Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker

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Released: 18th December 2019 (United Kingdom )
BBFC Rating: 12A
Directed by: J.J Abrams
Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels.
Before starting there are potential spoilers in this review. The saga which has defined the last couple of decades of cinema has come to a close in the form of the Rise of Skywalker. While the last Jedi seemed to divide fans like never before, with people like me caught in the middle of it thinking it was good but made questionable decisions for the mythos, the Rise of skywalker activity aims to try and take it all back within the first couple of scenes, on the offset showing itself to be a completely different movie. It aims to more woo fans over with a lot of fan service, right from the start quoting the prequels and bringing back fan favourite characters like Palpatine and Lando Calrissian. On the whole though, I found it enjoyable, with a lot in the film for Star Wars fans such as myself, and offering a lot into the expanded universe. However as a film it seems very off point, with questionable dialogue which at some parts feels like character bantering, but in other parts feels like they are just trying to fill the scene. The other problem comes less from this film and more from 2017's the Last Jedi, as Rise of Skywalker seems like such a course correction and feels completely devoid of that story line. Comparatively it feels like a parallel universe, with such a different tone and structure you can find two movies worth of content in it. But, while it does fall flat on a structural sense ( such as the very generic chase the MacGuffin story-line ), for me it redeems itself with how much fun I found myself having fun with it, offering old and recognisable locations and icons which bring back old memories, and while it could have done more to cap off the whole saga, does well to feed back to most of the previous movies. Its not a bad movie, it has a lot more it could have offered for sure, especially if you were interested in the direction of episode 8, but it still does offer up interesting scenes and great callbacks which if you are a fan of this whole saga you will love. It is a film for star wars fans, so while its not the masterpiece that Empire Strikes back or original Star Wars was it can still bring a smile to your face whether its the callbacks or the iconography. Rise of Skywalker may end up being completely polarising like the Last Jedi, but for me it will stand strong and still be a load of fun each re-watch.
Contains mild fantasy violence and scenes which could distress.
My rating: 5/10 ( Okay )

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