Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: J. J. Abrams (Super 8, Star Trek, The Force Awakens)
	Actors: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega (Attack the Block), Adam Driver (J. Edgar, Lincoln), Oscar Isaac (X-men: Apocalypse, Annihilation)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF, Fantasy, Epic, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 05.01.2019, Cine Hoyts Mallplaza Antofagasta
Synopsis: While the Rebellion regroups its Forces, Kylo Ren (Driver) searched the Galaxy for the source of a message sent by a Sith Lord thought dead.
Review: After being disappointed by the two previous episodes, I was entering the theater with low expectations so they were exceeded and this last episode of the Skywalker saga turned out to be my favorite of the sequel trilogy. Like in other modern blockbusters, it seemed to me that the first half hour serves the double purpose of showing everything you thought was spoiler from the trailer, and getting you slowly into the movie with a lot of action and few emotional scenes in order to wait for the audience to have finished their popcorn so that you can finally start enjoying the movie. I like that this movie brings a kind of conclusion to the stories of the characters we have discovered in this new trilogy: Rey, Poe, Finn, Kylo, while still delivering a good dose of fan service with appearance by the stars of the original trilogy. However, the movie spends a lot of time undoing what the previous one The Last Jedi did, to steer back in the direction that director J. J. Abrams initiated with The Force Awakens. It turns out that the Studio (well, Disney now) didn't plan the story of the three films ahead ; they used the starting ideas of Abrams but then it seems like they wanted to keep the flexibility to react to the Box Office between two films. An apparently good strategy to maximize the money return and minimize the audience disappointment, but not one to make a cohesive trilogy. Even George Lucas had the prequel trilogy planned! I like that this movie concludes with a tone similar to the one of the original movies, this is what I wanted, I didn't want a new take on the Star Wars Universe because I knew it was too risky for the studios to go this direction. In the end they went half-half which is not great for anybody. Fortunately for me, they conclude in my preferred direction. The movie is very dense, many many things happen as the characters move from place to place (this calls for a second viewing) but I was never confused and questionning this planet-hopping less than the few adventures in The Last Jedi (argh the casino planet). Note that while The Force Awakens was sold as Han Solo's movie and The Last Jedi Luke's, this one was planned as Leia's movie but sadly actress Carrie Fischer passed away before production started. So the ended up using left-over footage from the previous movies for this one and drastically reduced her role. It is disturbing because her character lacks interaction with the others and the special effects are not perfect, but I found that given the circumstances the studio did its best. The space battles are exciting and the light sabre battles better than before. But I still found many problems with the movie, like character's motivation and reactions, and some basic logic (everybody survives the apparently deadly giant waves). It is also too obviously gender-conscious, with many voices of female Storm-troopers and a same-sex kiss at the end. Part of the ending reminds of the Beacons of Gondor from The Return of the King but that's always a winner, although the music should have been pumped up some more. Another part of the ending reminded too much of that other recent Disney movie Avengers: Endgame. You will know when you hear it. If you can't have enough of hearing about this movie, I can recommend this breakdown by NewRockstars, this recap by Kevin Smith although not as heartfelt as he did before, and this review of the sequel trilogy by The Cosmonaut Variety Hour. I will probably need a second viewing to get clearer ideas on the movie, and maybe revisit the two others. Now like everybody does, let me try to rank all the Star Wars movies (and some series) from my least to most favorite. Disclaimer: this is based on my feelings of today and may not be fully aligned with the ratings I gave at the time I posted my reviews, and this is such a difficult exercise don't blame me for it: 14. Attack of the Clones (I like a few scenes around Mace Windu's "This party's over" but can't stand the love story and the rest) 13. The Last Jedi (I can only watch it for Luke and Yoda) 12. Revenge of the Sith (for the ending) 11. The worst seasons of The Clone Wars, like season 5 10. Solo 9. The Phantom Menace (for nostalgia of my first viewing, but then with the short version of the Pod Race) 8. The Force Awakens (I don't like the Starkiller base) 7. The best seasons of The Clone Wars, like season 6 6. The Mandalorian (more than just fan service) 5. The Rise of Skywalker 4. Rogue One (surprising) 3. A New Hope (of course I love it, tight with the two others) 2. Return of the Jedi (sorry, I love how it concludes the trilogy) 1. The Empire Strikes Back (best balance of everything Star Wars)
Rating: 7 /10