Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker Movie Review

Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Watch the trailer
Written by: Chris Terrio & J.J. Abrams (screenplay by),  Derek Connolly & Colin Trevorrow and Chris Terrio & J.J. Abrams (story by),  George Lucas (based on characters created by) 
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong'o, Keri Russell, Kelly Marie Tran
Rated: PG-13

Plot
After an evil Sith lord mysteriously returns, the Resistance faces the First Order once more in the final chapter of the Skywalker saga.

Verdict
The final movie in the concluding trilogy totaling nine movies. I kept hoping the movie would do something that would really make me like it. The first two acts are muddled with boring dialog and numerous contrivances. The third act is great, the penultimate battles between the First Order, the Resistance, Rey and the evil Sith. I'm ultimately left wondering what this concluding trilogy was really about. Whatever it is, it missed the mark. The original trilogy was Luke choosing good, the prequel trilogy was Anakin choosing the dark side. This trilogy toys with lineage, but this movie seems divorced from The Last Jedi, ignoring plot points. The trilogy as a whole isn't cohesive. It's difficult to recommend not seeing this movie as the saga as a whole is a pop culture touchstone, but I'm left wanting so much more from this movie.
It depends.

Review
All spoilers will be concealed at the end of this review.

This really made me appreciate The Last Jedi more, and I had more than a few issues with that. I wonder if it will look better on the second watch after having watched IX. The Last Jedi certainly seems better in retrospect now.

I had mixed feelings coming into this, but upon first hearing the music and seeing the opening text crawl I was energized. After that I kept hoping the movie would do something to win me over after the muddled beginning. It feels like this opens somewhere in the second act. It's a muddled opening showing us Kylo Ren fighting the world,  Poe and Finn on an espionage mission, and Rey training.

This movie is too steeped in nostalgia while also resistant to doing something unique, daring, or even challenging. Those notions were something I appreciated in The Last Jedi.  Any risks this movie takes our quickly voided when the movie returns to status quo a scene or two later. It really cheapens the effect and any expectations I had of real consequences. There is so much contrivance and boring dialog. The Last Jedi had plenty of contrivance too. Events seem to happen because the plot requires it, not due to a logical progression of ever escalating war between Rebels and the Alliance.

I really liked the last third, the big battle, but even the wrap up to this is a bit mixed. I'm left wondering what this conclusion trilogy is even about, other than ending the thread of evil that spans all nine movies.

I love Poe and Finn's chemistry. The movie touches upon uniting everyone to defeat evil, but that seems secondary to the Skywalker legacy.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

This movie ends and I wonder what it's about. I wasn't sure what name Rey was going to say, and that's a fault of the movie. It didn't build to any name. I didn't really buy that she's a Skywalker. Sure Luke and Leia trained her, but I wasn't sold.

I thought there was a lot of potential that she was a nobody especially after what was set up and that she had incredible skill in the force. As it ends up, if you aren't a Skywalker, you aren't that important. Her being a Palpatine is from left field. It's like something setup just for this movie. This entire trilogy lacks a unifying plot. This could be about Kylo Ren changing his nature, while also being a mirror to Vader. It could be a commentary on the force and heroes. A nobody can ascend to save the world, but apparently that's just not true. In a lot of ways this movie is a split from Last Jedi. What's revealed here doesn't seem like a twist as much as a completely new idea.

This movie is full of contrivance. Chewie is killed in a wild moment, but in the next scene that's undone when we're told it was the wrong transporter. That's too easy, and I don't buy it. I wonder if that was rewritten after the fact.

Poe meet Zorii who wants to kill him. A few scenes later she wants to run away with him and also has the exact item he needs to complete his mission. The movie could have easily suggested they used to be a couple, but it's first stated as purely a monetary issue.

Ochi's ship works after all this time and his droid seems like a knock off BB-8.
We see Leia, Luke, Han, and Lando. That seems like a bit much. I don't know why Lando is in this other than fan service.

Kylo Ren has always been an underdeveloped character. He gets to die a few times in this movie. I like his final sacrifice, saving Rey as Ben, but I can't help but think Rey sacrificing herself too would be a better ending. This movie is scared to be bold. Zorii, who has a cool design, is supposedly killed only for that to be undone. C3PO's sacrifice is also completely undone just to emotionally manipulate the audience.

Rey has visions of succumbing to the dark side which seems like a nod to the original trilogy, but this movie doesn't really nail her conflict. She doesn't have a reason to join the dark side. Sure she has anger and rage, but even that is forced into the movie. I wonder if force powers have ever been used to heal or save people from a mortal energy. It seems like that should have some kind of cost. While it does for Kylo, Rey never seems fazed. If these powers have been shown in previous films I can't recall.

Who built Palpatine's army? Who staffed these ships? It seems like First Order troops on the ships, but if so were they just hanging out waiting for orders before? Resurrecting Palpatine seems a bit easy. Maybe I'd buy it if it was planted earlier in this trilogy, or at least hinted.

This movie seems to ignore Last Jedi. There seems to be no overarching plan for the trilogy. I want this to somehow fit into the original and prequel trilogy, but it doesn't. The original trilogy had Luke choosing the Jedi despite his father's choices. The prequel trilogy had Anakin choosing the dark side to protect his family. The conclusion trilogy is about Rey defeating Palpatine who happens to be her grandfather. She just never had any conflict. Sure the movie sets her up with this rage to kill Palpatine, but that felt like the movie wrote the end and then went back to pad it after the fact. She killed Palpatine without having to do it directly, but what's the difference?
If she killed Palpatine and died doing it, would that be the end of the force? That would be a nice bookend. What if Rey had said her name was just Rey and walked off into the sunset?
Kylo Ren going all the way to the dark side and then coming back to the Jedi because of the bond he has with Rey and the love he has for her seems like a more intriguing story.