![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Rise-of-Skywalker-PIC.jpg?resize=620%2C348&ssl=1\")
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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong>\u00a0 (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disney\/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 141 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sci-fi action and violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: J.J. Abrams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: J.J. Abrams and Michelle Rejwan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Dan Mindel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 20, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong\u2019o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams, Greg Grunberg, Billie Lourd, Shirley Henderson, Dominic Monaghan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd \u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0Before I get into Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong>, the final chapter of the nine-part \u201cSkywalker Saga\u201d that began 42 (Earth) years ago, I\u2019d like to revise my reviews of the two previous Star Wars films, The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. I rewatched both of them so I could get myself up to speed on what\u2019s going in the latest (and final) trilogy. Minus the hype and excitement that accompanied their respective releases in 2015 and 2017, I realized that they\u2019re simply no match for the original trilogy. They\u2019re good but flawed. As such, I must demote both of them to three stars instead of four. Isn\u2019t it funny what a little time can do to one\u2019s perspective?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I feel the same way about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong>. It\u2019s good not great. I liked it, didn\u2019t love it. Here\u2019s why. I remember quite clearly my experience seeing Return of the Jedi for the first time in May \u201983. I was excited because it was opening weekend. I watched it with a sense of awe and wonder, one stronger than either Star Wars or The Empire Strikes Back. For the first time, I really understood the appeal of Star Wars. It was an awesome conclusion to an amazing trilogy. Even though I\u2019m old enough to know better, I wanted the same thing from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong>. At the same time, I kept my expectations to a realistic level. I hoped for a pretty good movie and that\u2019s exactly what it is, pretty good. As for my childlike sense of wonder, I wasn\u2019t really feeling it. I did, however, feel a slight sense of nostalgia with all the call-outs to the original trilogy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0As is my custom with HUGE movies, I\u2019m keeping my plot synopsis of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong> brief so as to avoid spoilers. It opens with the not-so-startling revelation that Emperor Palpatine (McDiarmid), long thought to be dead, is the real force behind the First Order. He\u2019s discovered by Kylo Ren (Driver) to be hiding on Exegol, a planet not on any map of the galaxy. He orders Ren to find and kill Rey (Ridley) as she poses a major threat to his plan (\u201cThe Final Order\u201d) to crush the Rebellion and bring back the Sith. Meanwhile, the good guys- Rey, Finn (Boyega), Poe (Isaac), Chewbacca (Suotamo) and the droids- also receive word of Palpatine\u2019s return and head off to find and stop him. In order to find him, they must first obtain an ancient Sith device called a \u201cWayfinder\u201d. END OF PLOT DESCRIPTION!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I have zero doubt that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong> will crush the competition at the box office this holiday season. People want to see it. Therefore, it doesn\u2019t really matter if it\u2019s good or bad. Look at The Phantom Menace. Fans hate it yet it made over $1 billion worldwide. Reviewing a Star Wars movie is really an exercise in futility. I may as well write \u201cAll work and no play makes Movie Guy a dull boy.\u201d 500 times; it\u2019d have the same effect. I could probably end my review here and it wouldn\u2019t make a darn bit of difference. You\u2019re going to see it regardless, am I right? Well, I\u2019m not one to shirk responsibility so I\u2019ll make a few brief comments and leave it at that.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0So it all comes down to this really. Is Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong> fun? For the most part, yes it is. It is, however, a bumpy ride. It\u2019s overlong and somewhat convoluted. There\u2019s a lot of activity but all of it is to the same end. It could use some tightening up especially in the first hour. However, director J.J. Abrams (The Force Awakens) makes up for the movie\u2019s flaws with some great action scenes. There\u2019s a chase scene in a desert that recalls both Return of the Jedi and Mad Max: Fury Road. The final battle between the First Order and the Resistance is cool although it also illustrates that bigger isn\u2019t necessarily better, even in the Star Wars universe. The special effects are great, of course. At the same time, it\u2019s nothing we haven\u2019t seen before in a Marvel movie.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0The acting is stronger this time around especially by Ridley, a heroine-in-conflict as she finally learns the truth about her lineage. I was never all that impressed by Driver\u2019s Kylo Ren, a character that always struck me as a wimpy millennial on a power trip. This time, he brings more depth to his character. The rest of the cast is comfortable in the roles; I have no complaints. The late Carrie Fisher returns, by way of unused footage from the previous two movies, as Leia; she lends poignancy to the film. There are a few other familiar faces like Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, his first time back since Return of the Jedi. It\u2019s great seeing him again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u00a0I\u2019ve said what needs to be said about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker<\/strong>. This is supposedly the last chapter of the Skywalker Saga but I wouldn\u2019t place money on it. Here\u2019s the only SPOILER <\/strong>I\u2019ll drop. The door is open for a continuation should the Force be willing. If not, then I\u2019d like to bid an important part of my childhood farewell. Adieu, adieu, adieu.<\/p>\r\n Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker\u00a0 (2019)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Disney\/Sci-Fi-Action-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 141 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (sci-fi action and violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: J.J. Abrams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: J.J. Abrams and Michelle Rejwan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: John Williams\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Dan Mindel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 20, 2019 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-fi-fantasy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Rise-of-Skywalker-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":898,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Rise-of-Skywalker-POSTER.jpg?resize=620%2C918&ssl=1\")
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