Sunday, December 22, 2019

Movie review - "Rise of Skywalker" (2019) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

I'm still processing. A friend told me "I'm just glad this is all over." And I agree. These films have become too stressful.

Some random thoughts - it's how I have to process this:
* it feels like a script that was replotted at directors meeting stage - scenes feel as though they end too early, there's still bits which feel as though they could be cut - and other stuff which feels abrupt (how did Chewie get captured again?, Adam Driver getting to the planet)
* when the film focuses on speed and just motoring along it's a lot better
* the failure to define the characters of Finn and Poe more strongly becomes strongly apparent in the banter scenes - compare them to the clearly defined Luke, Han and Leia the new trio are nowhere near as individual
*plotlines feel thrown away eg the reveal of the spy, why did they need to think Chewie was killed? why not have Finn tell Rey what he was going to say? why not use Rose? (they could have killed her off if they didn't like her but that death would have had more emotional impact - they could have used her in the romantic plot... so many ways...)
* nice nostalgia like the return of Wedge, Han, Luke and Lando - though Lando is under-used
*Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter is fantastic idea but should have been introduced in the previous film and played out (eg suspicion of the rebellion towards this character) - they should've kept at least one parent alive too to explain what happened - the concept of Palpatine being alive should have been built and is a failure of planning
* Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley are the best of the new people though it doesn't really progress from the last movie - I forgot he was Carrie Fisher's son
* why give so many close ups to Dominic Monaghan?
* some great visuals: the death star crashed into the water, the fight among the waves, the final battle, the worlds
* occasionally I was stirred: the appearance of the other ships, Han Solo coming back... but mostly I was bored. I don't want to be toxic, truly, but it wasn't very good.

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