The Rise Of Skywalker is a bittersweet conclusion to what's now being retroactively termed 'the Skywalker Saga', a work of pure fan service that exists to betray the narrative of its direct predecessor. I don't resent it for that. The Last Jedi, whilst not a terrible film in my opinion, was still controversial for a reason and I think the fandom deserved a film that reminded them all why they're fans to begin with.
What can be resented is the bizarre decision to make this film the finale of nine movies rather than just three. Not only will there inevitably be more Star Wars, but as a result, The Rise Of Skywalker is unnecessarily burdened not only with the sequel trilogy's unstable plotting, but that of previously closed storylines that The Last Jedi had deliberately moved away from in favor of exploring new territory.
Perhaps this was a conscious decision by Abrams, for whom nostalgia is bread and butter. After all, once you take into account all the movies since 1977, and the fandom's complaints over the past (forty-)two years, the script basically writes itself. And I think that predictability is the main issue with The Rise Of Skywalker. It's a movie that knew what it had to be, but not an inch more than that. Abrams knows how to tantalize the audience - we've seen it with LOST(the classic mystery of the Hatch), we've seen it with Star Trek(a new alternate reality full of potential) and we've seen it with The Force Awakens(full of questions and open-ended arcs). But all those have one thing in common - Abrams is never the guy to actually give the answers, to tell an actual story. Because it's just not the kind of writer that he is.
I think he made The Rise Of Skywalker easy for himself, but opening all those old worm-cans had a price of its own, namely that he has nothing better to offer. Isn't that why anyone would revisit an old storyline? To do something more impressive with it? The Emperor's return offers so many possibilities, but Abrams seems content with simply having him back. The Knights of Ren finally make their long-heralded appearance, but Abrams seems content with simply having them around. Lando shows up to help the Resistance, but Abrams seems content with simply having him around. You get the picture. The film isn't bad, but aside from upping the stakes physically, it's unambitious and I find that really unforgivable for a finale. Like 50% of the film is simply the audience nodding "ok, they did that thing that we wanted to see", but it's more ticking boxes than anything substantial.
On a more positive note, The Rise Of Skywalker is a legitimately fun movie with a good pace, lots of exciting action and plenty of heart to it, and I wasn't left untouched by its dedication to the audience, even to Rian Johnson whose work is at least respected within the film, if not built on. The foundation of a great piece of work is there, it just needed more meat on the bone.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One of my favourite things about the film is that Daisy Ridley's Rey, John Boyega's Finn and Oscar Isaac's Poe finally feel like a cohesive trio, and actually have really good chemistry together, the offscreen time together having bonded them all(specifically Rey and Poe) as comrades-in-arms. They also all get their moments to shine and grow. I loved seeing Poe struggle in a leadership position(hinted at in The Last Jedi).
That being said, I am critical of Rey's development, as it's basically a copy of Luke's in Return Of The Jedi - confront the biggest evil, who is also your family and make sure you don't fall to the dark side. Been there, done that. It is sad that her character seems to have become less interesting with each passing film, as I was very fond of her initially.
Adam Driver's Kylo Ren is also probably at his least intriguing here - aside from pointlessly rebuilding the mask, Abrams couldn't go back to him copying Vader, but he also clearly didn't want to pursue the "let the past die" storyline Rian introduced, so Kylo's character is left somewhat adrift in motivation. There is a satisfying resolution to his story, but overall, he's not quite the captivating figure he was in the first two films.
I'm quite amazed at how well Carrie Fisher's scenes and character were integrated into the film. Not only would you be unable to tell that it's old footage if you didn't know about her death, but she also has a significant part to play in the story. Really superb work there.
Billy Dee Williams hasn't missed a beat! Unfortunately, his character is somewhat perfunctory. Not to the extent of certain others, but plotwise, he's mostly just there for the family reunion feel and doesn't get much cool to do, which I really wanted to.
Truly positive is to see Anthony Daniels... do things! I mean, R2 is still completely useless, but I'll take what I can get. C-3PO actually gets taken along on a mission and although I'm convinced his character has the droid version of senility at this point, he manages to be useful and entertaining. But to be honest, I'm just glad to see Daniels utilised in some capacity given how iconic he is.
Iconic is the word that leads us to Ian McDiarmid, who reprises the role of Darth Sidious. McDiarmid is of course as perfect as he was ever was in the role, but I'd be lying if I said the Emperor's role was truly satisfying. It's rather hilarious that Snoke was tied to his character, because he's been given about as much backstory regarding his return and current motivations. He's just back and wants to get rid of the Jedi, because of course that's what he wants. There's very little, I dunno, idiosyncratic about his appearance. It could be any evil Sith Lord. It could be Snoke. It could be Kylo. My point is, there's really no reason for Palpatine to be in this film aside from tying it to the other ones. But hey, that cackle is always fun.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The final score by John Williams is as nostalgic as the film itself, mostly a greatest hits from the original trilogy. Shame there was no Duel Of The Fates, or really any prequel material I could recognise.
Visually, I'd say this is the least interesting of the sequels. It's certainly not up to The Last Jedi's amazing eye-popping colours and masterful cinematography, but it's not even matching Abrams' previous film, which boasted the Starkiller Base firing sequence and some neat camera tricks. The editing is very fast, with scenes often feeling short due to the need to get as much plot in as possible. On one hand, you never get bored, but on the other, it's not a very atmospheric film, perhaps save for the scenes on Exegol.
Otherwise, the healthy combination of CGI and practical work is consistent with the rest of the Disney era.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sequel trilogy is a good time, sometimes innovative, often touching, but The Rise Of Skywalker solidifies that they will always be nothing more than an epilogue to a greater work.
No comments:
Post a Comment