"The Rise of Skywalker" Movie Review

by John Zenoni

Ok, most people who know me really well know that sci-fi is not really my bag as far as movies -- with the exceptions being the Alien films and the Star Wars series (don’t even get me started on Star Trek - no!). Anyway, tickets were bought back in October for the showing of the latest entry in the Star Wars saga, this one called, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and tonight was the premiere. I will have to say that the excitement was very much present in the theater while everyone was waiting for the show. I did see quite a few people wearing Star Wars t-shirts as well as a few people in costume. This is the one film I know of where you can pretty much expect that to happen.

Let me start by saying that my familiarity of the series goes back to the original entries from the late 70’s to mid 80’s as I grew up with my brother watching Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Yoda, Wookiees, Darth Vader, etc. While I've seen all the other entries since then, needless to say I haven't been as enthusiastic about them - starting with “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” as so many new characters, plot lines, and changes have taken place it's been hard for me to keep up.

With that being said, I will do my best to give my insight and thoughts about this latest entry. Let me begin by borrowing a quick synopsis of the film from IMDB: “The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once more in the final chapter of the Skywalker saga.”

I think there are a couple of areas I shall focus on that impressed me. First of all, the special effects. How can you see a Star Wars film and not be impressed? While nothing I saw was mind blowing- with the exception of one scene where Rey (played by Daisy Ridley) is in the desert and is running away from a TIE fighter, piloted by Kyle Ren (played by Adam Driver) - everything is still excellent. Speaking of that scene, to quote Lindsey Romain, from an article in Nerdist magazine, April 18, 2019, ‘The teaser opens with a shot of Rey, panting and pumped with adrenaline, running from a red-faced TIE fighter on an unnamed desert planet. As the fighter, likely piloted by the villainous Kylo Ren, barrels towards her, Rey leaps into the air and elegantly flips over the ship, avoiding collision. The moment is a beautiful offering of the Force power she’s learned to wield since her clumsier handling of a lightsaber in The Force Awakens, evidence of her growing mastery.’

The other thing I enjoyed was the action as there was plenty of it in this film. The interaction between the characters is full-throttle and never fails to keep your eyes glued to the screen. The fighting scenes between Rey and Kylo with light sabers are especially intense and very well done.

The last thing I particularly enjoyed was seeing some familiar faces from the past in this film. It's amazing to think that this series has been around as long as it has and this film re-introduced some of the characters I grew up with.

Now, as far as the ranking of this film in comparison to the others in the Star Wars saga, I don’t think this one will be as well loved as compared to others. The reason being I believe is because of the turn taken with some of the main characters. At least I was surprised by the ending I will put it that way. Also, some of the characters in the previous film played very pretty significant parts but in this film they played minor, if even useful, roles. Finally, the storyline. I don’t know, it seemed to neatly wrapped up to me. I can't help but think tha there are other film goers who would have expected more with this being the last in the Skywalker saga.