Reactions to The Rise of Skywalker: Delights and Disappointments

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER!

Last night I saw Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker for the second time, and I’m ready to share some reactions, film critic though I am not. I feel honored that several friends have asked for my reactions to the film, and in gratitude for their interest, I post here some of the many aspects of the film that delighted me and a few that disappointed.

Delight: This film was well acted, not just by its main characters but by its entire ensemble cast. Special mention goes to Daisy Ridley as Rey and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren Ben Solo. Well done, all.

Disappointment: Obviously it’s disappointing (in a profound way) that Carrie Fisher died before she could film this final installment. J.J. Abrams cobbled her quite significant role in this film together from unused The Last Jedi footage. The result is… uneven, especially in scenes with Rey. Sometimes their dialogues (built from existing footage of Leia) roll like the young Jedi apprentice is having a conversation with a Magic 8-Ball. Other times they (almost?) work. The filmmakers took quite a risk, placing so much emphasis on a character whose actor had died. I’m not sure that risk paid off, cinematically. Leia’s significant role is certainly emotionally fulfilling for audiences, but relies too heavily on the audience’s established relationship with this long-beloved character.

Delight: The mother-son Force connection between Leia and Ben. Star Wars’ exploration of Father-Son relationships is, historically, thorough-going to the near exclusion of other types of family relationships, especially that of mother and child. The film implies that Leia’s mother-love for Ben indelibly connects them in the Force and is part of what saves Ben, though the actors never come face-to-face (see above). Moms have never gotten enough narrative attention in Star Wars, so I was glad to see this in the new film.

Disappointment: That said, I wish more time could have been spent on exploring this mother-child connection. (I also really wish someone would talk about Luke and Leia’s very accomplished, kind and interesting mother Padmé once in a while.) I found Leia as a mother to be a far more intriguing and human side of her character than “Leia as a Jedi trainee.” Personally, I didn’t need The General to possess a lightsaber (especially one she never used) to consider her one of the most admirable characters in fantasy. Anyway, I hope the future of the franchise branches out to explore motherhood more, or at least more types of familial relationships than Father-Child and sibling dyads.

Delight: Force-healing powers. One of the most fascinating books in the vast universe of Star Wars ancillary literature (canon or not) is The Jedi Path: A Manual for Students of the Force by Daniel Wallace (published in 2010, so “Legends,” but who really cares at this point?). What’s more, sequel trilogy directors Rian Johnson and J.J. Abrams have mined this informative little book to expand canonical dimensions of Force ability. (Johnson has been open about his use of the book; it informs Luke’s ability to create a doppelganger of himself at the end of The Last Jedi.) For those of us familiar with The Jedi Path, Rey’s Force-healing powers were quite believable (for my qualms, see below). Wallace’s book informs us that “Jedi Healers use their connection to the Living Force to save the lives of the dying and to cure the infected.” (123) I’d love to see more exploration of Jedi Force-powers in the future of Star Wars, so this made a lovely addition to the canon. (Side note: if you’d like to know more about the beautiful golden hue of Rey’s new lightsaber and what it signifies about her particular character as a Jedi, see The Jedi Path section on Jedi Sentinels.)

Disappointment:These powers probably needed to be introduced sooner in the trilogy to be believable and relevant to general audiences as the save-all which they became. I also wish we knew if Rey’s Force-healing abilities were inherent (as they seem to be in the Child’s from the Disney+ live-action show The Mandalorian), or if she trained to acquire them. If she learned them, did Kylo Ren Ben Solo learn them also? (If so, when? And is that consistent with his character?) Or was he able to perform such healing because of his “Force-dyad” connection to Rey? Or… or… ? It’s sad we don’t have another installment to answer these questions.

Delight: C-3PO. Anthony Daniels shone in this film, and not just because of his gold-clad coverings. It’s hard sometimes to appreciate that there’s a real guy in that suit – a very thin guy, with amazing posture – who’s been in every one of nine Star Wars main saga films, not-so-silently filling in expository gaps and creating humor, continuity and dilemmas for the main characters. In this film, his character is particularly well written and acted, with surprising moments of tenderness that speak to the franchise’s generations-long emphasis on the power of friendship. Threepio’s memory wipe also nodded to (echoed? rhymed with?) Revenge of the Sith, which featured Threepio’s last known memory wipe, and his “programming difficulty” in interpreting the Sith language pointed to Return of the Jedi, in which he could not pretend to be a god to the Ewoks, creating a major dilemma for the main characters, whom the Ewoks held captive. (Plus, turns out when you put him in a brown cloak, he looks like a really tall Jawa, to hilarious effect.)

Disappointment: The choices of characters in this film had few real costs for the audience. Threepio’s memory wipe is a good if minor example: the sacrifice he made is lessened, even nullified when R2-D2 simply restores his memory upon his return. (Plus, Threepio continually introducing himself to main characters was hilarious and should have continued.) A much more significant example of the film’s “cost deficiency” was Rey’s Force-healing powers, which she seems to be able to wield without cost. As fantasy writer Brandon Sanderson and others have outlined, magic must be limited in some way to be believable in fantasy stories, must have clear costs to those who wield it. Of course there was a cost to Kylo Ren Ben Solo, but come on, we all knew he wasn’t going to make it out of this film, didn’t we? After all, his theme resolves to a major key in the trailer… never a good sign for a villain!

Delight: Rey is a Skywalker. Star Wars has always celebrated found families, and Rey’s intentional choice to be a Skywalker is a great extension of this emphasis. I delighted also in certain character’s found Force-sensitivity. I suspect what Finn wanted to express to Rey as they were sinking in sand was not undying romantic love so much as his desire – and ability – to learn to use the Force as she does. The Sequels have, from their inception, sought to walk back the Prequels portrayal of the Force as something reserved for the few with “midichlorians” in their blood. Characters like Finn, Jannah and others in the Sequels hold a promise for the future of the Jedi, or simply just Force-manipulation, for the good of the cosmos. Sometimes, that is how the Force works.

Disappointment: Rey is a Palpatine. Really? Do we absolutely have our best story-spinners on the job here? This is one of many elements of the film that seemed a “safe” or “warmed over” choice for general audiences rather than an interesting, though-provoking choice that would have tied in with the franchise’s own ancillary materials. I also have a hard time believing that old Palpy just rested his laurels while building that army… for 30 years. (I guess he was just hanging around… sorry, couldn’t resist.)

Delight: new characters, creatures and cameos. Babu Frik (voiced by Shirley Henderson of Moaning Myrtle fame!), D-O the droid (voiced by J.J. Abrams himself), the troop of space-horse-riding Stormtrooper deserters, Poe’s old associate Zorii and Allegiant General Pryde all make great additions to the galaxy far, far away. Cameos by John Williams (!), Lin Manuel Miranda (who also wrote the music for “a planet”, which I’m guessing is the very danceable tune playing for the festival on the planet Pasaana), and vocal contributions by all your favorite Jedi also made my day (especially Hayden Christensen! Go Ani! Bring that balance!).

Disappointment: I read Rebecca Roanhorse’s Resistance Reborn, one of the “Journey to” books for the new films, which was NOT a disappointment, BUT: based on that story, I expected Wedge Antilles to have more than one line in this film.

Delight: That kiss. Cinematically, the kiss between Rey and Ben worked, and made tangible how far their relationship has come – a bit like Ron and Hermione’s, occasioned as it was by Ron “getting” the house-elf dilemma (finally). Ben’s smile afterward was perhaps even more charming. The romantic in me loved it, as did small group of Rey/Ben shippers in the cinema of my first viewing (there was a short-lived but exuberant, all-female cheer from one corner). That their kiss is drawn as a joyful moment implicitly questions the Jedi Order’s tradition of celibacy, which played a role in its downfall (think Anakin and Padmé), and I’m all for Jedi Order reform.

Disappointment: That kiss. Is this what balance in the Force has to mean? A heterosexual, romantic union? Was the kiss part of their Force-connection, or just puppy love icing on their Force-dyad cake? I’m in two minds about the kiss, as you can see. I keep asking myself: “What would Qui-Gon Jinn say about it?” (As you do.) Thus far: silence.

I hope you won’t be silent on the comment thread. Please let me know your own delights and disappointments in the film. And May the Force Be With You!