December is coming to a close and that means Star Wars season is nearing its end. Since Disney bought the rights to Star Wars in 2012, the mouse has released new Star Wars content near the tail end of the year. Now we all love Star Wars it is a cultural phenomenon. Generations from now people will still be talking about the great films of yesteryear like Star Wars. Well the old films at least. Because Star Wars has fallen into the trend today with films seem to be nothing more than corporations creating cookie cutter cash-grabs with no soul; at least the new films. Now I am not going to spend all day talking about how Disney messed up Star Wars. Or go on an entire rant on how much I dislike "Star Wars: The last Jedi". There are too many words of anger coursing through my vein about this topic and I'm not even a mega Star Wars fan. Instead we're talking about "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" (2019).
The Rise of Skywalker is the final film to Disney's Star Wars Trilogy. Their first film "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (2015) was pretty good. I remember binge-walking all the Star Wars films prior to watching it. Like I said I'm not some mega Star Wars fan. I'm just a casual who is in it to the lore. You see, when I am a fan of a fictional universe, whether Marvel, DC or something else, I try and study every aspect of that universe. After "The Last Jedi" I was furious because that film very much contradicted so many things established in the Star Wars universe. And I wasn't the only one who disliked "The Last Jedi" as many fans were mad. The only thing preventing this "The Last Jedi" from under ridicule is the Twitter Stans who have a mob mentality with anything. My hopes for "The Rise of Skywalker" was to just make a better story than the last film. And well…
Look I've seen the film twice. I hardly ever watch Star Wars films twice in theaters. However, this film earned that. Not because it was good don't get your mind twisted. There are parts in this film that left me both happy and enraged. Without spoiling anything (as always), there's a scene where a main character is "killed" and literally I was engulfed in so much rage I almost left the theater. But the funny thing is by the final act I was cheering on with the Resistance to take down First Order. The acting was good, nothing spectacular, and the effects were as always impressive. The plot is a very one thing leading to another, fast-paced, no time to question what is happening. My first time watching the film I literally kept questioning every action going on in the film. Some things were beyond my suspension of disbelief. And I have like a wide suspension of disbelief.
It's hard for me to point out everything with this film because whether we like it or not it is the end to the Skywalker Saga. Not like an end where we all are sad to see it go. An end where we walk out of our theater seats really trying to think what we just saw on that 10 ft high screen. The creative writer in me is just disappointed because there was so much potential in this story. I always support directors and writers who just want to tell their story. Whether it's good or bad is disregarded when it comes down to just getting the true vision out there. Disney had no plan. Legitimately, Disney had no plan for the sequel trilogy. All they wanted was to make money based off of nostalgia. Now they own Marvel, The Simpsons, Pixar like everything! Star Wars used to be a cultural phenomenon- the first film is in the Library of Congress for crying out loud. Nowadays it's just a fad and that's the saddest thing.
All I wish for 2020 is to have better writers in all things Entertainment. At least we have the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda.
