It doesn’t matter how you or I feel about this or any Star Wars film, we can all agree that Babu Frik must be protected at all costs. He was Baby Yoda before Baby Yoda. My overall impression of The Rise of Skywalker (TROS) has a lot in common with my feelings around the sequel trilogy as a whole. That is, anything related to fleshing out the mysteries of and conflicts within the Skywalker/Palpatine lineage is a joy to watch. We learned way back in The Empire Strikes Back that the primary antagonist of the Skywalker Saga (I love that nomenclature btw) and best-movie-villain-ever was the father of the protagonist. “I am your father” persists as one of the most talked about, quoted and remembered movie moments ever. Will current generations reflect back wistfully on similar revelations from TROS? Doubtful, but that’s a pretty high bar to measure up to. TROS is quite good when viewed without the immense expectation that it will wrap up perfectly the arcs of so many characters significant and minor that have real meaning in the lives of so many of us (it largely does). ReyLo is just as interesting here as in The Last Jedi. It's hard to look away when the two are on screen. The relationship between emotionally split Kylo Ren and frightened-by-her-own-power Rey is at the center of the film and trilogy. Ren/Rey is essentially a proxy for Luke/Vader and the film and movie-goer both know it. Some of us walked away from TROS after first viewing unsatisfied with certain character arcs. I get that. I encourage you to go back and look again. The actual “star war” going on in the film is largely rote and Poe Dameron, Finn, Rose, etc. don’t have much of an impact. But the saga of the Skywalker family and message that any of us can make amends and be redeemed is a message worth considering.
The Rise of Skywalker receives a score of 8 out of 10. Within the sequel trilogy it falls just behind The Force Awakens and well ahead of The Last Jedi.
The Quick Critic
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