Tripwire Reviews: Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker

Jedi, Steady, Go

Tripwire’s contributing writer Matt Zitron takes a look at Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, out in UK cinemas from midnight tonight and in the US from tomorrow. Our review is spoiler-free…

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker
Director: JJ Abrams
Stars: Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, Billie Lourd, Kerri Russell, Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega

My relationship with Star Wars has existed as long as my relationship with film.  I was born the year that Return of the Jedi came out, and my older brother was entrenched in his fandom (since ’77) when I appeared and chewed the head off his Wookiee. 

I’ve followed it throughout all of my life, going to conventions back when they weren’t cool, playing the video games, reading some of the novels, buying the strangely muscular figures of the 90s; right up until today.

The imperfection of the movies has never really bothered me.  I like the prequels, I really loved The Last Jedi, so coming into the Rise of Skywalker I was excited but also a bit sad because we have reached the end of the saga.

This isn’t the end of Star Wars obviously.  If the Mandalorian has proved anything, the world has massive potential away from the Skywalker story.

Can they give us a satisfying conclusion to a 9 movie story?  We’ve had a pretty good ending in Return of the Jedi already, and some have questioned whether these modern movies have even been necessary.  But I see my kids loving Rey, Finn and Poe, and I realise that actually it has been worth it.

While nothing could have met the expectations set by the original trilogy, the breadth of the story is fantastic.  The world is rich, and this addition has given life to a series that definitely needed an injection of modernity.

The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi were at their best when the marriage was between the old and the new.  When they relied too heavily on “HEY LOOK IT’S THEM..” they felt a bit stale, but when they took interesting choices they thrived.  JJ Abrams has returned to the director’s chair to end the story he started.

So we come to the end.  The greatest hero in the galaxy has died (Luke, not Admiral Ackbar RIP good general) and the Resistance are picking up the pieces as Kylo Ren travels the galaxy looking for Rey.

I’m of course going to avoid spoilers so don’t worry.

The movie starts at a breakneck speed as Abrams crams in as much story as possible to get to the inevitable big battle at the end.

This is probably the biggest issue I have with the movie that to be honest isn’t really its fault.  Watching (and enjoying) the Rise of Skywalker, it struck me that if there was a grand plan for this trilogy, they didn’t seed the previous two movies enough.  Within the first five minutes, he has to set up not only this film, but explain a fair bit about the previous two.

The revelations within are brilliant, and the movement of the characters and their story arcs work well.  The problem is they’d have worked better had they not popped up just in this movie.

That being said the answers all fans want are there.  We have concrete resolution to pretty much everything, including a very quick answer about who Snoke was within its first five minutes.  Trust me this isn’t a spoiler.

As a fan, and as a critic, the film really works.  Everyone gives a great performance and all the set pieces are of the spectacle and quality you’d expect from a Star Wars movie.  Despite the heavy first half, the story finds its footing and the ending flows much better than even The Force Awakens.

Disney finally realised the asset they had in Oscar Isaacs, and it’s sad that it’s taken them this long to put him up front.  The relationship between him and John Boyega is a definite highlight.

In fact I was giddy that we finally get an adventure with Poe, Finn and Rey all together.  The idea of the cobbled-together family is a definite theme throughout, and watching the team made me wish that we’d had more of it.

Rise of Skywalker is packed full of great moments for each of the characters, and as I said before, it’s a shame that it’s had to get to this point to give them light.

Without spoiling both, Poe is finally given a hint of a backstory, and Finn’s position within the Resistance is given more detail, although these could have been introduced in The Last Jedi.  In fact both of the heroes finally feel like fleshed-out characters, which is very disappointing if this is the end of their story. 

To be fair to the Last Jedi, it did set up Kylo Ren and Rey’s relationship and the resolution to that is probably the most organic of the trilogy.

Writing this, I’m fighting my fanboy instincts to rave about it and look objectively; that being said the fan that’s existed for 36 years was basking in fangasm. 

JJ Abrams manages to have listened to what fans want, without completely compromising the integrity of the story.  I’m sure some people will complain at fan pandering, but I feel like every choice made works within the sphere of the story.

Another nice surprise is the volume of Leia’s presence in the story.   It has seemed that each episode of this final trilogy was intended to give Ford, Hamill and Fisher their goodbyes, and despite her shock death, they manage to give Leia her moment in the sun.  She’s fairly prominent and they use the footage that they had to great effect.

Mostly they do pull it off.  The story weaves from A to B at a breakneck speed but by the end you’re satisfied the story has been done well.  As conclusions go you couldn’t really ask for more.  Deficiencies of The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi are fixed, and this trilogy is given a lot of needed cohesion.

I came away feeling that they’d managed to give this trilogy an end that reflects what’s come before.  If we look at all nine films as a whole from The Phantom Menace to the Rise of Skywalker we have a reflected journey.  The overall themes that began with Anakin come back to Rey.  It feels like, while the Force Awakens and the Last Jedi were on the surface Star Wars movies, they’ve finally found their core in The Rise of Skywalker.

This feels very much like the Star Wars film that we’ve all wanted, and the shocks, cheers and whoops in the multiplexes will ring out across the galaxy.

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker review www.tripwiremagazine.co.uk