Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

After seeing The Rise of Skywalker just before Christmas, I was positively giddy to see it again in Oslo as my Christmas Day Movie tradition. I enjoyed it more the second time around! The third time I saw it at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin, which has fantastic themed pre-show content. Here are my random thoughts on it...

After spending the entire previous movie with our supposed trio apart and in their own story lines, Rise of Skywalker wastes no time bringing the trio together on a mission. I never really bought into them as a group of close friends to begin with, so this start kind of annoyed me. Rey and Finn get close during The Force Awakens, along with Finn and Poe (Finn kind of just clings on to the first people he meets; yes, he is my least favorite character). In The Last Jedi, they aren't together at all. Rey is experiencing A LOT of things, and Finn and Poe are each on their own adventures.

So to have Rise of Skywalker start so deeply in solidifying how close this trio is is a bit weird. But whatever. Their journey to find the Sith Wayfinder is still good. Rey is clearly going through something that neither Finn nor Poe understands; Finn annoyingly thinks he knows her, while Poe wisely knows he doesn't.

For me, the strongest part of the prequel trilogy has been the Rey/Kylo Ren connection and I really enjoyed the outcome of that. Not that Rey is a Palpatine, which is just so ridiculous, but I wonder how else they would have made their connection through the force without making her a Skywalker. Because I enjoy the conclusion, I am willing to forgive Rey being a Palpatine.

Kylo Ren has always been very conflicted, which makes for a good character. He claims to be evil, and he does seem so when he ruthlessly kills his own father. But he also seemed so conflicted. Why he worships Vader is a bit unclear, since he killed the Emperor to save his son before dying. Does Ben/Kylo just conveniently forget this part? Vader/Anakin KILLED the Emperor himself to save his son, so Kylo even listening to the Emperor is strange. Dude needs to learn some family history.

Also, where the eff is Anakin. Surely he could return as a force ghost and give his only grandson some guidance, since this is all his fault basically. My guess is Hayden Christensen declined to be a part of it (I have heard he has become a bit reclusive because the fame from Star Wars was too much....). And also Anakin would likely be force-projected as his older self, right?  Whatever, I think Anakin needed to have a presence.

Rise of Skywalker had just the right amount of world-building, especially with the Kijimi sequence. I love Keri Russell, so that likely played a part in it as well. It built on Poe's background, which I liked. I was excited about Poe as a character, but I felt like he never really developed until now. His humor was finally nailed in this film and I loved the whole bit on Kijimi about "You were a spicerunner? You were a stormtrooper? You were a scavenger? I can do this all day!".

I am very curious as to why Ben disappeared when he died like Obi-Wan and Yoda. What has become of him?! Him and Rey clearly have some unfinished discussions.....

I'm already thinking about when I will see it next!