To describe the last chapter of this
nine-part sagaas hotly anticipated would be an understatement of Death Star-like proportions.
Gazillions of people are obsessed with the small matter of heroine Rey’s surname. Is she a nobody or some kind of princess? And will she get together with charismatic ex-stormtrooper, Finn?
Will Poe hook up with his insanely cute droid, DD8 (I’m joking! Or am I?) And will footage of Carrie Fisher, shot before she died, make it feel as if Leia is still among us? Rumors concerning Mark Hamill have also had the internet in a tizzy. Still, here’s what the average person really wants to know: will the Rise Of Skywalker make them sob out loud and laugh til they cry?
No one wants a franchise finale to be merely OK. A masterpiece or almighty mess is what makes headlines. But, hey, don’t shoot the messenger. DirectorJJ Abrams
, wrapping up the nine -part saga, seems frantically bored for the first half of the movie, then partially redeems himself as anti-hero, Ben Solo / Kylo Ren (Adam Driver; effortlessly the star of this show), becomes entwined with a host of vivid ghosts.
Resourceful Jedi knight, Rey (Daisy Ridley
), knows that in order to defeat the First Order baddies, she has to discover Who She Is. The trailers hinted that villainous Sith leader, Sheev Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), might offer answers and so it proves. The Machiavellian manipulator, despite that nasty fall in Return Of The Jedi, is back and more rancid than ever. We’re supposed to find him extra spooky now that he’s blind (he looks uncannily like the Hilary Mason character in Don’t Look Now).
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (01575879 – In pictures
Anyhoo, Rey and her friends start planet / moon hopping and wherever Rey goes, Ren is close behind. Turns out Ren’s exquisitely asymmetrical face is the landscape Abrams most enjoys exploring. Like Joker’s tragic Arthur Fleck, Ren boasts a Richard III-meets-Frankenstein’s-monster vibe. This character (thanks to the script, as well as Driver’s performance) creates the loveliest of shockwaves. Ridley’s Rey is caught up in the emotional tumult, without exactly adding to it. It’s awesome that Disney’s trilogy is dominated by a young female. It’s just a shame it had to be THIS female. Ridley’s still no actress and Rey is dull on an intergalactic scale.
Hardcore fans, enraged by Rian Johnson’s ground-breaking The Last Jedi, may take issue with a lesbian kiss here. They’ll surely be mollified, though, by Abrams’s general tone, best described as inoffensive (his first contribution to the series, The Force Awakens, was altogether bolder).
What we’re left with is something that, just in the nick of time, makes us FEEL. Seeing the late Carrie Fisher and other iconic figures will be especially touching for adults. Star Wars IX may be imperfect, but it offers nostalgia hounds the space odyssey of their dreams.
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