اخبار العرب من المحيط للخليج

We’ve seen it, we have thoughts and so you know what to expect, we’re sharing them with you.

WARNING: SOME SPOILERS FOLLOW!

At the outset, I agree that being a Star Wars superfan is probably problematic when you are out to review the most significant, and I don’t say this lightly, hopefully, the last chapter in the 42-year-old saga.

That being said, being a superfan journalist also allows you to see the film within the context of the triple trilogy.

Ending a story for the third time was always going to be an outsized and complex challenge, especially when you take note of the previous chapter, The Last Jedi.

The Last Jedi wasn’t here for your nerdiness and nostalgia. Its director, the very talented Rian Johnson, who has also directed this year’s other standout flick, Knives Out, brought out a polarizing film that was subject to a barrage from armchair Stormtroopers as well as critical praise from many quarters.

Loved by some, hated by more, The Last Jedi took the franchise into a bold new direction, which irked the “Blog Boys” a lot, who ranted endlessly with Instagram stories, Tweets, Facebook posts, Reddit threads, and 4,000-word blog posts, getting all in their feelings.

For that particular segment, The Rise of Skywalker is a tailor-made finale. A finale for the fandom, that emphasizes a connection with the Star Wars of the old.

If you look close enough, it’s fan service at its finest.

The signs, of a director trying to make a movie for its most devoted audience, are all too apparent.

You can see that in the hark back to the first trilogy, with an increased emphasis on the three + 1 formula aka Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) + Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). They each get a meaty role, some independent character foundation building and growth, the best dialogues and some solid interplay between them.

Outside of these four though, the finale fails in making the best of the multiple new characters like Zorii Bliss (Keri Rusell), the criminal, and Poe’s one-time love interest. Worst yet, in essence, it almost kills off all the strong characters introduced in the last two films to cater to some of the negative fan noise generated in its aftermath, most notably the character of Rose Tico (Kelly Marie Tran), and also the likes of General Armitage Hux (the very capable Domnhall Gleeson).

Even some of the old gang is brought back. Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) and Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) are back to play significant roles in the finale, while Princess Leia (the Late Carrie Ann Fisher) does not get sidelined as they construct her role via unused footage and special effects wizardry. It is a bit awkward but it passes muster.

The Rise of the Skywalker also sheds the complex, grey shade from The Last Jedi, taking us very quickly in a Galaxy Quest kind of narrative.

Far from weaving a story around the larger ideological battle, the paths the primary characters take and the sacrifices they make, it quickly becomes a planet-hopping cat and mouse chase that would perfectly with a video game that needs selling down the line.

That decision to change the flow and frequency to which The Rise of Skywalker hums has its consequences. For example, the big plot reveals, which deliver answers to some of The Force Awakens’ biggest questions, are not so big very quickly. We are informed of them and we move on almost immediately without truly utilizing how they impact the primary characters and the dynamics between them.

Back to the treasure hunt, we go almost instantly.

There are other multiple loopholes and head-scratchers through the film, the most glaring of which is the whole never-actually-dying-bit. No significant character ever truly dies in The Rise of the Skywalker, starting from Palpatine himself, making cameos and appearances , thanks to the Force apparently, at convenient plot points. Cinematic cheat codes.

The one plot theme The Rise of The Skywalker does get right is the Rey-Kylo relationship.

The core concept behind almost all of Star Wars protagonists and antagonists has always been that they are struggling with their path, between their inner good and evil, while simultaneously trying to turn each other. That plays out to the T in the Rey-Kylo dynamic.

Rey and Ren, with their ambivalence towards each other, provide some of the film’s most engaging scenes across spectacular landscapes.

Having confronted each other via proxy for most of the last two films in the trilogy, via bigger battles and supporting characters, they finally meet in length through the film, stripping away at each other’s mental and physical armor, climaxing in a glorious lightsaber duel over the wreck of the second Death Star that takes your breath away.

Speaking of lightsaber duels, such familiar moments are there in plenty in The Rise of Skywalker. Instead of singular, distinct moments that would make us remember this edition in isolation, we get many others that take us back to the best of the others, whether its planets being blown up or crazy dogfights among a swarm of bigger ships.

Stitched together, these scenes are there in numbers to make The Rise of Skywalker an entertaining film minute to minute. There wasn’t a single stretch of two minutes that I felt bored enough to long for my sealed off iPhone. With its brisk pace, spectacular cinematography, and tight editing, The Rise of Skywalker is not a fat boring film at all.

Instead, it is quite an enjoyable movie that will keep you hooked.

Will it be a memorable one? I suspect not.

The Rise of Skywalker does a great job of deriving its narrative heft from the bonds that the core Star Wars audience has made back to the original trilogy. In fact, it doubles down on it. But a film can’t be called great and memorable if it does not take the risk of pushing convention and offering the unexpected. In that, The Rise of Skywalker stutters.