Film Review: STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (2019): A Hodge Podge Film with Lifeless Plot Twists, A Blind Eye Towards Canon, & A Tepid Ending

Rey’s Jedi Training

Since Rey (Daisy Ridley) had no training in The Last Jedi, her Jedi training has been shifted to The Rise of Skywalker. The problem is that the training is pointless because she: a.) is already the best sword fighter in the galaxy (she beat Luke Skywalker), b.) can already lift dozen of objects coterminous with her mind, c.) can already use the Jedi Mind Trick, and d.) can magically heal people, something no Jedi before her could do (The Child from The Mandalorian is not a Jedi…yet). What is Rey training to get or to know that she doesn’t already have or possess? Since she can do all four of the aforementioned, why does she need to train? Yoda in The Last Jedi said she knew everything that she needed to know so, once again, her training in this film serves no purpose. It’s busy-work for the first act of this film.

At worst, Rey’s training in The Rise of Skywalker is window-dressing to appease fans coming out of The Last Jedi who were dubious about a Jedi who doesn’t need any type of training yet can do everything at once that takes a normal Jedi decades to learn.

Rey’s Character-defining Moment Reversed for No Good Reason

Director J.J. Abrams does two things that the viewer applauds in The Rise of Skywalker – he has Rey use Force lightning not because she can e.g. another show of her über powers but by accident and through that accident, Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo)’s death occurs.

Because of that death, Rey begins to question herself, her path, the Force, and all the choices that she has made that lead to that death.

It is this brief, precise moment in the motion picture that The Rise of Skywalker becomes an actual film, a movie where there are recognizable, internal ramifications for actions.

And do you know how Abrams builds upon this key moment, how he takes advantage, for the benefit of the film, Rey’s resultant emotion state? He reverses everything for no reason whatsoever.

Why do all of that, take Rey to that reflective state, to just to reverse it (and in the most worthless way possible)? What is the point? Is such a weak plot twist and the blatant missed opportunity worth it?

The Failed Temptation of Rey

There are two moments where Rey can be tempted by The Dark Side in The Rise of Skywalker – in the wreck of The Emperor’s throne room (a great scene where she sees an evil version of herself – loved it) and the scene that directly follows it where Rey repeatedly tells Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) to give her the Wayfinder (aka the film’s McGuffin). The anger in her repeated requests is palpable (which could have been amplified and given context if this scene followed Rey accidentally killing Chewie – for real and not reversed) yet the script is so rushed and Kylo so blind, he doesn’t see that her emotions at that moment can be used against her to possibly turn her, to make the boiling water of her emotional-state explode. Instead, Kylo provokes Rey into a lame fight that is stake-less (Rey is stronger with The Force than Kylo is, she is a better swordsman, and she already beat him with no sword or Force training in The Force Awakens).