Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a fun ride. Like the latest Terminator, the response to this film will fall into two camps. The overly analytical who claim not to be and the rest of us. For the overly analytical there will be major time ellipses, plot flaws and random disparities that they will never get over. For the rest of us there will be some great special effects, action and nostalgia which we will enjoy.
For those who have a hard time living in our multicultural and gender equality leaning world, you will not like this Star Wars chapter, as you haven’t liked the last few. The heroine is an independent woman. You might already feel burn out from the “strong woman character” archetype. However, as far as I am concerned, in general there are nowhere near enough strong, independent women characters in films. So I think Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker is awesome in these regards. Of course, there is a beating heart inside of Rey (Daisy Ridley). She isn’t one of these cold and aloof Jedi like Luke, for example. But so what if she was, would it make the film any different? It shouldn’t. Towards the end of the film, Rey’s somewhat plodding storyline had a hard time competing with the epic battle that was raging around her. However, all told, for a 2 hour and 21 minute film, the plot held together remarkably well.
I thought Oscar Isaac was a solid General Poe. If you’d like to see him do some serious acting, check him out as Paul Gauguin opposite Willem Dafoe as Vincent van Gogh in the 2018, already classic, At Eternity’s Gate.
If you keep your expectations reasonable, you will enjoy this final installment. At least what tries to put a bow on this most timeless of sagas.
L&D Report 