Rise of Skywalker. Image courtesy of Disney.
The Rise of Skywalker has been panned by pretty much everyone, and its box office has been disappointing for a Star Wars movie. It has struck fear in the hearts of the faithful that Disney cannot act as a competent steward of this hallowed IP. It seemingly satisfied no one - not the fans, not the critics, not the studio bosses. So the question becomes: was Rise of Skywalker really that bad?
In a word, yes. Is the movie itself unwatchable? No, of course not. It’s loaded with millions and millions of dollars of special effects, top-notch production values and great acting, including America’s New & Less Conventionally Attractive Ryan Gosling - Adam Driver. So, you know, it’s still slick production with awesome action.
The problem that many, including myself, have with the film is obvious - from a meta perspective, as part of a trilogy of films, it’s a mess. Not gonna belabor this point because my review is late and everyone else has already said it, but the movie is just a mess from a “big picture” standpoint. The shifts between Force Awakens to Last Jedi and finally to Rise of Skywalker are so capricious and poorly conceived as to be inexcusable given how important this franchise is and how many resources were devoted to it.
I think I get what Kathleen Kennedy was trying to do when Disney acquired the franchise. Marvel is firmly tethered to Kevin Feige’s overall vision and strategic narrative; it works but it can be a bit stifling, creatively. With Star Wars I think she wanted to give the films more individual flavor that reflected the tastes and styles of their directors. So Rogue One was turned over to Gareth Edwards; Solo to Miller & Lord; and the trilogy was originally envisioned I think as having three directors contribute one chapter each, with J. J. Abrams tee-ing up a nice crowd pleaser loaded with possibilities for two other directors to finish off in grand style.
That was the plan, and I think it was a fine plan. But then the corporate overlords immediately began doubting their own plan. They re-shot a large chunk of Rogue One. They fired Lord & Miller and Solo ended up being a complete disaster. And Colin Trevorrow was eventually replaced on the 2nd trilogy movie. If you are going to go with a particular strategy, fine. But you need to stick with it. Disney almost immediately started meddling. And, ultimately, this mess was entirely of their own creation.
Some people are blaming Rise of Skywalker on Last Jedi, saying that Rian Johnson painted the franchise into a corner and J. J. Abrams did all he could basically to set the ship back on course. But that is of course nonsense. The Last Jedi very predictably subverted convention (I thought it was mostly quite a good film), but it also left a nice little thread for the third film to pick up and pursue with a lot of room for new material. Another director could have taken up the ending of Last Jedi and then done something really interesting to conclude the trilogy.
But instead Disney panicked based on some negative fan reactions, and they brought back J. J. Abrams to finish the film he started with Force Awakens, basically retconning everything Rian Johnson did in the most ham-fisted way possible. It’s OK to make a trilogy where each film has sort of a separate feel and plays with different ideas - it’s not OK to make one film, do a second with a different style, then decide that was a mistake and bring back the first filmmaker to do a third film that erases the second film and in the process makes a jumble of everything.
It doesn’t matter who Rey’s parents are and whether or not they are important. You could make a good trilogy going either way. But what you can’t do is have it both ways, which is somehow what these idiots wound up doing! Killing Snoke in the second act? Ballsy, sure. But you could work with that. What you can’t do is revive Palpatine (he was just hiding on some planet with a gazillion ships this whole time??) on a whim and say that, actually, he was Snoke all along? And that is what trips this final film up. Nothing makes sense because the whole thing is just trying to un-do everything from the previous film. The overarching narrative ends up being too incoherent and too slapdash, too much fan service, too much over-correcting for perceived bad choices, too much lack of vision. And in the end what comes out is not a very workable film.
All because Disney started out with a particular strategy in mind, but then didn’t have the guts to stick with it and in the process they ended up shooting themselves in the foot. Either game-plan it all out in advance, like Marvel does. Or give individual directors more creative freedom with the understanding that you will have a looser series of films. But don’t give directors a free hand, then try to course-correct midway through once you get skittish.
The real reason the Star Wars universe is being bungled so badly right now, if you ask me, is because Disney may have all the money and all the IP in the world - but as soon as things get a little bit bumpy they don’t have the stones. And it shows.
