{"id":617,"date":"2022-07-22T03:08:09","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T03:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/?p=617"},"modified":"2022-07-22T03:08:09","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T03:08:09","slug":"review-rise-of-skywalker-is-the-worst-star-wars-movie-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/review-rise-of-skywalker-is-the-worst-star-wars-movie-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: \u2018Rise Of Skywalker\u2019 Is The Worst \u2018Star Wars\u2019 Movie Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Given the loud and SEO-friendly backlash to\u00a0<em>Star Wars: The Last Jedi<\/em>, I half-expected\u00a0<em>The Rise of Skywalker\u00a0<\/em>to be something of a walk-back in terms of tone, plot and exposition. After all,\u00a0<em>The Empire Strikes Back\u00a0<\/em>was itself a dramatic departure from\u00a0<em>Star Wars<\/em>, and it was followed by a threequel (<em>Return of the Jedi<\/em>) that was closer in spirit to the first movie. What I was expecting, at worst, was a well-made and character-driven action fantasy that perhaps contained plot threads or story beats for which I didn\u2019t care. You can enjoy both\u00a0<em>Batman Returns\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>Batman Forever.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"recirc-unit recirc-unit-open\" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen-655684_1281=\"99614\" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen-655684_1281=\"99615\" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time-655684_1281=\"100\" data-gtm-vis-has-fired-655684_1281=\"1\">\n<div class=\"recirc-title\">Recommended For You<\/div>\n<ul class=\"recirc-story-list fuse-data-stories\">\n<li class=\"recirc-story\">\n<h3 class=\"recirc-headline\" data-ga-track=\"Personalized SEO Recirc Unit: 4\">Interior Designer Bobby Berk Shares His Tips For Creating A Calm Home<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"recirc-story\">\n<h3 class=\"recirc-headline\" data-ga-track=\"Personalized SEO Recirc Unit: 5\">Black Is King Trending Worldwide Shows The Power Of Beyonc\u00e9 Supremacy And Fanaticism<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"recirc-story\">\n<h3 class=\"recirc-headline\" data-ga-track=\"Personalized SEO Recirc Unit: 6\">Keep Nespresso\u2019s Vision Alive<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>Alas, J.J. Abrams and Chris Terrio\u2019s\u00a0<em>Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker\u00a0<\/em>is a genuinely bad movie, one that repeats the fatal mistakes of the likes of\u00a0<em>Spectre,<\/em>\u00a0<em>Spider-Man 3\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0<em>The Crimes of Grindelwald\u00a0<\/em>to end the Skywalker Saga on an all-time low.<\/p>\n<p>The problem with\u00a0<em>Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker\u00a0<\/em>isn\u2019t just that it absolutely walks back a number of potent reveals and plot threads from the last movie, but rather that the 142-minute movie spends almost its entire running time retconning its predecessor and adding painfully conventional \u201cplot twists\u201d and patronizing reversals in the name of mollifying the fans who merely want to be reminded of the first three movies. It inflicts additional damage to the legacy of the first six\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>movies. It undermines the previous two \u201cepisodes\u201d in the name of giving (some but not all) original-trilogy\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>fans a reassuring pat on the head. It even shies away from\u00a0<em>The Force Awakens<\/em>\u2019 darker real-world implications. It is so concerned with character reveals and \u201cchase the MacGuffin\u201d plotting that it finds no time for any real character work.<\/p>\n<p>Things start promisingly enough, with a grim and visually dazzling sequence (for the record, the whole movie looks great) in which Kylo Ren (Adam Driver, doing what he can to sell some awful dialogue and plotting) kills his way to the location of a still-living Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid). The former Emperor promises command of countless newly created warships as long as Ren ends the Jedi order by killing Rey (Daisy Ridley). Okay, fine, the Emperor\u2019s back, but at least that reveal is done right off the bat.<\/p>\n<p>The next sequence, involving multiple jumps to light speed, plays out like the\u00a0<em>Star Tours\u00a0<\/em>ride. But once we find ourselves back in the new home of the fractured Resistance, well, you have huge chunks of plot that are written and edited around deleted scenes of the late Carrie Fisher. That\u2019s when things start to implode.<\/p>\n<p>With all due respect, Carrie Fisher\u2019s performance in\u00a0<em>The Force Awakens\u00a0<\/em>was not her best work, and now we\u2019re dealing with deleted scenes from that previous\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>movie being awkwardly inserted, not unlike Raymond Burr\u2019s\u00a0<em>Godzilla\u00a0<\/em>footage, into this new movie. Everyone else is required to act around her, with the story dictated by what footage they had on hand, resulting in some genuinely goofy filmmaking (see: Leia and Rey pass a lightsaber back and forth because it\u2019s probably two takes of the same deleted sequence!). The Resistance immediately gets word that Palpatine is alive and has raised a world-killing army of super-ships, news that everyone takes pretty well. I guess it\u2019s only slightly disconcerting that (metaphorically speaking) Hitler is still alive 35 years after World War II and is planning on teaming up with the USSR to try to enslave the world again.<\/p>\n<p>We then jump into a \u201cgo to the place and find the thing\u201d adventure, and the filmmakers seem to think that the mere idea of Rey, Finn, Poe and Chewbacca on a journey together is in itself incredibly compelling. Alas, absent memorable dialogue and much in the way of honest interaction, plus two extraneous new characters seemingly meant to \u201cno homo\u201d Finn and Poe, the journey becomes about the destination. That destination is merely more arbitrary plot reveals. Did you love how the last\u00a0<em>Fantastic Beasts\u00a0<\/em>movie spent most of the movie hinting at and eventually revealing irrelevant connections between characters? Did you love how\u00a0<em>Spectre\u00a0<\/em>tried to retroactively make Blofeld \u201cthe author of all your pain\u201d in the three previous Daniel Craig 007 movies? Or how about how\u00a0<em>Spider-Man 3\u00a0<\/em>revealed that the Sandman actually kinda-sorta killed Uncle Ben? You\u2019re in for a treat.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not just that\u00a0<em>Rise of Skywalker\u00a0<\/em>undoes\u00a0<em>Last Jedi<\/em>\u2019s \u201cit\u2019s not your franchise anymore\u201d metaphors\u2014aimed at a generation that grew up loving\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>and then allowed two Palpatine-ish leaders (George W. Bush and Trump) to come into power\u2014for generic \u201cdon\u2019t worry,\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>is still the best!\u201d fan bait. It\u2019s that this is the only real reason this movie exists. It is focused on plot over character and is written with the \u201cwe got to stop that laser!\u201d intelligence of a bad Saturday morning cartoon. When there already exists some very good kid-targeted\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>toons (<em>Rebels, Clone War<\/em>, etc.), one cannot escape the fact that\u00a0<em>Rise of Skywalker\u00a0<\/em>has turned this entire new\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>trilogy from a kids\u2019 franchise into one aimed at nostalgic adults yearning for a time when they believed they were the most important generation.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Driver does his best trying to sell this nonsense, and there\u2019s a momentary glance when he unexpectedly finds himself with a weapon that has more charm and character than any number of \u201capplause now\u201d introductions or fan-friendly callbacks. The film continually teases status-quo altering events and then immediately walks them back, offers generic action where even the seemingly emotional showdowns are interrupted by digressions and past-tense exposition, and gives Daisy Ridley essentially no real arc of her own. The screenplay never forces her to make any hard choices or live with the consequences of her mistakes. The plot is shockingly similar to\u00a0<em>Frozen II<\/em>, but even that film, as random as its narrative seemed, prioritized character and emotional honesty over plot, which is why it resonated despite the story issues. Finn, Poe and Rey are mostly action figures moved into place as the plot demands.<\/p>\n<p><em>The Rise of Skywalker\u00a0<\/em>is possibly worse than any prior\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>\u201cepisode.\u201d It ends a legendary franchise with a thud while denying this new trilogy its artistic reason for existence. It represents the cultural theft of\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>from today\u2019s kids by today\u2019s arrested-development-stricken adults.\u00a0<em>Star Wars\u00a0<\/em>was a franchise first and foremost for children, and the kids who grew up with\u00a0<em>Harry Potter, The Hunger Games\u00a0<\/em>and<em>\u00a0<\/em>the MCU<em>\u00a0<\/em>have embraced harsh truths and challenging narratives. Lucasfilm and Disney\u2019s\u00a0<em>The Rise of Skywalker\u00a0<\/em>feels explicitly crafted for the \u201cRian Johnson ruined\u00a0<em>Star Wars<\/em>!\u201d and \u201cGeorge Lucas ruined my childhood!\u201d demographics, right down to its near erasure of Kelly Marie Tran\u2019s Rose Tico. It\u2019s bad enough that adults no longer see grown-up movies in theaters, but now yesterday\u2019s geeks who have taken over pop culture feel entitled to have the kid-friendly franchises aimed at them as well.<\/p>\n<p>Source:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/scottmendelson\/2019\/12\/18\/review-disney-and-lucasfilms-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-is-a-terrible-end-to-the-skywalker-saga\/#50bfc81a113c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">\u00a0forbes.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Given the loud and SEO-friendly backlash to\u00a0Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I half-expected\u00a0The Rise of Skywalker\u00a0to be something of a walk-back in terms of tone, plot and exposition. After all,\u00a0The Empire Strikes Back\u00a0was itself a dramatic departure from\u00a0Star Wars, and it was followed by a threequel (Return of the Jedi) that was closer in spirit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[2161,2142,2132,2145,2134,2136,2143,2121,2152,2150,2148,2120,2138,2123,2144,2116,2164,2165,2151,2147,2128,2159,2135,2131,2133,2119,2155,2158,2156,2149,2139,2140,2146,2129,2127,2122,2126,2125,2117,2118,2130,2141,2162,2137,2163,2124,2157,2153,2154,2160],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":619,"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions\/619"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.talksomuch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}