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Rating: 6 stars

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amc showplace niles AMC amc a-list star wars sequel IMAX hero quest quest droids lightning sword fight planet rebel resistance oppression spaceship battle mission friendship

All movies seen on 12/19/2019

View on: IMDb | TMDb

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Science Fiction | Action | Adventure

Most recently watched by VicnaLobster, AllAboutSteve, sensoria, CaptainBigTime

Overview

The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again as the journey of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle begins.

Rated PG-13 | Length 142 minutes

Actors

Carrie Fisher | Mark Hamill | Daisy Ridley | Adam Driver | John Boyega | Oscar Isaac | Anthony Daniels | Naomi Ackie | Domhnall Gleeson | Richard E. Grant | Lupita Nyong'o | Keri Russell | Joonas Suotamo | Kelly Marie Tran | Ian McDiarmid | Billy Dee Williams | Greg Grunberg | Shirley Henderson | Billie Lourd | Dominic Monaghan | Hassan Taj | Lee Towersey | Brian Herring | Dave Chapman | Richard Guiver | Lynn Robertson Bruce | J.J. Abrams | Claire Roi Harvey | Richard Coombs | Matt Denton | Nick Kellington | Mandeep Dhillon | Alison Rose | Amanda Lawrence | Tanya Moodie | Simon Paisley Day | Geff Francis | Amanda Hale | Amir El-Masry | Aidan Cook | Martin Wilde | Anton Simpson-Tidy | Lukaz Leong | Tom Rodgers | Joe Kennard | Ashley Beck | Bryony Miller | Cyril Nri | Angela Christian | Indra Ové | Richard Bremmer | Richard Durden | Andrew Havill | Nasser Memarzia | Patrick Kennedy | Aaron Neil | Joe Hewetson | Raghad Chaar | Mimi Ndiweni | Tom Wilton | Chris Terrio | Kiran Shah | Debra Wilson | Josef Altin | Vinette Robinson | Mike Quinn | Bill Kipsang Rotich | Ann Firbank | Diana Kent | Warwick Davis | Harrison Davis | Elliot Hawkes | Philicia Saunders | John Williams | Nigel Godrich | Dhani Harrison | J.D. Dillard | Dave Hearn | Rochenda Sandall | Jacob Fortune-Lloyd | Andreea Diac | Liam Cook | Denis Lawson | Carolyn Hennesy | Paul Kasey | Matthew Wood | James Earl Jones | Andy Serkis | Josefine Irrera Jackson | Cailey Fleming | Jodie Comer | Billy Howle | Hayden Christensen | Olivia d'Abo | Ashley Eckstein | Jennifer Hale | Samuel L. Jackson | Ewan McGregor | Alec Guinness | Frank Oz | Angelique Perrin | Freddie Prinze Jr. | Liam Neeson | Harrison Ford | Lin-Manuel Miranda | Ed Sheeran | Gerald W. Abrams | Jeff Garlin | Karl Urban | Kevin Smith

Viewing History (seen 4 times)

Viewing Notes

Can’t believe I’m doing two premieres at two different theaters tonight. Let’s close this sucker out!

I really didn’t know what to rate this movie. Definitely my least favorite of the sequel trilogy yet better than the prequels. Disappointing but I like the characters. A retcon of The Last Jedi yet a mostly satisfying end to a nine part saga.  It’s a weird one b/c Abrams really did Rian dirty. Some subtle ways and others totally egregious (the “don’t disrespect the lightsaber” line being the worst).

I really didn’t want to write any notes b/c I feel this movie is so hollow compared to the two previous films. It’s rather amazing to me that Abrams led this trilogy with an exciting and emotional film yet ends on such a flat fetch quest flick, overstuffed and suffocating. There’s no downtime, room to breath and reflect on the big picture. Just go go go onto the next quest.

Probably the thing that got me the most was the near lack of any emotional punches. In revisiting The Last Jedi last night I was clapping after certain sequences. Clapping! In my own home by myself at 2am in the damn morning. The Force Awakens brought tears to my eyes *again* and I’ve seen that movie seven damn times. During TROS I kept waiting for *that* moment that would elicit that reaction. It never came. It’s a odd feeling to be so indifferent during a Star Wars movie (for me, anyways). Sure, it has some cute moments / interactions but the heavy stuff never has any impact. Perhaps one of the reasons is that everything is moving so quickly that the characters nor the audience can take pause to what’s transpired. And tbh the character arcs established in The Last Jedi get the short-shrift here.

Rey’s journey seems like the one with the most substance but it’s kinda nuts to see her powers accelerate in such a short time. There’s no real established time period from the end of TLJ and the beginning of this film. Is it days or weeks or months? Regardless, she goes from zero to 100mph in her abilities between the two films. It would’ve been nice to have a throwaway line from Kylo as to why it was happening to this degree (I have my own thoughts as to why she was gaining powers so quickly but that’s spoilery but could’ve been handled in the film).

Probably the thing that bugged me the most (after abandoning the setups from TLJ) is just how safe and predictable each story beat is. The viewer is never challenged or alarmed at any point in this movie. Sure, TFA was super safe and by the numbers but it was shouldering bringing a fanbase back into the fold leaving TLJ to be the subversive flick and departure from all other SW films. But the return to safe and sappy is a disappointment. Like, there are zero stakes.

“A fine follow-up to FORCE AWAKENS. A lousy follow-up to THE LAST JEDI. J.J.’s remake of RETURN OF THE JEDI is what we get, and it’s certainly what some people want, but maybe not what we need.”—KC

This might be spoilery:

And when needless new characters are introduced like Zorii Bliss to give friction to the story then immediately slip into “oh we’re good now so take this highly valuable item to help you on your mission” mode it just removes all the tension from the story. After so many of these it’s just devoid of real purpose and becomes a rote hero quest that’s gonna play out exactly as anyone who’s played a game or read a book can predict. And I like Zorii Bliss! She’s awesome but does nothing but become a plot device rather than a meaningful character. For example, remove her and get the heroes to directly to Babu Frik. There’s literally nothing lost (unless you really want to go into Poe’s backstory at this stage so late in the game… seriously, my eyes rolling probably popped a vessel during that scene). That’s the “bloated” aspect of this movie; things grafted into the core narrative that really don’t need to be there but hey Zorii Bliss looks cool and will spice things up!!!! ugh

“I still don’t understand how a galaxy far, far away still measures time in Earth years and names characters after Earth flowers.”

Also really hate how they sidelined Rose after she was such a big part of TLJ. At least give her something to do if you’re not gonna send her along with the core team. Another frustrating aspect of how this story was told.

Several points during the movie I thought “I have a ticket to see this in Dolby on Monday… do I want to see this again?” That’s not a very good endorsement. I will see it then after I’ve had a couple days to sit/sleep on it. As I stated at the start of this: I didn’t even want to write notes due to my overwhelming indifference. I realized that I probably should put something down before I read/listen to a lot of other takes (reviews, podcasts, etc) and allow my opinions to get tainted. In a way they already are just from a few of the reactions I’ve read but most have been in line with my thinking (worst of this trilogy, retcon of TLJ yet better than the prequels). Maybe I’ll grow to enjoy / appreciate this movie more?

I’ve seen a few people note that their opening night full-house audience was relatively quiet or completely silent throughout the entire film. This baffles me. My 10pm IMAX screening was packed with a crowd super excited to see this movie. They clapped and cheered at the SW logo before the crawl. They laughed and cheered at all the key moments. They clapped at the end. Hell, they clapped at the end of the TENET IMAX prologue. Beside wanting to get past avoiding spoilers the reason I wanted to see it opening night was to experience it with a crowd of hard core faithfuls. I’m happy for that even if the overall response was slightly muted (compared to the previous films).

I know for a fact that my Monday screening won’t have any audience reaction. Plus I’ve noticed that those lazy boy theaters really don’t allow for it compared to old school seating. Ah well.

6 out 10 because I truly do love these characters and had this been any other movie it would be fine. So as of now I’m merely satisfied but disappointed understanding that it’s no easy feat to wrap it all up in one movie but here we are.

Adios Skywalker Saga! It’s been (mostly) fun! Now gimme that Zorii Bliss / Babu Frik team-up movie!

P.S. I really hate that actors are credited on TMDb for literally having one line pulled from previous films (all the Jedis). Just dumb, imo.

I read this today (after composing these notes last night) and it covers most of them: https://screencrush.com/ways-the-rise-of-skywalker-undoes-the-last-jedi/

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