{"id":45567,"date":"2019-12-23T08:32:36","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T13:32:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=45567"},"modified":"2019-12-23T08:32:36","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T13:32:36","slug":"star-wars-episode-ix-the-rise-of-skywalker-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2019\/12\/star-wars-episode-ix-the-rise-of-skywalker-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars: Episode IX \u2013 The Rise of Skywalker \u2013 Movie review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Bob Garver<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            So\nthis is it, everybody. This is how \u201cStar Wars\u201d ends. At least, this is how\n\u201cStar Wars\u201d was supposed to end at one time. George Lucas conceived of the\nspace saga as a nine-part series, with the \u201coriginal\u201d trilogy (Episodes IV-VI)\ncoming out in the 70\u2019s and 80\u2019s, the prequel trilogy (Episodes I-III) coming\nout in the 90\u2019s and 2000\u2019s, and the final trilogy (Episodes VII-IX) coming out\nin the 2010\u2019s. Since then, of course, the \u201cStar Wars\u201d world has expanded beyond\nthe films, with books, TV shows, toys, theme park attractions, and\u2026 other\nfilms. With the universe growing at every opportunity, it\u2019s hard to see \u201cThe\nRise of Skywalker\u201d as the culmination of a 40+ year journey that it\u2019s supposed\nto be. Which is just fine, because if this really is the end of \u201cStar Wars,\u201d\nthen the franchise is ending on a disappointing note. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

            At\nthe beginning of \u201cThe Rise of Skywalker,\u201d the evil First Order is in shambles\nafter the death of unpopular villain Supreme Leader Snoke in Episode VIII. New\nSupreme Leader Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) tracks down a surprise returning villain,\nwho agrees to help the First Order conquer the galaxy if Kylo can kill\nJedi-in-training Rey (Daisy Ridley). Rey, a member of a Resistance group led by\nGeneral Leia (the late Carrie Fisher), sets out to find and destroy the First\nOrder\u2019s new backer, aided by friends Finn (John Boyega), Poe (Oscar Isaac),\nChewbacca (Joonas Suotamo), and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels, the only actor to\n\u201cappear\u201d in all nine \u201cStar Wars\u201d Episodes). The group is pursued from one\nplanet to another by Kylo, who has a connection to Rey through the\never-mysterious Force and wants her to rule the galaxy by his side, though\nthat\u2019s going to be tricky with the whole \u201cshe\u2019s not evil\u201d thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            This\nmovie was never able to inspire any really consistent feelings in me, just lots\nof little ones. Rey is still a likeable protagonist, though she\u2019s so far along\nin her Jedi training that her near-perfection makes her nearly unrelatable.\nKylo is so determined to bite every hand that feeds him that I simply could not\nsee a future for him beyond this movie. Initially-interesting characters like\nFinn and Poe are barely developed, they just exist to be behind the controls of\nspaceships during chase scenes and battles. The Leia character is finally given\nsatisfying closure (after Episode VIII blew its chance), I was surprised that\nsuch a full performance from Carrie Fisher was in reserve. The idiot villain\nspells out his evil plan so Rey knows exactly which pitfalls to avoid. Cameos\nand returns from the dead were once exciting in this series, now I just wearily\ntick them off as they come and go. This movie wants to remind viewers of \u201cHarry\nPotter\u201d with the relationship between Rey and the new\/old villain, but it\nreally wants to remind viewers of \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d with its climactic space\nbattle and a certain exchange of dialogue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            It\nall adds up to a bland, forgettable movie. I still remember C-3PO\u2019s\nreintroduction in Episode VII as one of the funniest scenes of 2015. I still\nremember cheering loudly for the Luke Skywalker\/Kylo Ren showdown in Episode\nVIII back in 2017. It\u2019s been only two days since I saw Episode IX and I\u2019m\nstruggling to remember anything about the movie, including how I felt about it.\nThis is \u201cStar Wars,\u201d so it\u2019s going to make a lot of money through the end of\n2019, but I\u2019d expect its business to fall off soon after that because of its\nutter lack of remarkability. If George Lucas wants the series that is his\nlegacy to end on a high note, he\u2019s going to have to make another movie and\nround things out with an even Episode X. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grade: C<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStar Wars: Episode IX \u2013 The Rise\nof Skywalker\u201d is rated PG-13 for sci-fi violence and action. Its running time\nis 141 minutes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bob Garver             So this is it, everybody. This is how \u201cStar Wars\u201d ends. At least, this is how \u201cStar Wars\u201d was supposed to end at one time. George… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":45568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}