The Rise Of Skywalker is a film that has the baggage of needing to end a saga that, technically speaking, endedtwice already, and also bears the weight of having to follow up the controversial The Last Jedi. The film's response to these problems is to simply move fast enough that, hopefully, the how's and why's won't matter.
As lavish as its visuals and production values are, the foundation of the film cracks right away. It's paced like a runaway train, breathlessly sprinting between locations with little time spent on developing the characters we are meant to care about. It resurrects Palpatine with no build-up and a Hand Wave to justify his presence, effectively rendering two trilogies of story irrelevant. It introduces the Final Order, a new faction that replaces the First Order as antagonists. It reeks of being a three-hour film cut to two, recycling plot points from Return of the Jedi as it goes along. Finn and Poe are both sidelined and have no real Character Development. It basically ignores The Last Jedi, and that's not a good thing.
But towering over all of my other complaints is the utterly deplorable treatment of the female characters. The twist regarding Rey's past, along with her choice of name at the end, completely erases one of the strongest messages of The Last Jedi. Just as irksome is how the film pushes the Kylo/Rey relationship in a way that pleases neither the shippers or its haters. It was never a good idea to place Rey in any sort of relationship because it destroys her strength as an independent and strong female hero, and while the film runs it back, it is insulting to try and have it both ways. Rose might as well not be in the film. Leia is reduced to a few scenes where she does nothing of note. The new female characters may as well be extras. It is simply shameful.
That's not to say there isn't some fun in here. Ian McDiarmid is always an entertaining Large Ham as Palpatine. Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley turn in great performances. I adored Lando on the theater screen again, and I liked the melancholic tone of the ending. The brisk pace, harmful to the plot as it is, means it's never a boring watch, but it could have - and should have - been more than crowd-pleasing spectacle.
Too fast for its own good, moves backwards in many ways.
The Rise Of Skywalker is a film that has the baggage of needing to end a saga that, technically speaking, ended twice already, and also bears the weight of having to follow up the controversial The Last Jedi. The film's response to these problems is to simply move fast enough that, hopefully, the how's and why's won't matter.
As lavish as its visuals and production values are, the foundation of the film cracks right away. It's paced like a runaway train, breathlessly sprinting between locations with little time spent on developing the characters we are meant to care about. It resurrects Palpatine with no build-up and a Hand Wave to justify his presence, effectively rendering two trilogies of story irrelevant. It introduces the Final Order, a new faction that replaces the First Order as antagonists. It reeks of being a three-hour film cut to two, recycling plot points from Return of the Jedi as it goes along. Finn and Poe are both sidelined and have no real Character Development. It basically ignores The Last Jedi, and that's not a good thing.
But towering over all of my other complaints is the utterly deplorable treatment of the female characters. The twist regarding Rey's past, along with her choice of name at the end, completely erases one of the strongest messages of The Last Jedi. Just as irksome is how the film pushes the Kylo/Rey relationship in a way that pleases neither the shippers or its haters. It was never a good idea to place Rey in any sort of relationship because it destroys her strength as an independent and strong female hero, and while the film runs it back, it is insulting to try and have it both ways. Rose might as well not be in the film. Leia is reduced to a few scenes where she does nothing of note. The new female characters may as well be extras. It is simply shameful.
That's not to say there isn't some fun in here. Ian McDiarmid is always an entertaining Large Ham as Palpatine. Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley turn in great performances. I adored Lando on the theater screen again, and I liked the melancholic tone of the ending. The brisk pace, harmful to the plot as it is, means it's never a boring watch, but it could have - and should have - been more than crowd-pleasing spectacle.