Star wars must ring at least some bells in everyone’s head. Right now we’re witnessing the end of the last trilogy. The last of the skywalker saga. The ninth movie. End of the movie series that started back in 1977 and with the end of this decade the star wars as we knew it ends with this trilogy. Therefore, the buzz around The rise of skywalker is understandable and super nostalgic.
But on the other hand, can something as huge as star wars really end?
We’re already seeing a bunch of spin-offs in both movies and shows versions.
It’s just like with every other big thing in Hollywood that could never possibly end. Harry Potter ended but we’re still learning much more and mostly unnecessary information from J.K. Rowling. Lord of the rings is also a story that gets more and more movies even though it officially ended a while ago. As longs as the fans are engaged and keep creating fanfictions the story can never end.
Let’s sum up this trilogy in the simplest way possible:
Movie one: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
We meet Rey. Nobody. Scavenger with an unknown history and a force. We meet Kylo Ren aka Ben Solo, the son of Leia and Han Solo. Kylo is following his grandfather Darth Vader’s path into the darkness. This is when Rey/Kylo dance begins. Light vs the dark. Basically the theme of star wars or any other movie ever. Kylo kills his father and kills any possibility for redemption for his horrible actions.
Movie two: Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Rey and Kylo continue to dance now with a force bond. Rey is trained by Luke to become a Jedi. In the end, Kylo betrays Snoke (bad guy whispering dirty stuff into Kylos mind all the time) and fights WITH Rey and leaves us thinking: Hmm maybe he could be changed. He killed his father because he wanted to cut all of the strings to the past and unravel his full potential and he was manipulated by the evil forces ever since he was a kid and his parents did him wrong and so on and so on. Cool motive, still a murder.
Moview three: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
If you haven’t figured out by now that there’s gonna be spoilers in this article then what is wrong with you?
I had the honor of seeing the movie even before the actual premiere and it was truly a great experience. The place was full of mostly older guys all dressed in their star wars shirts just as I was.
I’m not gonna be talking about the quality of the movie. It’s a star wars and it’s 2019. You know the special effect’s gonna be at its peak. The same goes for acting. The cast that we have for star wars is the best ever. They all did a terrific job.
The controversial topic is the story.
2019 is the year of disappointing endings to an epic story.
So where to begin. Let’s start optimistically.
The banter between Poe, Finn, and Rey was incredible. Their friendship is beautiful and real and I’m glad they have each other. The same goes for the droids. Most of the comedy moments came from those guys.
My personal favorite got to be Hux this episode. How petty you have to be to risk everything to see your rival fail. Incredible. Explaining: Hux is a spy for resistance just because he hates Kylo Ren. Iconic.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker answers the main star wars questions.
Who lurkers in the shadows and who is Rey.
The answers are the same: Palpatine.
You know the bad guy from the old movies. Well, he’s back and he’s been creating and controlling the mess our protagonists found themselves in forever now.
Rey is his granddaughter and he wishes for nothing more than for her to kill him, get consumes by her hate, and kill the Jedi line forever resolving in the rise of the Siths.
Same old story. Same old guys. I was actually happy we got to see all of the guys, themes, and even the starships from the previous trilogies. Luke. Leia. Lando. Han. Even Palpatine. Nice way to say one last goodbye.
What was really hurtful was the way we got to say goodbye to the princess/General Leia. I know it’s the same old phrase bitter fans use whenever they don’t like the characters ending, but Leia deserved better.
I’m all for the message. She gave her life for approaching her son one last time resulting in his turning to the light. Great.
What’s terrible is how badly it was made. It was out of the blue. No big goodbye or positive message from the princess. No big memorable words from the general. Just, hey guys I’m gonna lie down, call my son’s name and die. It was done in a few minutes with almost zero screen time for her. The moment deserved more recognition of the sacrifice.
How do you honor Carrie Fisher who died 3 years before the movie’s premiere?
The movie was supposed to be focused on her story but her passing left a hole not only in fans’ hearts but in the storyline.
Producers didn’t want to recast. The role was her. She’s the only princess Leia there could ever be. Instead, they changed the story and used the footage they shot with her before her passing.
I understand that it must have been really difficult to fit her into the story and there is no easy solution here. You can’t please everyone. I don’t know how could they make right by her and I’m just saddened by the way they choose to do it.
The same goes for Ben Solo.
How could you just kill off the last skywalker in a movie called the rise of skywalker?
Yeah, it’s all about the Rey. She’s a skywalker now but Ben Solo was a skywalker too and he deserved a chance to prove himself.
I want to stress the perfection of Adam Drivers acting.
Kylo Ren/ Ben Solo is a fascinating character. You feel bad for the guy but at the same time, you understand he’s the bad guy and doesn’t deserve your sympathy. A lot of people had a traumatic childhood, absent parents, pressure from a young age and you don’t see them destroying the galaxies.
Adam performs Bens’s inner conflict perfectly. You can actually see it even when he’s wearing his mask. It’s all in the body language. In the eyes. In the heartbreak.
The moment he talks to his father even though his memories, the moment he calls for him with a hidden apology, with that one simple “father” he won us back. It’s the moment Kylo Ren died and Ben Solo was reborn.
The way Adam portrayed this change was outstanding. It was like a completely different character at once. Plus how adorable did Ben Solo looked in that long-sleeved sweater? No wonder Rey could not keep her hand off him.
His desperate need to have Rey by his side is so powerful. The dude is following her everywhere. Like every other scene is him going after her and she escapes him. It’s quite unoriginal after a while.
Yes, I am a sucker for their relationship, and yes I despise myself for that.
Reylo is one of those super controversial ships. He’s a murderer, abuser who tortured her but he’s hot, age-appropriate and they have a connection and a bond. Literal force bond. It’s a typical bad guy/good girl romance, the “I can change him” kind of relationship.
Reylo is a ship that could never work and deep down you know it. It’s unhealthy, sends young girls bad messages and it’s romanticizing abusive relationships. Yet, you just wish for the circumstances to be different for them so they can love each other the right way.
Good news my fellow Reylo shippers. Reylo is a cannon. For literally 5 seconds. They kiss and then he dies leaving Rey all alone again.
We won but we lost.
Their relationship had a romantic undertone from the beginning. You can argue that star wars are not about romance but every star wars story ever started for love and because of love.
You can either have love or power. Never both. That’s what we learned from the star wars so far and I don’t understand why are those two mutually exclusive. Terrible message.
I’m just tired of lovers dying in each other’s arms in 2019 and yes I am looking at your game of thrones.
Yeah, we get it. You can’t have it all. Gonna make a sacrifice. Prioritize. Greater good.
I just wish for one happy ending that’s not built on somebody else’s body. Even if it’s Ben Solo’s body who got his redemption arc for like 10 minutes and then died happily smiling in Rey’s arms.
I understand the message that all bad guys must die. BUT.
The moral of the story was that the blood does not define you.
Rey has the blood of the evilest man out there, she’s tempted to the darkness, wants revenge for her family and she still carries the force of every Jedi there ever was before her because she chooses to fight for the light.
Ben Solo carries the blood of Darth Vader, gets attacked by his uncle as a kid, is cast away from the light, is under the powerful influence by the Palpatian manipulating him into terrible actions, and when he chooses to fight the evil and fight for the light he’s killed off because fuck you that’s why.
The message is you can always change but you’re gonna die as soon as you do. Great. Thanks.
In the end, we see Rey on Jakku all alone.
What the fuck. That’s the one thing she never wanted. To be evil and to be alone. And yet she’s ending the saga gazing lovingly into the distance, alone (well with bb8 at least). How hard would it be to put Ben Solo by her side? The boy deserved peace with her. They both do. They spend their whole life alone and yet you’re gonna separate them the moment they find each other. The chemistry between them was amazing. Now it’s just cruel.
Anyhow, I missed some strong moments that would leave me crying my eyes out.
Even the Ben Solos death scene was so short and there was zero explanation of what the hell happened.
So yeah Ben smiles for the first time in 3 movies and now he’s falling down and literally disappearing in seconds alongside his mother. Like was it because of a fall? Internal bleeding? Did he use too much force? Can you run out of force? He brings Rey back to life so it’s life for a life? Like the universe balancing life for a life? Probably but I would still like it acknowledged.
There were a lot of ups and downs. The moments that were heartbreaking followed by the moment of hope.
I want to point out the realness of the moment the stormtroopers demand papers from the residents, going from home to home attacking random people living peacefully. Sounds familiar America?
You would not believe this guy, but star wars have an openly gay character!
How progressive right?
Try not to blink cuz you might miss it.
It’s the same bullshit as with the marvel movies. Openly gay character means you’re gonna see 2 girls kiss for one second when the resistance is celebrating their victory.
Oh yeah, resistance winning is the only positive message from the movie. I just wish the movie about courage and fighting against evil had the courage to have an actual gay character and not just a glimpse of it. Representation matter.
What more can I say? I’m typing this down since the moment I stepped out of the cinema. I can’t possibly cover all of the moments worth mentioning. There were plenty of small nostalgic ones but it was all for the sake of the original series. Fan service that didn’t do much for the actual plot of the rise of skywalker.
It’s like they tried to please everybody. Bens redemption? Sure. Anti Kylo? Great Rey gets to stab him. Reylos? Have a kiss. Anti-Reylos. Here, Ben dies and Rey is alone again. Rey Skywalker? Rey Palpatian? Have them both. It’s an unorganized mess. Why would you want to please everybody anyway?
So much has happened yet you can’t point out the moment you were at the edge of your seat. I just think this movie lacked the big moment that would make it memorable for its own sake and not the whole trilogy.
Honestly, I can’t wait for fanfiction writers to come up with their fixed versions of the rise of skywalker. The movie itself was good. But you don’t expect a movie of this big caliber to be just good. I read fanfictions by 15 years old girls with a better story than the actual one.
I think we saw film 7 and then stopped. I was so disappointed that they reused the idea with the dark fighting star, where one “just” had to fly into the core and make it explode.
Going to see it tonight.
I only adored Darth Vader and Princess Lea. Since Vader is not there anymore and Carrie Fisher died some years ago, i prefer Miami Vice on DVD…
Didn’t mind it. Wasn’t great. Wasn’t bad. It didn’t owe me anything so I allowed myself to be told the end of the story. It’s Star Wars after all. Very keen to what Disney does next with the IP.
As I was around in the 70s to see the first Star Wars, it’s nice that so many generations have found relevance in this movie. May the force be with you.