I noticed today that it had been released for streaming, so I went ahead and watched. (I missed it in the theaters.) Based on everything that had been said about it, it was better than I expected. It was entertaining and Abrams managed to get the emotional high points right. It felt like a decent conclusion to the saga.
And yet this movie, like the entire new trilogy, seemed primarily backward looking in its orientation. I personally never connected with the new characters as much as the old. Likely a lot of that had to do with my age. I was 10 when the original movie came out, but as a middle aged guy, the new story never loomed as large as it did for that kid in the late 70s and early 80s.
And you can tell that the real goal of the trilogy was to act as a bridge between old classic Star Wars and the new batch of movies and shows Disney now wants to produce, shows like The Mandalorian, which I watched and enjoyed, but in a rather bland sort of way.
With that goal, the trilogy felt like something I remember the first sequel of Star Wars managed to avoid. The Empire Strikes Back, when it came out in 1980, surprised everyone by not being what most sequels had been until that time, a slightly lesser version of the original designed to cash in on the original’s name recognition. Empire actually continued the story, and is often regarded today as the best in the series.
But this latest trilogy, in many ways, felt like the Star Wars 2 seasoned movie goers were expecting in 1980, particularly with the recycling of the Death Star, Death Star like weapons, and villains. It was somewhat mitigated by modern first class production values, but the story in many ways feels like a retread.
To be fair to the current producers, George Lucas tried to pull off the same thing with the prequel trilogy that he’d done with Empire, to expand the universe and show us aspects of it we hadn’t seen before, but this time to widespread ridicule and derision. (Admittedly, the writing for the prequels was also lackluster, and they too were backward looking in their own way, being preoccupied with establishing the background for the classic trilogy.) So it’s somewhat understandable that Disney took a conservative route with the new movies.
But you have to wonder what the new trilogy might have been if they’d tried the Empire move again. In interviews, Lucas provided some hints about where he might have gone if he’d made the final trilogy, and it sounds like it would have been very different, verging on metaphysical, exploring the microscopic mechanisms of the Force, which were hinted at in The Phantom Menace, again to fan derision.
Lucas admits fans probably would have hated it, and the example of the prequels didn’t give him much hope. Based on what I’d read, the chance of that final trilogy happening under Lucas was remote anyway. Still, if a novel, graphic novel, or something else along those lines about it were ever commissioned, I’d be tempted to read it.
Anyway, The Rise of Skywalker was very entertaining. It continues to be a space fantasy, with heavy emphasis on the “fantasy” part. Abrams didn’t concern himself much with canonical consistency or rigorous logic. But he knows how to tell a story, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
Have you seen it? If so, what did you think?
SelfAwarePatterns 
I think you know me well enough to predict my view here, so rather than go there I’ll just leave it at that. 😉
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Yeah, as you’ve discussed before, it’s the thrill ride. They do manage moments that long time fans will find nostalgic. But definitely not the movie for anyone wanting anything substantive.
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On top of that, as I’ve also discussed, the thrill ride itself can become tedious. If that happens, then one has a tedious movie with no substance (and an absurd plot).
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I think this one avoided tedium, but the thrill ride aspect was definitely front and center.
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I’m saying that the “thrill ride” itself is tedious (and being front and center isn’t avoiding it, it’s highlighting it) and is just more of the same CGI hi-jinks we’ve been seeing for many years now. I don’t find it new or interesting or thrilling.
We talked recently about how literary fight scenes are innately tedious. I increasingly find these over-amped fight scenes and thriller scenes old hat and boring.
(But as I’ve mentioned before, I’m fairly jaded, especially with action films — I’ve been watching those for almost five decades. It gets old.)
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For me, it depends on the film. I can still enjoy a well done “thrill ride”. But no doubt it’s a very subjective thing.
I also think literary fight scenes can be good, but I definitely think they need to be brief, and also each one needs to do work in terms of plot.
(I’m with you on being jaded, but either I’m not quite as far along, or I’ve pushed through to the other side and aren’t as disappointed because my expectations are lower.)
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Very subjective, and I definitely have high expectations.
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I wasn’t expecting much, and it slightly exceeded my expectations. I guess it was the best of the trilogy, but that’s not saying much. I agree that this trilogy felt like a Star Wars 2.
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In many ways, Star Wars 2 is what everyone wanted. But hopefully Disney will move the franchise pass that.
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Yeah, hopefully. Lucas’s midi-chlorian idea sounded weird but intriguing.
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I think that too many Star Wars fans wanted something that was “the same, yet different” from the original trilogy, which is a contradiction, an impossibility. And so these people hated The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker because they were too much like the original movies, and they hated The Last Jedi because it was too different from the original movies.
I think what these people *really* wanted was go into new Star Wars movies and feel *exactly* the same way that they did when they saw the originals back in 1977 and 1980 and 1983. And again, that is an impossibility, because however much you want it, when you are in your 40s and 50s there’s just no way you are going to be able to experience something the exact same way you would have if you were still a kid or a teenager.
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Good points. I do think a lot of people were hoping for that old experience of the classic trilogy. And you’re right. You can’t go back.
It seems like the franchise just needs to move forward. I enjoyed both Rogue One and The Mandalorian, albeit in a sort of bland way. And while the Leia and Luke cameos were thrilling in the moment, it seems like the franchise needs to move past them, to stop telling stories in their shadow. They have a whole galaxy to work with. We shouldn’t have to see anymore stories about or around the original characters. That time has passed.
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