A One Mann’s Movies review of “Star Wars – The Rise of Skywalker” (2019).
Bob the Movie Man’s Rating:
Certification:
US: PG-13. UK: 12.
This review of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” will be spoiler-free.
One of the tricksy things about time is that things that happened 42 years ago sometimes seem ridiculously recent in your mind. I went to see “Star Wars” (long before it ever got the “New Hope” suffix) in the Odeon Swiss Cottage in London as a sallow 16-year-old. I was pumped-up like crazy from the movie’s ridiculous level of hype during the autumn of 1977. And I remember coming out feeling a little disappointed! The hype set my expectations too high! (I was MUCH more of a “Close Encounters” fan in that year).
But now we come to the grand conclusion of George Lucas‘s nine-film vision, and someone can at last put the multi-limbed behemoth in a coffin and nail down the lid. It’s certainly been a bumpy ride for this latest trilogy under Disney’s stewardship, with rabidly negative fan-boys getting very hot under the collar about ‘their baby’ being despoiled by the evil empire!
I have actually taken this week to revisit the first two films in the trilogy which I hadn’t viewed since their original release. What were my thoughts on revisiting them?
- The Force Awakens: a solid crossover from the old-guard to the new. Some surprise character exits. But a poorly visualised villain (Snoke) thrown into the mix with no back-story. 4/5.
- The Last Jedi: a mess of a movie. Although the story is uplifted by occasionally awesome visuals (Laura Dern‘s light speed jump in particular), the story often made no logical sense at all. 2/5.
So it was all to play for in the final furlong.
The Plot.
We left the end of the last film with the Rebellion in tatters, reduced to a tiny fleet of ships. (It was truly fortunate that our key players were not on any of the lost ships wasn’t it?) Rey (Daisy Ridley) is progressing her Jedi-training under the guidance of a new teacher. But the presence of Kylo-Ren (Adam Driver) is forever there, and their long-distance “psycho-chats” are becoming ever more ‘substantial’ as the bond between them grows.
But a dark presence from the past has returned, and both are drawn to it in different ways. A showdown between the forces of good and evil is inevitable.
Frenetic Pace.
The pace of the film is frenetic and totally exhausting. The first 30 minutes hardly pause for a breath as we zap around from location to location. Where the film really worked better for me was in the quieter and more reflective moments. Kylo Ren is in many of these moments: one, where he visits a very dark place, is well done; and one, where he receives a special visitor, is an interlude that is surprisingly effective. Adam Driver really is in excellent form here; he’s never been my favourite actor in the world, but here truly impresses.
Trio assembled. Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac) and Chewy (Joonas Suotamo). (Source: Lucasfilm).
The gang actually is all together again.
One of the problems of the first two films in the trilogy is that it sent all the young leads off in multiple different directions. The result was that there was very little of the interplay of the first films (between Han, Luke and Leia) that made them so memorable. Here that issue is rectified and Poe (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) develop a close onscreen bond with much resultant banter. Ridley’s Rey also gets thrown into the mix, with the result that a group hug feels at last normal and right. It’s bizarre, but you suddenly realise what was missing here when – FOR THE FIRST TIME – two of the characters get introduced to each other!
A welcome inclusion is that of the late Carrie Fisher as Leia. It’s actually extraordinary that they had enough unused footage to be able to weave in a full role for the character into the story. It never feels forced and there were only a few ‘hugs’ where I found myself thinking “I bet that’s not her”.
C3PO (Anthony Daniels) also gets much more screen time and has some really nice and comical scenes in here. And a new uni-wheeled robot (voiced by director J.J. Abrams) adds to both the comic potential (and the available Disney merchandise!).
Gone – but not forgotten. Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa. (Source: Lucasfilm).
Cameos.
Elsewhere, there are a whole bunch of famous faces cropping up. Watching the end credit roll is an “OH! That was who that was” revelation in some cases. I won’t list them here, since it is delicious to go in blind and have the surprise of seeing them. But some are famous actors from screen and TV, and one is an Abrams’ favourite from a past TV glory.
The biggest cheer though was reserved for a certain X-wing fighter near the end of the film. A blink-and-you’ll-miss-him moment, it was a white-haired appearance to treasure.
One of the stars who drop in. Richard E. Grant as the merciless General Pryde. (Source: Lucasfilm).
A trip down memory lane.
What the film does very well (or very badly if you read some reviews) harks back to the glories of the earlier films, and particularly Episodes IV to VI. Many places are revisited or scenes re-enacted until the place is just SOGGY with nostalgia (to use an old Tom Lehrer line). Although greatly contrived, I enjoyed these scenes immensely.
New characters in an old setting. (Source: Lucasfilm).
Making maximum use of the opportunity, John Williams bashes out theme after theme from most of the nine films. The soundtrack really is a “John Williams Greatest Hits” collection. Williams also actually gets a cameo as well – apparently as an eye-patch wearing bar-tender in the Nepalese-like town, though I must admit I missed it. (I’ve seen comment online that this is his first on-screen appearance: actually not true… he was conducting the orchestra in the “bird-lady’s concert hall” in “Home Alone 2”).
And plundering numerous other films.
There are also a huge number of similarities I saw in certain scenes with other cinematic releases outside of the Star Wars universe:
- “Raiders of the Lost Ark” – in two particular scenes;
- “Dunkirk” – but done properly!
- “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” – it doesn’t make any physics sense here either!
- “Power Rangers” – just because of one of the characters – you’ll know the one
- “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” – but to say more would be a spoiler!
And there are probably others I’ve forgotten!
One of the new characters on show. The physically impressive Naomi Ackie as the horse (or something!) riding Jannah. But she’s given little to do in the plot. (Source: Lucasfilm).
McGuffin plundering.
One of my key issues with “The Last Jedi” was the way in which it invented mad-cap tasks, objects and people that had to be completed/found for the plot to be moved forwards. A massive and pointless diversion to a casino planet, for example, was made just to get into a secure area of an imperial vessel: something in this film they ‘just do’!
This movie also suffers to a degree from the disease of ‘McGuffinitis’. Where’s the beacon? There’s a dagger that must be found; Where’s the interpreter?; etc. It’s all very formulaic. But at least in this case, there is a certain logical flow that follows within the plot.
Ends with a bang.
The LP soundtrack of “Star Wars” got me into a lifelong love of film music. One of the last tracks on the soundtrack of the first film was called “The Last Battle”. Well, THAT wasn’t true! There have been so many space battles since then that we’ve all lost count. But we all knew this would build to a doozy of a finale, and the film doesn’t disappoint. There is utter mayhem in the skies: WILL NOBODY THINK OF THE HENCHMEN’S FAMILIES?
It all drives to a satisfying ending for me and feels like a good closure to the saga. Is it perfect? No, not at all. It really sets itself with too much to do, and then tries to do it all within the available running time. The film will – and has by looking at the volume of IMDB 1* ratings – upset a lot of the fan-boys. But, you know what? Stuff ’em! The film should be judged on how it makes YOU feel as a standalone piece of entertainment, rather than as a part of some sort of pseudo-religious cult. And I personally think Abrams did a pretty decent job here of trying to please most of the people most of the time.
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14EztMXh5vQ.
