Chances are, if you were to flip on the television and watch for a substantial amount of time, you will see commercials advertising new movies. The movie ad you’re most likely to see? Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. With flashy effects, familiar faces, and a 40 year legacy behind it, The Rise Of Skywalker is an absolute powerhouse at the box office. Many movie theaters have several screens dedicated to showing the movie at one time, this movie is huge.
As an avid Star Wars fan and a movie lover in general, I was definitely going to see this movie. Advertised as the conclusion to the Skywalker saga the movie was set to tie together 3 separate trilogies’ worth of material. I saw The Rise Of Skywalker as soon as I could, going to see it on opening night. The theater was well attended but not completely full, partly due to there being several showings of the same movie happening during the same time frame. So with high expectations I settled into my chair as the famous Star Wars intro began.
The beginning of the movie started off very strong. I thought that the action was phenomenal right from the start and the effects were great. However, I became less impressed following the initial opening, the dialogue seemed choppy and the viewer was thrown right into the story without much exposition at all. Part of this seemed to be due to complications as a result of Carrie Fisher’s untimely death. General Leia Organa plays a large enough role in the movie, that the beginning of it all seemed to be structured around footage of her that the studio had on hand. This lead to dialogue that didn’t quite fit and a sloppy transition into the perilous situation the protagonists find themselves fighting against. This was noticeable and problematic, but understandable.
Once the plot moved into the conflict part of the story, it felt very familiar. The studio intentionally inserted many details and plot points as callbacks to the movies that preceded them. As a viewer and a fan this was very fun for me as I enjoyed seeing things and realizing they were related to other movies, but this could also be seen as a detriment, taking away from the film’s originality. And while I have no enormous problems with the plot it did seem somewhat unoriginal, but maybe this was intentional, to remind the viewer of Star Wars’ legacy.
There are several things in this movie that have not been seen in other movies in terms of things that are possible. The Force for example, seems to have moved far beyond what was seen as possible in the original trilogy and several new abilities and instances were showcased in this movie which have not been seen before. However these new additions were not so major as to seem offensive to me or other viewers, they were just new. This leads into another thing that I think is noticeable about this trilogy when compared to the original. Considering that characters in this trilogy play similar roles to older characters and can draw comparisons to other characters as a result, there is feeling of “almost”. In the way that Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando were themselves, the new characters just seem to be “almost” like the other characters, they don’t quite fill the shoes they were placed in.
Overall however, I very much enjoyed this movie and thought that it was a very enjoyable experience. To look back on 40 years of Star Wars through a movie that purposefully displays its roots in the old movies is very fun, and nostalgic. I think that nostalgia distorts people’s view of this movie, and that people are upset that this movie isn’t quite as good as some of the originals. But I would hope that, taking an unbiased view of this movie would show people that it is actually a pretty good movie and a very fun, nostalgic experience.
