User blog:AustinDR/Thoughts on Rise of Skywalker (SPOILERS)

So I did end up watching Rise of Skywalker. It wasn't the best film of the franchise, but it also wasn't the worst. But then again I also liked Last Jedi which a lot of Star Wars fans tend to despise for whatever reason. Rise of Skywalker? Was visually good and I did like some of the acting as well as how they gave some care when it came with having to say farewell to Carrie Fisher. I also liked most of what they did with Kylo Ren's character (aside from the obvious leaning they did with Reylo).

The problems I have with the film? As I mentioned in my status post, it relied too much on fanservice. As in referencing past events and moments to make diehard fans of the franchise say "Oh, yeah, I remember that!" Such as reintroducing Lando after his noticeable absence. It wasn't much of a spoiler as they gave it away in the trailer, but Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine returns as the main antagonist of the film despite his death back in Return of the Jedi.

Palpatine is one of my favorite movie villains, so I did kind of expect to see him pop up somewhere in the sequel trilogy. But my issue? They don't do jack squat with explaining how he came back aside from the handwave of "the Sith has practices that would be considered unnatural." I would like to theorize that it had to do with what he told Anakin back in Revenge of the Sith where he mentioned how Darth Plagueis the Wise knew how to use the Midichlorians to cheat death, and it may be expanded upon hopefully in comics or books, but what irks me about the Emperor's return is how that made everything in Return pointless. All those sacrifices made, or Anakin being the chosen one to eradicate the Sith ultimately don't matter because the Emperor and to an extent the Sith survived.

Rey being Palpatine's granddaughter...mmm, I did kind of see it coming. I would've liked it more if she was actually a clone of the Emperor where it would reveal that Palpatine's followers managed to harness his DNA to create a body that he could potentially possess, and there were a few moments where you could infer that they were foreshadowing the reveal, but how they did so was really out of left field. With Rey, had they actually developed her more, maybe I would've cared more for the twist. But I don't. Or speaking of cloning, there's Snoke. After all that build-up and poor execution in the Last Jedi, Snoke is revealed to actually be a clone that Palpatine manufactured as part of the First Order scheme. Sure, it does provide some answers behind him, but it leaves further questions like was Snoke a previous Force-user? Some sort of twisted homunculus? At that point, it's clear why they brought the Emperor back: they lacked a road map.

This film feels relatively odd when you have the other films in the sequel trilogy. Because of the different directors, Rise of Skywalker doesn't quite meld well with either one because of the conflicting groundworks JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson laid down. The film is disappointing, but keep in mind I am not an extreme fan of the franchise. For what it's worth, I did enjoy it, but the film nevertheless pales in comparison to the other mainstream films. Score: 7/10