There will inevitably be [SPOILERS] below, so don’t read until you’ve seen Episode IX.
Burn down the past. Embrace the balance. Light and Dark are both inside of you. These are some of the bold, fresh themes Rian Johnson unleashed on Star Wars fans in The Last Jedi. Star Wars fans apparently weren’t ready for Johnson’s boldness and subversion. Apparently neither was Disney, who hired JJ Abrams back to basically do a remix of what he did with The Force Awakens for the final movie of the Skywalker Saga. Abrams hides all the erasing of deep storytelling under The Rise of Skywalker’s popcorn light fan service. Sure it’s lovely, but it feels pretty hollow by the end if you’re paying attention.
Final [SPOILER] warning.
Across the galaxy, Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) has come out from the shadows, and is calling out to Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and any other Sith leaning followers to come find him and the surprise he has for the galaxy. That means Poe (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega), and especially Rey (Daisy Ridley) have to find Palpatine first before he unleashes whatever sinister surprise he has in store for everyone.
The Last Jedi at this point was treated by Disney like one of Rey’s “dark side temptation” tests ironically using Johnson’s themes against his own movie. Some of these retcons are minor and fall within suspension of disbelief. However, most of these changes are at the expense of character consideration, and come across disingenuous. Some characters are cruelly sidelined because of shaky fan approval. Characters origins are retconned, eliminating some inspired choices made in Episode VIII. Within the first 10 minutes or so, Kylo Ren starts making decisions that he would never have made in The Last Jedi to push the movie toward a fan approved conclusion. Moral complexity? Only barely hinted at with Rey, and nonexistent for Kylo, because this story dictates that Rey be THE hero and Kylo be Darth Vader lite. The erasure of The Last Jedi is so rapid and poorly thought out that this movie even has a Martha moment that causes a character to completely abandon their arc. It’s pretty sad that a saga defined by boldness and vision has become consumed by fear and monetary consideration.
It’s clear from the get go that The Rise of Skywalker has no intention of going forward with what Rian Johnson set up; it’s going to listen to what Disney considers real Star Wars fans and deliver safe, familiar storytelling and fan service to end the Skywalker saga. That’s not always a bad thing: Abrams has a knack for creating a shadow of famous scenes George Lucas created and updating them for his new trilogy. Those callbacks, while shallower, are still exciting and tie into the original trilogy so beloved by fans everywhere. In Rise of Skywalker, heroes are totally heroic rising to the occasion time and time again; conversely, bad guys are egomaniacal overlords. I’m not a big fan of Palpatine’s return, but watching Ian McDiarmid seethe and cackle with evil is always enjoyable. There is more planet hopping in this movie, including some planet shadows of yesteryear. 3PO, R2, and many original cast members get heroic send offs. By starting from the end and working backwards, the Rise of Skywalker tries to give fans a satisfying ending to a frustratingly micromanaged story.
Even though The Rise of Skywalker is mismanaged, it’s never boring. And fan service centric storytelling is destined give you emotional highs and payoffs you’ve been hoping for, sometimes for decades. Fans will ship, fans will cry, fans will cheer. JJ Abrams wants you to know that the only thing he really cared about making this movie is the fans – story, character, and canon be damned. And for any fan who’s pissed at how this movie didn’t 100% turn out exactly how you wanted it to, just remember, only a Sith deals in absolutes…