I just walked out of Star Wars Rise of Skywalker. As the movie ended, the audience clapped and cheered. I found myself thinking to myself, “Did people really LIKE this movie?”. The critics have given the film terrible scores, but surprisingly (at the moment of me writing this), the audience score for the movie on Rotten Tomatoes is an 87% with 6,000+ votes!
So am I in the wrong with my reaction or is this truly a terrible movie? I am going to share my complaints about the movie and if I missed anything or misunderstood things somehow, PLEASE let me know so I can understand how anyone could have enjoyed this movie.
1. Be Yourself, Rey – No Thanks, I’d Prefer To Be A Skywalker
Throughout the film, Rey was told often to “be her true self” and to not be afraid to “be who she is”. An excellent theme which stays right in Star Wars’ wheelhouse. Then, at the end of the film, she is asked by an old woman who she is and decides to completely give up who she really is and adopt the name of Skywalker instead of Palpatine.
I would have preferred her to accept her past, her family history, the new identity she has found and become proud of everything that has made her who she is. Instead, she adopts a new identity.
She did say no one actually understands who she really is. Guess she wanted to be a Skywalker the entire time!
2. What Happens When Rey Kills Palpatine?
Let’s break down the whole scene with Rey and Palpatine:
Palpatine – “Rey, you must kill me. When you do, the entire force of the past Sith will flow through you!”
Rey – “No, I will NOT.”
Palpatine – “Yes, You Will!”
Rey – “Okay, maybe I will. I cannot resist!”
Ben – “No, I will stop you from making the worst mistake of your life Rey. I love you!”
Palpatine – “Begone Fool. I shall throw you into a pit.”
Rey – “You’re hurting my friends. Okay, now I’ll kill you.”
Audience – “Wait, did Palpatine really die this time? Nothing he said about the Sith flowing through her happened so maybe he’s alive and I can expect to see him again in the next Star Wars film, too.”
Sorry Sith Souls, you’ll just have to wait a trilogy longer to be released!
I guess the writers just assumed that the audience would accept that the powers of a Jedi just ALWAYS overpower the powers of the Sith.
And speaking of powers…
3. How Is Rey Getting Her Jedi Powers
Rey has been strong with the force from the moment we saw her. She’s a bad ass woman who knows how to handle herself, completely kicks ass in all respects, inspires the men and women around her, and displays the inner struggle of never knowing her family incredibly well. She’s a great character.
With all of that being said, how is she learning to use the Force? In Rise of Skywalker, she can all of a sudden hold a massive ship still in mid-air, discovers she can shoot lighting like a true Palpatine (completely by mistake), but the biggest issue for me is she can now magically heal people?
I find it hard to believe that no Jedi in the past has ever tried to heal someone using the Force and mysteriously, Rey is suddenly able to do it. Granted, force healing has been seen in spinoffs and in Star Wars video games, but the jump to this felt pretty extreme.
4. Did Leia Sacrifice Herself For Nothing?
Leia felt the conflict within when her son, Ben Solo, and Rey were fighting. She chose to use all of her life force to reach Ben and I guess prevent him from maybe killing Rey (which didn’t seem like was going to happen in the first place).
So she gives up her life force to reach him and he ends up getting stabbed and I would assume fatally wounded.
Then the immediate scene after, Rey decides that she will just heal him and everything will be okay. I guess I can see that this was the moment when Kylo realized the power of good and started changing, but it did not make sense from a character development standpoint for me.
So when it comes down to it, Leia sacrificed herself for absolutely nothing. One of the most iconic characters in the world of Star Wars, gone in a send-off that for me is insulting to her legacy (both on and off the screen).
5. Did Chewbacca Die in Star Wars Rise of Skywalker?
Directors all be like, “Ha, Faked You OUT!”
The scene with Rey thinking that she accidentally killed Chewbacca was probably one of the strongest scenes of this entire movie. She was unaware of her powers and only wanted to help, but ended up destroying the ship she believed Chewbacca was taken hostage on.
Excellent job from Rey’s side of the equation.
However, from the Chewbacca side, it was pretty terrible.
For one, Chewbacca just strolls out into the desert like nothing is wrong and is going to go bring Rey back I guess? That didn’t really seem like a natural course of action, but that’s beside the point.
So Chewbacca gets caught and is shown just accepting that he is going to be taken away without a fight. Chewie would not have let things go down just like that!
I feel like this entire section of the film was an empty attempt at pulling on the heart strings of the audience and was very poorly executed.
Had Chewbacca died in this way, it would have been the lamest death for a character ever other than sacrificing yourself for no reason like Leia did. Also, it was very predictable that Chewbacca would still be alive. The thought that there was another massive ship that the entire crew (including the all powerful Rey) just seemed to not even notice makes no sense.
Rey has honed her power of the Force to hold massive ships, shoot lightning, and even heal people, but sensing other life forces in the near vicinity….she just happened to miss that part! I don’t think so.
6. Why Did Kylo and Leia’s Bodies Disappear At The Same Time?
Was Leia in Jedi purgatory until her son could also die with her? Maybe the Leia’s life force was like, “Hey Kylo, you were supposed to die when I sacrificed us for the greater good, but Rey snuck in her ninja healing skills and botched up my plan!”
Then when Kylo did die she was like, “Well, you’re finally dead for real now so we can both rest in peace.”
7. Where Did The Resistance Fleet Come From?
Throughout Rise of Skywalker, the characters told each other a few times, “Good People Will Fight…If We Lead Them”.
Excellent theme and 100% was a huge element that I loved from the Star Wars trilogy up to this point.
In the end of Return of the Jedi, I truly felt like the people had been led and the forces of good had banned together to destroy the forces of evil.
However, in Rise of Skywalker, I don’t recall any scenes where the “good people” were being led. Sure, the team was fighting the war between good and evil, but where were the scenes showing these “good people” being motivated?
Instead, Lando Calrissian just somehow recruited an army and appeared out of nowhere.
I won’t complain too much on this one because it was great to see Billy Dee Williams bringing Lando Calrissian back for one final showdown, but usually, a good movie would show some reason or way for the galaxy to have been aware of what Rey and the crew were actually doing.
8. Can Luke Skywalker Still Hold A Light Saber?
So I guess this is kind of just a moot point, but what exactly is the deal with Jedi being able to physically interfere with the real world now?
If Yoda can still summon lightning to destroy things from the afterlife and Luke can physically interact with a light saber, why don’t all the past Jedi band together and just destroy Palpatine themselves?
Under this logic, they could have just had a Luke Skywalker vs Palpatine showdown!
9. Can All Star Destroyers Now Destroy Planets?
With a complete battalion of destroyers that have been hiding for years in wait, why didn’t Palpatine just use these in the original Star Wars? I mean, I guess they hadn’t worked out all the weaknesses yet back then but they figured it all out now! We’ll just put a little tower that can shut EVERYTHING down in plain site. And as a backup for that, we will be sure that the ENTIRE fleet relies on a single ship for it’s orders. Geniuses, we are!
At least make it difficult to land that perfect shot like on the Death Star or something!
10. How Did Rey Get Her Gold Light Saber?
At the end of the film, Rey returns to Luke Skywalker’s home to bury her two light sabers. This makes sense and was a good scene…until she magically had a NEW light saber! Where did it come from? Did she make it? Who knows? But she is the very first person in the entire history of the Jedi to have a Gold Life Force!
Rey must have worked out a deal like Samuel L. Jackson where she said, “I ain’t doing no last Star Wars film unless you get me a GOLD light saber with BMF engraved on the hilt! Oh, and while you’re at it, I wanna kiss Kylo….but make sure it’s completely awkard please.”
11. Was Fin Going To Confess His Love For Rey?
Just before the crew gets sucked down into the quicksand and are afraid they are all going to die, Fin turns to Rey and tells, “Rey, I’ve needed to tell you something”…
But then he doesn’t get the chance to tell her. I’m sure most everyone assumed he was afraid he was going to die and may have wanted to confess his love for her…or something like that.
But we find out later that of course, they didn’t die, but they also never addressed what he was going to tell her!
Poe even asks him because he is also curious, but this never gets resolved. Was there a point to it? I guess we will never know.
Mostly, why was it even included in the first place if it would never be resolved?
*It is being reported that JJ Abrams himself has said he “believes Finn wanted to tell Rey that he was Force-sensitive.”
Not exactly sure how JJ Abrams doesn’t quite know what he wanted Finn to be thinking at that moment, but with this movie, it doesn’t surprise me!
12. How Did Han Solo Come Back?
Why did Han Solo look like he was alive and well when he was talking with Kylo? This entire scene felt very strange to me. Did they not consider making him appear as some sort of ghost or at least make it clear that he was not actually there instead of having Han touch Kylo’s face, Kylo calling him Dad, and making the entire audience feel like they were also going to kiss? #awkward
13. Why Did Kylo Ren and Rey Kiss?
I’m all about a little romance in a Star Wars film. Playful banter between Han Solo and Leia was always a strong point of the original trilogy. I’m just not exactly sure how the directors thought this “Reylo” moment was going to make any sense.
I think they were going for the awkward brother & sister kiss feel like the did with Luke and Leia. The awkard pause as they stare deeply into each others eyes for 30 seconds also wasn’t cliche at all…
At Least Chewbacca got his medal!
Overall, it’s pretty apparent that I was not a fan of Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. It was a very disappointing end to one of my favorite things of all time, but it is what it is. I have seen that audiences around the country are really enjoying the film and giving it high ratings, especially from people who despised The Last Jedi.
If you enjoyed Rise of Skywalker and still made it to the end of my rant, I appreciate you!
In the end, Star Wars will always remain a beloved movie franchise that has impacted our live, inspired creativity, and defined an industry.
If you have thoughts about the film you would like to discuss, feel free to reach out to me on social media! I love discussing everything with all of you and I thank you for reading!