#35: Star Wars: Episode 9 - The Rise of Skywalker

I don't think I've heard people ask so much about 'family names' in Star Wars before.

I flat out forgot that new characters were intended to be added. It was a surprise (but a welcome one, to be sure) when Lando showed up, but Zorii and Jannah were negligible presences.

Also I mean, Rose was already there, and they sidelined her. Imagine going through all that abuse because Star Wars fans were so against people of color and women of color in their space movie to be 80% ignored.

It was funny to finally see our sequel trio interact and actually have an adventure...together. Even the bickering was funny. This is the first time I have ever liked C3P-O.

That's the big problem with this franchise, is that JJ listened to the fans for both of his sequel series movies. (Sorta).

Let's introduce a diverse cast, and when adults pitch a fit that boils down to "I hate everyone who doesn't look like me", the series is pretty quickly adjusted to be mostly nostalgia based upon the white characters and their legacy.

Instead of going "Wow, let's explore the concept of an escaped Stormtrooper.", it's "Cool, what if this famous person in the galaxy had an unknown descendant until now."




I was a bit more annoyed that Zorii was only introduced to, essentially, press 'No homo!' on Poe after Oscar Isaac was openly enthusiastic about FinnPoe for the past 4 years. Also by making him a former Spice (drug) dealer.


Ok, let's talk about it.

Rey Palpatine.

Whatever.

I wish it had been set up more firmly in previous films, but whatever. It not like it matters because this was the final film.

Also I don't remember Palpatine being able to suck the life force from anyone in past Canon materials. If so, correct me. If not, wow, nice asspull to prevent Rey from inhabiting all of the Sith spirits.

& Even if she had, she also has all of the Jedi spirits too. So why not have a Force fight within this young woman and maybe make it interesting.

The fight scenes after the first action bits in the desert were more underwhelming than anything else. It looked silly and there was no emotional resonance or worry in the final battle because The Status Quo must be stuck to in Star Wars movies.

It took me until that kiss to realize that Kylo Ren was probably intended to be Rey's age but Adam Driver is .... about 10 years older, so it just seems very odd.

I could go on about how shippers are interpreting him reaching out as 'He loves her!' when it's clearly 'Let me team up with the true ultimate evil descendant in the galaxy,', but why bother. Again, it doesn't even matter now.

Also, I'm pretty sure the galaxy as a whole breathed a sigh of relief when the last true Skywalkers died.

This movie really made me wish that ya'll had just let Rian Johnson make this one, because at least the man did something new with The Last Jedi.

Just, watch this. I know, it's part 2, but it encompasses what made TLJ good. And while something 'different' doesn't automatically mean 'good', it's better than something like The Rise of Skywalker that toes the line to make everyone happy and makes maybe 4 people happy.

I'm glad Disney is taking a break from Star Wars as a film franchise for a few years. Maybe they can plan the next one and finally, rise from Skywalkers.