and so we are told, for the third time, look you see, that Star Wars films are now "over". such a proclamation was made in 1983 or thereabouts after Return Of The Jedi, and then again around 2005 after Revenge Of The Sith. now The Rise Of Skywalker apparently marks another "end" of all things Star Wars films, or at the least "how we know them". after north of 40 years of telling the (pretty much same) story of (more or less) the same characters again and again, custodians Disney shall maybe make something "same but different" next.
which really just leaves one with the margin, scope or means to comment on the current "last ever" Star Wars films, and muse on whether or not bringing the whole thing back for a new (ahem) spin was worthwhile. yes, that can answered be with a "yes" up front, as in order of priority Disney have made a good deal of money out of it and some fans were happy at some stages.
it would be reasonable to assume that common sense suggests one should not read any further if they hadn't seen this Rise Of Skywalker business and had no wish for any sort of "giving it all away" information. however, as some sort of quasi indemnity in terms of the law of the internet, please note that from here, or after the picture, a really, really big *** SPOILER WARNING *** is resoundingly and resolutely in place. that which is known cannot be unknown.
but, for those wanting an overview, it turned out that The Rise Of Skywalker was a rather good film. really f*****g good film, as it happens. indeed, if you like, surprisingly very good film, considering just how bad the previous two, the dull Solo and the hideous Last Jedi, ended up being. a welcome delivery on the promise of quality entertainment made by The Force Awakens and Rogue One, then.
yet the whole Disney revival still feels like it fell well short of what may have been. they had gone ahead and created all that they needed to which would keep the fans happy, then went right ahead and ludicrously wasted much of it.
absolutely, several aspects of this post shall be lamenting how they let someone who appeared to hate Star Wars and wished to "subvert expectations" (a catchy term that apparently defends either being lazy or simply not liking audiences that pay you) go ahead and make what should have been the pivotal middle part of the new trilogy. whereas every effort shall be made to avoid sounding like a toxic or whiny fanboy, it may not always be possible.
the best part about The Force Awakens was not how they got Han, Leia, Luke, Chewie, the gay robot and the bin robot back. no. it was creating three (ahem) brand new, same but different heroes in Rey, Finn and Poe. as with the original trilogy of heroes, little time was wasted in "origin" stories, instead trusting audiences to work it out as they went.
of course, The Last Jedi went out of its way to "subvert" this winning formula. just about the first thing which The Rise Of Skywalker does is fix that, putting the combined characteristics, talents and abilities of the three together at the heart of its swashbuckling tale. well done, someone worked out a good idea to tell a good story is to give the audience what they expect, hope for, want and have paid to see.
further fixing was required with the Kylo Ren / Ben Hope character. again, this was done as early as possible in the film, mostly achieved by simply gluing his mask back together.
i really (as you may have worked out) had low to no expectations for The Rise Of Skywalker, and very little hope. The Last Jedi did many, many things wrong, and led the story to a point where it appeared not to have any sensible way of continuing. so, then, bravo to this JJ Abrams bloke. in just north of two hours he manages to undo the brick walls Last Jedi smashed the story into and deliver a decent continuation story too.
so, to the story of The Rise Of Skywalker. the rebellion to the new Empire like First Order is all but wiped out. just when things seemed not possible to get worse, it turns out that the leader of the old Empire, Emperor Palpatine, is not quite as dead as being in the middle of a Death Star as it blew up had previously suggested. time, then, for a final throw of the dice, a do or die sort of thing.
go on, have a guess at how it ends, or all works out.
a great deal of the success of The Rise Of Skywalker is the fast paced way in which our heroes end up in seemingly impossible to escape peril, only to of course escape. further, how in the face of impossible odds they succeed, with good managing to overcome evil.
certainly, there's a (fair) bit of seen it all, done it all before with the above, but so what? it works. for some there is a complaint, or frustration, that Star Wars appears to just tell the same story again and again, with minimal changes ("let's do it on a snow planet this time instead of a desert one" and so forth). fair enough, i suppose. my counter argument to that would be that for close to 60 years essentially the same James Bond story has been told in a slightly different way north of 20 times, and just about all of them always work very nicely indeed.
in short, if you deliver on audience expectations rather than seek to subvert them, generally you get an audience quite happy with the time and money invested. with regards to continued business success, it is odd that rather large film studios need to make expensive mistakes to work this basic principle out.
yes, finally, at last, Lando returns. there was general disappointment when he wasn't in Force Awakens and then massive anger when he was overlooked for a return in Last Jedi. it was the announcement that the most excellent Billy Dee Williams would be present that made me think, ok, maybe this film will be pretty decent.
overall, the return of the original "big" characters was handled quite well in this new trilogy. the reintroduction of Han, Chewie, Leia, Luke and Lando worked. sure, Lando's comeback was late, and Luke's return completely wasted, but still, the introduction of them all back was smart.
but then, the bringing back of original, much loved characters is also a flaw in this new trilogy. why, i still ask, go to all the trouble of having them in, and not give them one last adventure together? i get that Harrison Ford made the death of Han Solo a condition of his return, but was it really impossible to do this and have him twat around with Luke and Leia again for a bit, one last time?
indeed, lightsaber battles. or laser sword fights. Rey and Kylo Ren have some smart ones as The Rise Of Skywalker goes along. really good ones, too. again, a pivotal part of any Star Wars film and for some reason all but absent in The Last Jedi. the one they did condescend to have in that film might not as well have been in, really.
going back a touch, just how does the most preposterous and ridiculous sounding return to Star Wars, by which i mean the return of Emperor Palpatine (or if you like Darth Sidious) work out? surprisingly well. if you kind of sort of remember that Star Wars, like all science fiction fantasy stuff, tends to work out better when you just suspend belief or disbelief and allow yourself to escape realities, the return of this particular character makes some sense.
actually, it doesn't really matter if it does or does not. it is just good to have a familiar, decent villain back in place, after the total mess they made of the Snoke character in the first two films of this new trilogy. and by "first two", yes, i do indeed mean how they ruined the character in Last Jedi.
so, where next for Star Wars? by all accounts (ahem) this The Mandalorian series has shown that they can make decent, new stuff set in the "expanded universe" of it all without overtly relying on familiar, well known characters. but, also, the imminent Kenobi series is one fans shall be hoping is as excellent as The Mandalorian (apparently) has been.
the point of where next is, i guess, that The Rise Of Skywalker shall probably make fans care, or at the least be interested again. after the disappointing mess of Last Jedi and the dull, boring, missed what fans loved about the character, needlessly overthought Solo, for a little bit it did seem that the concept had been exhausted. not so, evidently, not so.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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