Rise of Skywalker was...
good.
HOWEVER
not without glaring flaws, and those flaws have my head spinning.
If I were to rate the movie on a schooling grading scale, I would give it a B-. It's pretty decent, but the cons of the movie are hard to overlook.
Either way, the pros outweigh the cons.
Pros:
-Rey being related to Palpatine: SLAM. DUNK. Here's why: throughout the sequels, Rey has been known as a Mary Sue. She showed signs of such in Force Awakens, and it's turned up in Last Jedi when training is a breeze to her, among other factors. However, in this film... she's given flaws and needs to grow through them in order to become a better, more complete person; aka character development. She's rash, holds in her anger, and deals with temptations from the dark side and Palpatine throughout the film, and in the end she ends up growing into a more mature person and becomes more grounded in the process, and I think RoS helps counteract the basic and shallow character development she received early in this trilogy, especially Last Jedi. Not to mention, if Kylo Ren/Ben Solo was never there after she defeated Palpatine, girl would've been gone. SPEAKING OF WHICH...
-Kylo Ren is the best sequels exclusive character. Yes, he is and yes, he is. I LOVE how his character develops in the movies. He starts out as playing the regular old villain, dark and evil and nothing much else, but then shifts into a conflicted villain (especially with his arguments with Hux in Last Jedi, and we WILL get to Hux), and through the workings of Rey and also self-reflection, he came to recognize the joy of being a hero and the emptiness of living for the sith, and he grows out of it and joins the good side, completing his arc in maturity. We see subtle signs of him growing more "good" and heroic throughout the sequel trilogy, and I think his overarching character development into a hero and saving Rey's life is the sweetest finish to his character. We see how Kylo/Ben grows throughout the films, slowly but surely... and he finishes on a high note and becomes a far more mature person and the person he was called to be. This plays to Adam Driver's strengths. He's not an actor that exactly delivers on a straight laced, menacing villain... but he NAILS IT when it comes to conflicted villains that grow into better people. And he delivered; full-stop.
-Palpatine returns: YES. Now here's the deal with this one: one of the issues I have with the film is that it isn't explained how he survived the fall in Return of the Jedi. And, I wasn't sure if they would be able to set up Palpatine enough to pull off him as the main villain of the movie, but in my humble opinion... it works. He's always schemeing, and we see him at work where he tries to continue the Sith empire through Rey, whether he's alive or not... THAT's why he had offspring come from him, and the plan is so diabolical and fits him nicely. Couple his return with also giving Rey's character the fleshing out it sorely needed... they pulled it off, imo. It was a huge risk, but I think it worked for the most part. My only theory about his survival concerning RotJ is that he used the force to keep himself alive for a time, and THEN his surviving followers hooked him up to all those wires to sustain his life and body that we see in ROS. Either way, I unironically love the Palpatine plot twist, even with his introduction leaving a question in my mind.
-Character development took a big step in the right direction in general. Rey finally feels 3D, Kylo's arc is gorgeous, and Poe and Finn actually feel useful and important in this film, which is nice because their starts in the trilogy are tumultuous. They seriously hone their skills and become solid leaders, and this is a good direction for their character because both are known as trailblazers but said trait was never put to use... UNTIL NOW. Luke's force ghost also returns and we see his youthful optimistic side again, which is a nice change of pace from how he was in the first half of TLJ.
-Best scene in the movie: when Kylo/Ben has memories of his father, Han Solo, and contemplates all that has happened. It's a seriously touching moment and this is when you can tell that Kylo is turned for the better, permanently. He's dealt with guilt, shame, and conflicted feelings under the surface for a while at this point, and with putting his past behind him and turning over a new leaf... it's an extremely touching scene and it helps make Kylo/Ben's character all the more complete.
THICC con:
-HERE IS THE BIG ONE, and the one that will never sit right with me: how the force is used in this film leaves room for plot armor and/or absurd things to occur, especially in the last act. In the final battle, when Rey and Kylo/Ben take on Palpatine, with how Rey uses Force Telepathy/Teleportation to shift her own lightsaber to Kylo, and THEN a second lightsaber spawns randomly out of the air for Rey to use... THAT was weird, and not in a good way. At all; that was just awful writing. The force is indeed a very powerful thing, but watching that scene it feels like the force became too strong for its own good and with how it spawns random objects out of thin air... it feels absurd, especially since such a force power is never established in the prequels or OG trilogy, and I don't remember anything like that happening in the now retconned extended universe; "legends" series. Couple that with the jarring choreography of Rey and Kylo dueling while the background flip flops back and forth between Kylo's lair and the snow planet... it's like Force Telepathy on steroids, and there are no boundaries or rules set for it. It feels like a pull out of the butt just to make the final battle all the more "epic", which... great, I love final epic battles, but it must be executed correct, and the secondary lightsaber spawning out of thin air felt cheap. And, it gives Rey and Kylo a random advantage that just... kinda happens, because plot armor... at least to a certain degree. Kylo using life force to save Rey's life was a good call for his arc. Plot armor elements can be spotted in small doses throughout the film, but that final fight sequence... this is the big one.
Other cons that are smaller, or comments that are more neutral, and smaller pros:
-I wish we got to see Rey training more with Leia. It was a cool scene in itself, but felt a bit short. Seeing Leia use her force sensitivity and aptitude to train Rey was nice, and seeing Carrie Fisher again was a treat. I also think JJ Abrams placed the Leia scenes together quite well and as best as he could, given the circumstances.
-I'm still bewildered at how Chewie survived. Was there a 2nd carrier ship on the planet when he's intercepted by the New Empire? I never saw said secondary ship, and the primary ship we DID see was the one that Rey shot down, obviously.
-Lost count of the holocron pyramid things used. I noticed three in the film, and yet some said there were only two? Did I miss something? Did Luke have a secret third holocron or whatever?
-Hux is the spy working with the heroes: BRUH. I was shocked at first, but considering how he was arguing with Kylo Ren a lot in Last Jedi, and how at one point he subtly went for his gun to shoot Kylo and/or Snoke in TLJ at one point, it makes sense as to why he's the spy. They finally did something with his character. We hardly knew ye, but hurray.
-Captain Plasma didn't return to disappoint us all the more: thank goodness; good call. Wasted potential in the previous films to the point where her character is pointless. Such a shame.
-I was still entertained, but plot pacing felt a bit weird for a while. It felt like a thrill ride for most of it, but the final battle was quite long and dragged for a bit. It had great scenes, but it feels similar to Revenge of the Sith's final battle sequence where there's a lot of cool things going on... but it could've been shortened down a bit.
-The CGI was... bleh. Irrelevant to the story telling though so this is a nitpick on the whole.
FINAL VERDICT:
Character development: Very good and exceeded expectations
Storytelling: Many big highs but one or two harsh lows. Plot pacing and cohesion was a bit off at points as well. Feels like a mixed bag.
Fusion with the previous films: Definitely not perfect, but it continues the story better than Last Jedi did, that's for sure... even though the continuity in the sequel trilogy leaves much to be desired.
Aesthetics: Aside from the poor CGI, gorgeous. Space battles were fun, lightsaber battles were fun, the music was composed BRILLIANTLY AND PERFECTLY, as usual.
OVERALL: As I said before, it's a pretty good film. It's got flaws that stick out like a sore thumb, but the pros are higher in magnitude and also quantity. I think it's an upper-mid tier film.
STAR WARS MOVIE RANKING (Main series):
1. Empire Strikes Back (favorite movie of all time; perfection)
2. A New Hope (just about perfect as well)
------
3. Return of the Jedi (has a few issues but is overall an awesome conclusion to a great series)
4. Force Awakens (a few nit picks, but has aged nicely and very re-watchable)
------
5. Revenge of the Sith (similar to Rise of Skywalker after it, has GLARING flaws... but the pros outweigh it for sure)
6. Rise of Skywalker (glaring flaws, but for the most part is pretty good)
-------
7. Solo (not bad, but forgettable. Probably won't age well and will most likely drop in the tier list over time. That remains to be determined.)
-------
8. The Last Jedi (I was riding high on this film when it first came out... I'm now very 50-50 on it. Idk how to feel about it, seriously).
-------
9. Phantom Menace (boring aside from the killer final act)
10. Rogue One (boring aside from the killer final act... *deja vu song intensifies*)
-------
11. Attack of the Clones (lol "sand". But seriously, I can't think of any major redeeming qualities about this one. Obi-Wan's awesome, Palpatine's awesome, the Yoda vs. Dooku fight is alright... it's definitely not the worst movie I've ever seen, but it's definitely the worst Star Wars film.)
