{"id":147805,"date":"2019-12-21T23:45:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T06:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=147805"},"modified":"2019-12-21T23:45:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T06:45:34","slug":"movie-review-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-2019-spoilers-segregated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/21\/movie-review-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-2019-spoilers-segregated.html","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review: “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019) [SPOILERS segregated]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Preliminary, non-spoilery notes:<\/p>\n

This is by no means a perfect movie. It is not a cinematic classic. It will win no Oscars for writing or acting or directing.<\/p>\n

Neither did any other Star Wars movie, I’m pretty sure. And that’s what this is: a Star Wars movie, full of leaps of illogic and crazy adventure and pew-pew and Force magic and melodrama and the whole series is based on Saturday Afternoon Movie Serials<\/em>, fergoshsakes. We’re not talking high art.<\/p>\n

Which is to say that I was entertained, and I thought it was a fine movie for what it was, and I will buy the Blu-Ray, and will feel like I got my money’s worth, and I will debate the details, and I will try not to lose my patience with people who pooh-pooh it because it isn’t artistic cinama or<\/em>\u00a0because it doesn’t cause all of their fanboi pleasure centers to fire off they way they demand.<\/p>\n

It was a fun movie. I enjoyed watching it. I will watch it again in the future. I think it wrapped up the “Skywalker Saga” just fine, thanks.<\/p>\n

Now for spoilers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Impressions as I went along.<\/p>\n

1. I still miss the Twentieth Century Fox intro, but, damn, that initial music cue. Still makes the adrenaline spurt. I hope John Williams had as fun a time with the soundtrack for this movie as it sounds like he did; it wouldn’t have been the same without him, and it was great hearing him pull back in some old leitmotifs.<\/p>\n

2. Something Star Wars has always done, and usually pretty well, is time jumps. For all its movie serial heritage, there are few immediate, literal cliffhangers. Instead, we pick up months, sometimes years later, the gap explained in that iconic crawl. And, despite what you might think, it pretty much always works.<\/p>\n

3. My biggest complaint with the movie was that it felt rushed. Especially in the beginning, it felt like we were hopping from thing to thing at breakneck speed, and for the most part we almost never have a chance to catch our breath, or to let the heroes spend time just talking and relating to each other.<\/p>\n

In short, this could have been a two part film with little trouble. I know that would break the trilogy thing, but I think opportunties were missed.<\/p>\n

(I, for one, would have been happy with a film of just Poe and Flynn bantering back and forth. They were great.)<\/p>\n

4. Now that the movie is out, I’m sure we will get even more detailed info of how it might have been different had Carrie Fischer not passed away. As it was, the use of previously shot unused footage and some jiggery-pokery let her continue to play a significant role. And while her presence seemed (in fact) constrained, it still worked a lot better, in my opinion, than just writing her out altogether.<\/p>\n

4.5. As far as other actors, all performed to required parameters. Most of the major character got moments to shine (special kudos for giving Threepio a moment to shine). A number of minor recurring characters got sadly wasted — but, in this kind of a film. there would never be room for all the possibilities.<\/p>\n

5. Wheeled (or at least tracked) vehicles! We have so much hover technology in this universe, that it was surprising (but fun) to see the high speed tracked pursuit vehicles the Stormtroopers used. It made no sense, but it was still fun.<\/p>\n

Also, about time someone other than the Mandalorians use jet pack tech. Complete with its disadvantages.<\/p>\n

6. The production designers, by and large, have done a nice job in continuing to advance the First Order tech and appearance beyond the Imperial model. Some nice touches there.<\/p>\n

7. I feel a bit cheated that the ominous and seeminly ubiquitous (in the film) Knights of Ren never end up doing much more than lurking ominously and (briefly) ganging up on Kylo before being taken out. It felt kind of cheap.<\/p>\n

As did the spy McGuffin and Hux and how quickly that<\/em> all wrapped up.<\/p>\n

8. On the one hand, I kind of liked the fact that Rey and Kylo keep getting in each others’ heads, literally. The city\/ship interaction was lovely, and the whole thing provided a very nice setup for the climactic battle.<\/p>\n

That said, it sure felt like just whenever Rey was beginning to focus on something, she’d get distracted by Kylo. It felt a little overdone in places.<\/p>\n

9. On the one hand, First Order stormtroopers are really, really crappy soldiers, gunned down literally at will by Our Heroes (does that armor ever do anything). On the other hand, I’m kind of glad I heard some women’s voices in their number (aside from the mutinied conscripts).<\/p>\n

10. Some nice parallels in the big Act 3 conflict between this film and Return of the Jedi: massive, do-or-die space battle against impossible odds counterpoised with our Jedi hero being slowly drawn into Palpatine’s quiet trap.<\/p>\n

11. I’ve heard complaints about the amount of fan service in the film. Without denying that there is a lot of “Oh, we have to bring back every significant character and setting, even if only for a brief moment,” by and large they managed to do so in the context of the story. There were a distracting number of moments where I was, “Wait, should I know that character?” But generally speaking it worked for me.<\/p>\n

And, in that context, I thought they did a good job of leavening in new characters with old ones, and new places along with old ones. This wasn’t just a greatest hits album.<\/p>\n

12. Nice circle back to Rey’s original scavenger days, only on a massively larger scale. The whole Death Star thing was lovely.<\/p>\n

13, I wasn’t at all surprised at seeing Mark Hamill back, given the obvious subject matter (even if his voice has roughened such that he sounds like the Joker most of the time). I had not heard that Harrison Ford would be returning. That was wonderful.<\/p>\n

14. Though each was used well, the cumulative effect of People Showing Up Unexpected because they were psychic intrusions, Force visions, Force ghosts, or vivid memories … sort of weakened the effect. There were times where I started to question the reality of what we, the audience, were perceiving.<\/p>\n

14.5. Rey finally getting in touch with her Avatar state<\/del> ties to all past Jedi was cool, especially trying to figure out all the voices (two, I am jazzed to discover in retrospect<\/a>, was Freddie Prinze, Jr. as\u00a0Kanan Jarrus, from\u00a0Star Wars: Rebels<\/em>. and\u00a0Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano).<\/p>\n

15. Okay, I admit it, Poe (and Finn)’s St Crispin Day speech before the fleet take off did have me a bit teary-eyed.<\/p>\n

16. The body count was, effectively, pretty massive. Not counting the planet that was gacked, we’re talking about thousands of Sith worshippers, and tens of thousands of First Order crews on those Final Order ships (there’s no sign that any of them surrendered, or mutinied, or that their surrenders were accepted).<\/p>\n

17. The big “everyone has to hug and kiss each other in celebration” at the end was maybe a scosh long, but, hey, end of the Saga.<\/p>\n

I did like that Ray, Poe, and Finn’s embrace was less slap-on-the-back and more clinging to each other for dear life.<\/p>\n

18. Yellow lightsaber! Nice.<\/p>\n

19. The Tatooine denouement was … nice. It hit a lot of nostalgic notes, complete with that binary sun.<\/p>\n

20. I also like, even though this is the end of the Skywalker Saga, cinematically, we didn’t wrap everything up with a neat bow. What happens next? Where are our heroes headed off to? Nobody knows. And even if the primary actors have indicated they have no intention of ever showing up again … well, neither did Harrison Ford, and there will be future movies. And TV series. And books.<\/p>\n

Sure, there are maybe some unanswered questions that maybe should have been. Who’s really in love with whom, and how does that end? Does Finn end up with Rey? With Jannah? With Rose? With Poe?<\/p>\n

What does Rey do after this? Will she start a new Jedi Order? Does her idiosyncratic lightsaber color, coupled with her experience indicate that she’ll strike a more realistic balance than the Sith or Jedi did?<\/p>\n

And, bigger picture, does a New<\/em> New Republic arise?<\/p>\n

And, um, who was Palpatine’s hitherto-unmentioned mate?<\/p>\n

But, y’know that’s okay. None of those gaps kept me from enjoying this to the level it deserves.<\/p>\n

The story never, really, ever ends. And that’s fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am quite satisfied with this wrap-up to the Skywalker Saga<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[41,372],"tags":[1993],"class_list":["post-147805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-movies","category-star-wars-media-movies","tag-theriseofskywalker"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/star-wars-9-the-rise-of-skywalker-poster.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":129240,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/23\/movie-review-star-wars-the-force-awakens-2015.html","url_meta":{"origin":147805,"position":0},"title":"Movie Review: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015)","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Dec-15 6:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A good movie, and I want more. And, most importantly, I feel no need to track down J J Abrams and commit violence upon his person, so I think it's a win-win for everyone. This was the Star Wars movie I was hoping for.4 stars (and a heart) out of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/star-wars-force-awakens-official-poster5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":129125,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/14\/movie-review-star-wars-iv-a-new-hope-1977.html","url_meta":{"origin":147805,"position":1},"title":"Movie Review: "Star Wars IV: A New Hope" (1977)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 14-Dec-15 10:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of the pre-\"The Force Awakens\" prep, +Kay Hill and I rewatched the first of the original trilogy. Result: lots of fun, 3.5\/5 stars.http:\/\/letterboxd.com\/three_star_dave\/film\/star-wars\/ \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Star_wars_old5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":129153,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/12\/16\/a-denver-line-for-the-next-star-wars-movie.html","url_meta":{"origin":147805,"position":2},"title":"A Denver line for the next "Star Wars" movie","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 16-Dec-15 11:32pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, the next one in May 1980, that is: The Empire Strikes Back. Originally shared by +BackintheUSA: People waited on May 22, 1980 in Denver, Colorado to get into a screening of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. \u00a0 View on Google+","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/star-wars-trilogy-theater-lines-05.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":132687,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/29\/movie-review-attack-of-the-clones-2002-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":147805,"position":3},"title":"Movie Review: "Attack of the Clones" (2002)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 29-Jan-17 1:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Since we went to a Star Wars costume exhibit at the museum yesterday, and we've been immersed of late in the Rebels and Clone Wars series, it seemed like an apt moment to rewatch the second Star Wars prequel film.Which is still pretty bad- Full review: http:\/\/letterboxd.com\/three_star_dave\/film\/star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones\/1\/- Previous reviews: http:\/\/letterboxd.com\/three_star_dave\/film\/star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones\/Reading\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/15535523_101105323722400_4292983742663753728_n5B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135773,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/08\/things-id-like-see-star-wars-movie.html","url_meta":{"origin":147805,"position":4},"title":"Things I’d like to see in a Star Wars movie, too","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-Jan-18 1:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"There's nothing here not doable or damaging to the franchise, and lots that would be both cool and, I think, helpful. As the MCU has shown for Disney\/Marvel, it's possible to tell a variety of stories in a variety of tones. The one-shots -- Rogue One, Solo -- are part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/unnamed.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128371,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/20\/seems-a-lot-of-folk-are-excited-about-the-new-star-wars-flick.html","url_meta":{"origin":147805,"position":5},"title":"Seems a lot of folk are excited about the new Star Wars flick","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 20-Oct-15 5:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Enough to crash a couple of major movie ticket websites, at least. Our planning will have to wait for our holiday travel schedule to be figured out. But I will definitely be pushing for seeing it as soon as possible. Star Wars Absolutely Crushed Movie Ticket Websites Fandango and MovieTickets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147805"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147805\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147807,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147805\/revisions\/147807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}