardcore fans built up an expectation of what the movie should have been for them. When the movie doesn’t go the way they like they inevitably complain. The Mandalorian which is a hit TV series on Disney+ works so well only because it doesn’t affect any of the existing Star Wars universe which is the whole reason that hardcore fans hate this Star Wars movie. The only problems I have with this movie are accredited to the whole trilogy. It should have been only one director all the way through. Either JJ. Abrams or Ryan Johnson could have directed the whole trilogy . The problem comes only when you have multiple directors with conflicting visions directing one film. If you hate this movie you would have never been happy from any of the ways they could have made it.
Darrius Rahmanian ◊ Dec 30, 2019 at 9:52 pm
Worst star wars movie of all time