Cut to two years later for The Last Jedi from director Rian Johnson, a movie I also loved, even if it was and still is a polarizing movie for how much it tinkered with the fabric of Star Wars, leading to a vindictive outcry from the most toxic of Wars fans.
And so, cut once more to two years later, where this new Star Wars trilogy comes to an end, coaxing J.J. Abrams back for one more adventure, to close off the epic Skywalker saga. It doesn't help, for The Rise of Skywalker is a crushing disappointment as a final chapter.
Also, potential spoilers are to follow in this review, so for those wishing to go in blind, read at your own risk.
A year after the battle of Crait, the Resistance, led by General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), is struggling in their fight against the First Order, now under the new leadership of Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). Meanwhile, Jedi in training Rey (Daisy Ridley) is continuing to hone her abilities and find her inner peace, joining former Stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) on a quest to recover a vital artifact. But as Rey finds herself pulled more to Ren, and the spirit of the deceased Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) haunts the galaxy, the Resistance and the First Order will soon face off in the ultimate battle of Light Side vs. Dark Side.
The Rise of Skywalker went through quite a shift in production, originally under the direction of Jurassic World's Colin Trevorrow, who departed citing creative disagreements, which thinly reads as "Lucasfilm saw The Book of Henry." With this and The Last Jedi's heated response, they've decided on bringing Abrams back, hoping to course correct the film by giving the fans what they want, while doing his best to honor Johnson's contributions. Having seen it, I can tell you he does not honor Johnson's work, nor is it satisfying to anyone who thinks about it longer than 2 seconds, a perfect example of why you don't hand blockbusters to legions of angry Internet fans.
Right from the opening, you can tell something is off. The first act is incredibly busy as it builds to the greater stakes in the later sections of the film. The first ten minutes get into some prequel-level cross-cutting, bouncing between Kylo Ren's main driving force, fast-paced action with the Resistance, and Rey's continued training. It takes this movie a good while to find its footing, and so it struggles to nail down a consistent pace and mood, especially as the film gets into its fetch-quests in the middle act, where characters start jumping from planet to planet like a wayward Bond film, and speaking of which, this really does feel like the Spectre of Star Wars.
As a result, the characters take a hit in this new outing, but that's not to undercut the work they're still putting in. Chief among them is Adam Driver, who proves himself the most well-rounded performer of the trilogy, and who has been a fascinating character from the start, constantly at war with himself over his conflicting heritage, and walking a thin, blurred line between Light and Dark. He's a character that believes himself to be too far gone, with a guilt visibly eating away at him, and through Driver's usual intensity and commitment, we're able to share and partake in those emotional layers, and I truly believe that this is everything Anakin Skywalker should have been.
No slouch as his closest counterpart is Daisy Ridley, whose Rey has always been a standout inclusion, and one of the strongest heroes this franchise has ever featured. Here, she continues to anchor the film with her same unmistakable soul and nobility, even as forces beyond her comprehension start pulling her to the Dark Side, committing to and tackling her own rocky journey with intensity and charisma, even if the material threatens to best even her. This isn't Ridley's fault, but Rey gets dealt a flimsy hand by the new directions her character is taken, many of which owing to the inconsistent throughlines established within the trilogy, where Abrams has to contort the script to fit with his pre-conceived notions of where the character should have gone, blatantly retconning the revelation about Rey's parents from The Last Jedi, and the ultimate explanation is much less fulfilling.
The other characters don't fare as well, especially given how many of them are pushed to the sidelines under the weight of the main narrative. John Boyega's Finn, once a fantastic addition that stole The Force Awakens, really shows how little new ground that he has left to cover, as most of his significant contributions amount to him just tagging along where he's needed. Oscar Isaac also gets a raw deal, because despite their best efforts to give Poe Dameron agency and pay-off, he actually loses some of the distinctive spirit that made him such an endearing character, with humor that even veers him closer to the Han Solo type they'd done well to distance him from.
And that's only pointing out the main cast, for the supporting players have it worse. Poor Kelly Marie Tran and Lupita Nyong'o serve as glorified background extras. Domhnall Gleeson's Hux, despite the film attempting to give him some proper closure, veers into territory that makes little to no sense for him, joined by Richard E. Grant doing his own Peter Cushing impression. Keri Russell even shows up as an old ally of Poe's, in what I assume was a favor for Abrams, given what a non-entity she ultimately is. It's just too many characters the movie has to keep track of, and what main characters they do place focus on aren't always fleshed out.
That's before factoring in characters from older Star Wars movies, including unused footage of Carrie Fisher to finish her character's story arc (rather gracefully, at that), as well as the returning Billy Dee Williams, who - to his credit - enjoyably steps back into the the shoes of the character, and whose sparing screen time makes his appearances all the more effective and poignant. And there's still more, with any number of references and cameos pouring in, but really, it's all just leading to the Emperor.
I really don't have many good things to say about Palpatine's reappearance here, because he is essentially the mascot for where this movie really goes wrong. Admittedly, looking back on this new trilogy in hindsight, it's clear that the filmmakers didn't have a game plan in mind, which is made all too evident by the way the movie has to stretch to make the Emperor fit in continuity, serving as some puppet-master to the events before the film as if he were Blofeld. Not only does it feel unimaginative, but it cheapens whatever potential drama and layers you could have tapped into with the characters you have, as opposed to bringing one back for conflict's sake. I can't even give Ian McDiarmid's performance much credit, as his evil aura is much more subdued in this outing, and so he doesn't have as much freedom to really chew the scenery, which is one area the prequel entries vastly outperform this film. His performance is also not helped by the fact this his scenes are poorly shot, as his figure is mostly kept shrouded in shadows, with only the odd strobe effects illuminating his face.
And yes, the Emperor is perfectly emblematic of how overloaded this movie is with nostalgic callbacks, where the movie becomes downright pandering in its attempts to win back fans scorned by The Last Jedi. Outside of carrying over the mind-bridging sequences (which are amazing when they play out), the events of that film are often diluted, with The Rise of Skywalker playing much more like a sequel to The Force Awakens than the previous film. This is a mistake, as not only does it sacrifice consistency for cheap applause, but they expect those callbacks to do the heavy lifting. Yes, The Force Awakens had those moments too, but those were naturally woven into the narrative, as opposed to this movie bolting them on and calling constant attention to them. What they've essentially done is miss the forest for the trees, and in an attempt to please fans, have over-corrected to the point of losing imagination. They should have known better than to bend to the whims of those angry voices, and Abrams should have shown more decorum in merging his ideas with Johnson's, instead of the retcon tug-of-war he plays.
Now, that doesn't make The Rise of Skywalker *all bad,* because true to the stamp of quality of the franchise, it is an exercise in glorious spectacle. Every penny of the multiple-hundred-dollar price tag is clearly on the screen, from the glorious production design and creature effects, the immersive sound work, another magnificent musical score by John Williams, and the always staggering visual effects work (just the puppetry and animatronic work alone merits praise). Even at their worst, the epic scale of these movies is always to be admired, especially in the way that it translates to the action set-pieces, which are fun and entertaining in their own ways, even if they don't always come together to serve the story. For all his story issues, Abrams is still a marvelous visual director, with a perfectionism that does at least pay off in that area.
But on the whole, this was not the finale that Star Wars deserved. The Rise of Skywalker is not without its pleasures, but as the capper to a 42 year saga, it's a mess. Too often does it let audience goodwill and nostalgia do all the work, rather than actually show some imagination by taking risks with the story. And it's a shame, because this movie had everything in its favor. Whereas Abrams excelled in bringing new life to the franchise and jumpstarting the trilogy, and Johnson took bold and effective risks in building on the blueprints he laid out, this is a frustrating step backwards, where the series has regressed into glorified fan-fiction, bending over backwards to appease fans rather than make an actual good movie. It may not be the worst Star Wars - the honor of which still belongs to Attack of the Clones, but it certainly contends with Solo as the worst film since then.
For this to be the final say on the Skywalkers just feels wrong to me, and while this obviously won't be the last Star Wars film, it puts those classic characters to rest on such a sour note. Saying goodbye to some of my favorite film characters, the emotion I feel shouldn't be disappointment.
**1/2 / *****
No comments:
Post a Comment