Rise of Skywalker showed Loving Star Wars has its limits

The last decade of Star Wars it’s been… a lot: interesting, exciting, exhausting, disappointing. Pick a descriptor, and you could probably apply it at any point later The Force awakens revitalized the franchise, the two spin-off films did what they could, and The Last Jedi trying to take new swings. What a word describes The Rise of Skywalker in the cleanest and most charitable way? How about “compromise”?

The Rise of Skywalker released in theaters on December 20, 2019, and then, all eyes were on it. This was a film in an unenviable position: beyond the mission of packaging the “Skywalker Saga” of the Disney brand, it had its own management. The death of Carrie Fisher between films, more talk of how returning director JJ Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio build on the road established by He wakes up and Last. And hitting during the Christmas season, he made the last “last” in a year that featured the equally important Avengers: Endgame and the Game of Thrones final.

So yes, there was a lot of pressure He laughed to deliver the goods and finish in a way that satisfied everyone. And after all the build-up, he didn’t really do it. Like, at all. No doubt that people like the movie or find it enjoyable, but there is no denying that it feels like something happened during the production, and the end result is a movie that leaves a strange taste in the mouth. After leaving the theater and jumping online, there was largely a collective feeling of “what the hell was what you do?” which did even more incendiary to speak ca The Last Jedi. This part may have been inevitable, but the rest can be strictly attributed to the film as, from its strange moments of fan service fists pulled and open knowledge that was born later original director Colin Trevorrow abandoned the project. Whatever high points the film is said to have, exist in a film that apparently came out so hot, the whole catalyst for its events had to be put in Fortnite pre-release, but not the movie itself.

If The Last Jedi the shadow appeared Star Wars for seven years and counting, The Rise of Skywalker it is a monster that has pulled the whole franchise in its mouth and has not yet digested it or simply given up and spat it out. While it made money, it didn’t take long to suspect that Disney may be embarrassed by the reactions to it. (Case in point: the movie comic adaptation is it at last out in February after it was announced in 2020.) Any goodwill initially earned with Forza wakes up basically erode in real time once He laughed revealed that Palpatine somehow returned, or later when Chewbacca was “killed”. And if he didn’t, the “Rey is Palpatine’s niece” revelation could be the first kiss of death for the movie, and the last for the Skywalker Saga. The movie ultimately posits that Rey being Palpatine doesn’t matter since she chose her name and family. But by adopting the last name Skywalker, she’s just trading one legacy name for another in what could hilariously read as a story about a woman pulling off the most elaborate identity theft scheme in the universe.

Disney is bad at it, own it Star Wars? This question has been around for years, and it has come up once again The acolyte cancellation The results are inconclusive: on the one hand, Andor it is a really good television, and other media such as Alta Republica and various video games they’ve been pretty consistently good. At the same time, Disney doesn’t seem to have a firm grip on film and TV: it hasn’t new theatrical film since He laughed exit, and every new announcement for one (o three) movies that are tooooooootly happening feels like an ongoing joke. Likewise, it’s a crapshoot regarding the outcome of a show, what cameos it will inevitably feature, and what kind of future it will have. The audience seems to like the current broadcast Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, but the jury is still out if it will go as far as the hopes of the creators, or if its wings will be cut from under it and it will not fulfill its promise, a problem that goes far beyond this franchise.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel; namely Dave Filoni Mandalorian & Grog movie in 2026 and a second season of Ahsoka, plus the second (and sadly final) season of Andor in April. Will the audience be willing to stick their neck out again and see where it all goes? It’s easy to say “yes” and point to Marvel, which many felt had its strongest year since. Avengers: Endgame. But the MCU has yet to have a film that has openly broken the company like The Rise of Skywalker he did, and he’s about to pull some new interesting tricks off his sleeve. If Star Wars it will be back to the same level … well, it will take some work, and more importantly, consistency and conviction.

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