Summary
After 42 years, one of the most lasting stories of our time comes to a kind of conclusion while attempting to please everyone.
The cultural cache of Star Wars was immeasurable for decades, at least up until 2015 when J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens, the first continuation of the Skywalker Saga since 1983, hauled in a tidy $2 billion at the box office.
STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is the conclusion to that story, although a lot has happened to the Star Wars landscape in the last four years. Following the release of The Last Jedi, the internet formed some opinions and those opinions formed petitions. Thanks to the spin-off films (Rogue One, Solo), Star Wars has become an annual event. In fact, with the launch of Disney+ and The Mandalorian, it’s a weekly one.
So, after a small off-screen epic that saw Rian Johnson, Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly all attached to the film in various capacities, the return of Abrams to the director’s chair is ostensibly a course correction for the series. Or at least a public response to ‘fan’ outrage. Picking up some time after the events of the last film, the voice of Emperor Palpatine has been transmitted and everyone is in a fuss about it.
The somewhat rushed opening act fills in some of the gaps. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is on a quest to find the Emperor. Rey (Daisy Ridley) continues her Jedi training under General Leia (the late Carrie Fisher). With new information from a First Order spy, Rey, Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and various others trek off to find the necessary McGuffin to save the galaxy.
Much like The Force Awakens, part of the mission of Abrams and Chris Terrio’s script is to restore good faith in vocal fans. As such, THE RISE OF SKYWALKER spends some time wandering through the past, either in a literal sense (by visiting old locations or characters) or more thematically by aping moments from previous films.
As a fan, it would be disingenuous to say that I didn’t enjoy the hell out of this nostalgic approach, and every one of these bits of fan service hit the mark. Some were bittersweet, of course, with Fisher and original Chewie Peter Mayhew having shuffled off the mortal coil since the last film. There are a few patchwork appearances in the final act that were clearly included to get around their importance to the script as originally written but these can easily be forgiven given the circumstances.
That said, Abrams also seems determined to throw in as many ‘gasp!’ moments as possible. Rarely pausing for breath in its lengthy runtime, questions are answered in rapid succession about character origins and hidden motivations. Some of it is a little too neat, and the reintroduction of the Emperor itself seems like a cheap redux that uses familiarity in lieu of creating a new threat.
Yet as the title would imply, this is both the end of the Skywalker saga and the restoration of a newer hope. It’s certainly not a spoiler to say that the paths of Kylo Ren and Rey are not the ones we’ve been led to believe, and in order for a balance to be restored to the Force, some classic fears have to be conquered. If that involves a series of cool lightsaber battles and cameos, then so be it.
Following a few similar story beats to this year’s Avengers: Endgame, Abrams wraps up his story on a curiously ambiguous note. It’s a film that tries to have its cake and eat it too, wish-fulfilling every comments section but also not completely committing to a happy ending. Still, taken as a whole, the Abrams version of Star Wars is a fun one and a successor to Return of the Jedi as a series closer.
2019 | US | DIRECTOR: J.J. Abrams | WRITERS: Chris Terrio, J.J. Abrams | CAST: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong’o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams | DISTRIBUTOR: Disney | RUNNING TIME: 142 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 19 December 2019 (AUS)
