My Thoughts on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

I thought I’d share my thoughts and feels about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker film. In case you haven’t seen it, I’ve posted the trailer below:

So I watched The Rise of Skywalker when it was added to Disney+ on May 4^th. I didn’t see it in theaters because I wasn’t a big fan of The Last Jedi. Thus, there was no reason for me to pay for a $10 movie ticket when I knew all the Star Wars movies would eventually be on streaming. I’m really glad I waited. Not because The Rise of Skywalker was bad—I actually enjoyed 80% of it—but because it was ridiculously LOOOOOOOOOONG. I’m not sure my bladder would’ve held out for a theater viewing.

Besides being long, my thoughts can be summed up with “it was good.” Not amazing, but good. There were a lot of “force feelings” that were a little odd. Otherwise, it was a solid film. There was plenty of action, and the plot was fairly easy to follow. I was concerned with the return of Palpatine, but the way it played out was actually pretty interesting.

Even though a lot of people think Rey is overpowered (me included), I still think she kicks a$$. Her storyline and the way it mingled with the first three films actually impressed me. Even the Kylo Ren parts. And I am NOT a fan of Kylo Ren. I also thought all of the new (and old) droids and creatures were fun. There were some cute moments. I felt so sad for poor Chewbacca, though. I won’t go into spoilers, but his storyline was the only one that made me tear up.

Although I enjoyed Rey, Leia, and the droids and creatures, I have to admit that sometimes Poe and Finn got on my nerves. Finn’s role during the entire film just seemed to be overacted yelling, while Poe was able to make terrible decisions in The Last Jedi but still become a high-ranking operative in the Resistance. Talk about Glass Escalator. It’s kind of sad how the two characters were made to be so awesome in The Force Awakens, but their story (like most of the characters) got messed up in the sequels. I mean, Finn was a stormtrooper who joined the Resistance! He could have had a way better storyline. (Oh, and again, no spoilers, but why are the current showrunners of Star Wars obsessed with having characters ride terrible CGI horse-like creatures. It didn’t work out in The Last Jedi, and it just looked weird in this film as well.)

All in all, other than the strange “force feelings” that all of the main characters seemed to have, as well as a few questionable storylines for our two male characters, I was impressed by The Rise of Skywalker. It had beautiful scenes and imagery. Some of the shots were just gorgeous. And Rey is so kicka$$. I’m actually sad to see her go, though as Luke said in The Last Jedi, I too think “It’s time for the Jedi to end,” or at least, the Skywalker saga. Thankfully, we still have Baby Yoda….