After Kathleen Kennedy turned down Colin Trevorrow’s script for Star Wars Episode IX, the unenviable task of concluding Disney’s controversial sequel trilogy was given to J.J. Abrams, the man responsible for that controversy in the first place, with an even more rushed version of the already-expedited production schedule.
The resulting product, The Rise of Skywalker, turned out about as well as anyone following the inconsistent mess of the sequel trilogy could’ve expected, but in this particular case, as-good-as-expected wasn’t very good. The movie was neither a satisfying finale, nor a total misfire.
10 Right: Giving Rey, Finn, And Poe Scenes Together
The original Star Wars trilogy developed Luke, Leia, and Han as a lovable trio by giving them scenes together. They shared dialogue and built real relationships with one another.
In the sequel trilogy, Rey and Poe were loners and Finn kept making friends outside the group. At the end of The Last Jedi, the trio still hadn’t been in any scenes together. At the very least, The Rise of Skywalker finally allowed the trilogy’s central trio to share the screen.
9 Wrong: Nonsensical Plot
There’s so much going on in The Rise of Skywalker that it’s easy to miss all the plot holes on the first viewing, but they become glaringly obvious on repeat viewings. Poe says, “Somehow...Palpatine has returned,” and that’s all the explanation the Emperor’s reappearance gets.
The whole Sith dagger arc doesn’t make any sense, either. How did C-3PO know the language of the Sith? When Threepio was built, the Sith were believed to be extinct.
8 Right: Ian McDiarmid’s Performance As Palpatine
Not everything about Palpatine’s return in The Rise of Skywalker worked. The movie didn’t even bother to come up with a reason for his return. But as expected, Ian McDiarmid’s performance was awesome.
He brought the same blend of deceptive campiness and genuine menace to Palpatine that made the character iconic in the original and prequel trilogies.
7 Wrong: Wasting Rose Tico
Before The Rise of Skywalker came out, in a blatant display of virtue signaling, J.J. Abrams said that the greatest asset passed onto him by Rian Johnson was the casting of Kelly Marie Tran in the role of Rose Tico. This was clearly a lie, because he did nothing with Rose in The Rise of Skywalker.
She was essentially a background character, only given a couple of lines across a single minute of screen time. When an interviewer asked her about her character’s arc in the movie, Tran burst out laughing.
6 Right: Lando’s Appearance
After Rian Johnson screwed up Luke Skywalker’s characterization in The Last Jedi, it was refreshing to see The Rise of Skywalker get Lando Calrissian right.
Granted, Lando isn’t as integral or iconic as Luke, but he is beloved among the Star Wars fan base and Billy Dee Williams nailed all his scenes in The Rise of Skywalker.
5 Wrong: Ignoring The Last Jedi
So much of The Rise of Skywalker feels like a desperate attempt to appease the very outspoken fans who hated The Last Jedi – and it’s easy to see why this was the strategy the filmmakers chose – but in doing so, it ignored a bunch of crucial plot points from The Last Jedi.
The primary job of The Rise of Skywalker was to conclude the sequel trilogy, and by disregarding a lot of The Last Jedi, including the “Broom Boy” ending, it failed to do that. Instead, what we have is two hours of fan service on the tail end of an inconsistent trilogy that won’t hold up in the long run.
4 Right: Babu Frik
There’s not a lot about The Rise of Skywalker that all fans can agree on, but everyone seems to agree that Babu Frik is adorable. He was voiced by Shirley Henderson, who learned puppeteering so she could improvise on the set.
There’s also an unconfirmed story that J.J. Abrams added Babu’s appearance in the Battle of Exegol after Steven Spielberg saw the movie and wondered what happened to him.
3 Wrong: Sidelining Finn
Finn was set up as a fascinating character in The Force Awakens. He shed a light on the fact that the First Order’s Stormtroopers are brainwashed orphans, and defecting allowed him to join the Resistance and free all the others.
However, The Last Jedi got distracted with his obsession with Rey and The Rise of Skywalker doubled down on that. Finn spends the whole movie yelling Rey’s name, trying to tell her something, and he doesn’t even end up telling her what it is.
2 Right: John Williams’ Score
John Williams has announced that The Rise of Skywalker will be the final Star Wars movie whose score he composes, and a timeless legacy of film music went out in style with yet another brilliant score.
When Poe suddenly sees a giant fleet of Resistance supporters arriving to help out in the final battle, the iconic main title theme plays. Although there’s no explanation for where this support came from and why they didn’t help sooner, the music makes it a triumphant moment.
1 Wrong: Rey Skywalker
At the end of The Rise of Skywalker, Rey buries Luke and Leia’s lightsabers on Tatooine next to the charred remains of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, then a passer-by randomly asks her for her surname and she declares herself “Rey Skywalker.” This whole scene felt really forced, and what’s worse is that it goes against Rey’s character arc.
In The Last Jedi, she was happy to just live her own life without a family attachment. “Rey Skywalker” seems to have been conceived as a way of making this the end of the so-called Skywalker saga, but it’s only called “the Skywalker saga” so Disney can brand the boxset; the storytelling didn’t have to suffer because of it.
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