The end of a Saga...

COLINS FILM CLUB REVIEW (Spoiler Free) – Cinema

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER

About 40 years ago in 1977, I found myself queuing outside a cinema in Cambridge waiting to see a film that everyone was talking about, the must-see sensation that was hitting the screens which showed spectacle and action on a scale never before imagined. It was a story of the forces of good and evil locked in battle and of overcoming insurmountable odds to win and achieve the purpose of ones destiny. Above all it showed what a humble farmboy from Tatooine could and would become as he and his friends took on this epic challenge, it was a tale of strength, of bonding and of family...

It was called Star Wars...

Of course all this is now history, and the fertile imagination of George Lucas has crafted more onto this original story since then, and indeed the reins and mantle of its creation have passed on too with the likes of Rian Johnson and JJ Abrams in the latest and last of the trilogies which culminate in this latest outing, The Rise of Skywalker – placing the last of the last segments into to story which has endured ever since my cinema trip in the 70s.

So, lets get you up to speed then...

Its fair to say that Episode 8 divided fans in ways that no other Star Wars film had done before it. A knock on effect felt by the other standalone Star Wars projects like Solo: A Star Wars Story, which failed to light up the box office causing Disney to re-think its policy towards the films. Some of the seeds sown in The Force Awakens were cast away or removed and the whole direction the trilogy was thrown off course worse than Vaders TIE Fighter in the first film. And if this wasnt enough, the sad passing of Carrie Fisher shortly after completing the filming for The Last Jedi now meant there was going to be a serious and much missed gap in the film narrative for any sequel...

Disney brought back the one person they felt could work his magic again to save the franchise and to end the epic tale fittingly – JJ Abrams.

The question is – has he done this...???

The Rise of Skywalker starts off with the depleted Resistance forces learning that the arch foe of everything they have fought against was not Snoke or Kylo Ren, but a not-so-dead Emperor Palpatine who somehow survived his fall down the Death Star Reactor Core Shaft in Return of the Jedi and has been meddling and orchestrating affairs ever since, creating the First Order and leading up to his eventual return. The news of Palpatines survival and the new threat it brings not just the Resistance but the whole Galaxy sets our heroes off on a quest to retrive a Sith Tracker to locate the hidden system Palpatine is amassing his new fleet of ships, each carrying a planet destroying weapon based on Death Star tech, with the aim of stopping him once and for all.

As for further plot details, I will reassure readers that there are no spoilers here and I will not divulge any information regarding the fates of any characters.

Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewie, BB8 and C3PO pretty much stick together for a majority of the film, which is actually quite pleasing, there is some lovely banter between them, some of it quite funny, and the actors seem very comfortable with their characters, especially Oscar Issac who is given much more to do in this film than the last one. In Episode 8 he often came across as petulant and arrogant, insubordinate and actually a little annoying, however here he regains his roguish charm, especially in his scenes with Zori – a friend from his days as a Spice Runner. Daisy Ridley also has quite an arc in this film, having continued her training she is now every bit the match for Kylo Ren and she still continues to share a Force link with him which is used in the film to great effect, apparently allowing them to share the same space and transfer objects between them. It also provides the chance for Rey and Kylo to talk, sharing information about Rey`s past for example.

John Boyagas Finn also gets plenty to do, however his friendship with Rose Tico has been elbowed abit to allow Finn to go off on the search for the Sith Tracker.

It is this search for the tracker which takes up the bulk of the first half of the film, this macguffin provides our heroes with the need to work together in order to find Palpatine and stop him, but it also helps set up several set-piece confrontations with First Order stormtroopers, or fleets of TIE Fighters, even with Kylo Ren himself who is still the Supreme Leader of the First Order but seems to take off whenever it suits him to pursue his own agenda. Adam Driver once again portrays the former Ben Solo as a conflicted individual torn between the pull of the light side and the power of the Dark side, the double edge of the Force he seems to straddle. However as things progress in the film, there are hints that he is not entirely won over with Palpatines plan or his offer and clearly has his own agenda.

One telling and very poignant character in the film is General Leia. As JJ Abrams had said, this was meant to be her film and in many ways it really is, Carrie Fisher shot additional scenes in the Force Awakens which were never used in that film and rather than go down the route that Rogue One did using CGI, Abrams decided to use this footage into The Rise of Skywalker. These scenes are integrated flawlessly and its clear it has been done with great respect, allowing the character of Leia to end the trilogy in a noble and fitting way.

Another returning character as already seen in the trailers is Billy Dee Williams Lando Calrissian, and its great to see him back in the franchise and piloting the Falcon again.

Visually, the film is stunning – from a huge ice asteroid in space to the moment the Sith fleet masses in a lightning strewn sky, and the huge twisted remains of the second Death Star being battered by colossal waves, there are so many cool vistas on screen its hard to pick a favourite, although if like me towards the end there is one scene which brought a huge grin to my face and nearly made me cheer out loud in the cinema which I shall leave you to discover.

Mention needs to be said of a couple of things which seem to go against type for characters in this trilogy, one of which is the identity of the First Order spy helping the Resistance which without giving it away is unexpected but feel wrong, considering his actions in the two previous films. Secondly, there are displays of new Force powers which have never hitherto been mentioned or seen before in any of the films, and lastly just how Palpatine survived all these years after the events in Return of the Jedi are questionable and at least never fully explained.

Also I have seen several reviews in print and online which deride this film for playing too much towards “Fan Service”. Personally, having seen it I think it ticked pretty much everything I needed to see in the ending of a trilogy, let along the ending of a trilogy of trilogies, I think it did the right thing to rectify a lot of the errors made by The Last Jedi and attempt to bring a pleasing conclusion to the films, without pandering totally to fans wishes – its clear that The Rise of Skywalker runs at a breakneck speed for a reason, setting up scene after scene that include massive set pieces, battles and plot devices to move it all along to its inevitable conclusion, driving the story to one defining moment and that moment when it arrives is quite powerful. Its true there will be haters towards the film, but I think much less than was seen with the previous outing.

Okay, to say much more would test my ability to keep secrets and not spoil this film for those who have yet to see it.

I think The Rise Of Skywalker is really, really good. As I said above, it ticked many boxes for me personally and it was a very enjoyable film, it will be sad to see the end of the Skywalker Saga as a whole but it does free up Disney and Lucasfilm now to concentrate on maybe new characters and different areas of this Galaxy far, far away which it will no doubt do in the future. I do not however think it is a better film than Avengers Endgame... once again, I was in a position like I was when I did the Last Jedi review, waiting to see if that film would beat Avengers Infinity War, which it didnt in my review. Endgame is a better nuanced film with a better structure and dare I say it, possibly a bit more intelligent even for a Superhero film. The Rise of Skywalker is sometimes brash, fast and certainly entertaining, but not a game changing piece of cinema.

Overall, at the end of the day, its Star Wars – and we all know roughly what to expect from a Star Wars film. This one delivers that in spadefuls...!! You will certainly NOT fill like you wasted your time seeing it, as much as for the prestige of seeing the final chapter in as much as seeing a thumping good sci-fi adventure. And I know that if I was that young boy again back in the 70s and this film had come out, I would happily be queuing again to see it...

And maybe thats what Star Wars does best and always has done best, engaged with that part of you who wanted to be Princess Leia, Luke, Han, or even Darth Vader when you were either a child, or a 51 year old like me now – taking us back to that far away Galaxy is often the best thing we ever have happen to us...

Enjoy this film, its worth the effort.

The Rise of Skywalker virtually wipes away the mess of The Last Jedi and brings the story back on track. With the stakes never higher, it really is the battle to end all battles. Its not without its weak points but they do not detract from the film as a whole. It is a fitting end to a saga spanning 40 years and a fitting tribute to the wonderful Carrie Fisher as well.

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