Film of the Week: Star Wars Episode 9 – The Rise of Skywalker

Warning, spoilers.

Episode 7, The Force Awakens was seen as a copy of Episode 4, A New Hope; Episode 8 was heavily criticised for having a pointless plot and contradictory side characters, but did include the highly spectacular light speed crash scene where one ship obliterated the other. Episode 9 sees the conclusion to the storyline first introduced at the beginning of Episode 7. Set to answer many burning questions and defeat the First Order once and for all. We discover who Rey truly is, and who has been pulling at the strings the entire time.

Palpatine is back. Last seen when Darth Vader sacrificed himself by throwing himself and Palpatine off the ledge, saving Luke Skywalker, bringing balance to the force as the prophecy foretold. Being an incredibly strong user of the dark side of the force, he survived, and he began building himself a new empire. Before, he hid himself in plain sight, subtly manipulating Anakin Skywalker to the dark side, creating one of the most iconic villains - ney - characters in all of fiction. Darth Vader, at the height of his powers, was feared among even the strongest users of either side of the force, because he was born from it. Palpatine manipulated the force to create life within Anakin’s mothers’ womb, and if he wasn’t wearing his suit, Darth Vader’s power would have been seen as unlimited, if it wasn’t already. Palpatine, now keeping himself hidden, continues to manipulate as much as possible, bringing in Ben Solo - also known as the last living Skywalker - known now as Kylo Ren, who strives to be just as powerful as Darth Vader, and finish the job his grandfather failed to complete.

The revelation that it was Palpatine’s plan all along does make sense, whilst also a surprise. The film plays off our surprise alongside the characters as they learn the Sith Lord is still alive, and has been building an army bigger than ever before, called the Final Order. Discovering that Rey is the granddaughter of Palpatine was certainly an unexpected twist. Of all the theories surrounding her being related to the Skywalker family, this was refreshing and a new twist I’m sure no one saw coming. 

If you’ve read this far into the article, you should have already seen Episode 9, which means you already know what’s good and bad about it, and I can write such a long piece of text explaining what I think are the good parts, and believe me there are plenty, especially within the final battle. Instead, I’m going to highlight what I feel they missed out on. A couple of moments where I envisioned something happening but didn’t.

The first example is when Rey is fighting Palpatine during the climactic battle, when he’s pelting her lightsaber with his force lightning. Just before that scene, she’s on the ground struggling to get up and we hear the voices of the Jedi who’ve come before her, including Obi-Wan, Luke Skywalker, and Anakin Skywalker himself. What I feel they missed out on during that moment she fully embraced being a Jedi was the force ghosts of those who came before appearing beside her and helping defeat the Emperor. Luke Skywalker alongside his Dad, Anakin, would have been a touching moment, and would have given more meaning to the title, The Rise of Skywalker.

Another opportunity I feel they missed out on was when Rey went to the house where Luke and Anakin grew up in, and declared herself to be a Skywalker just after seeing the force ghosts of Luke and Leia. They even put them two on the left of the screen instead of the centre, as if they had planned for more people to appear, but decided against it last minute. Again, Anakin and Obi-Wan should have been there, too. A fitting ending, passing the mantle of Jedi to Rey once and for all.

On the other hand, if they opted to do that, it would have been criticised as being cliched. I can see how that trope of those who’ve come before helping the one to lead the future, but I certainly wouldn’t have cared if they did that, and dare I say a lot of people would have seen that as a touching moment, too. Cliche or not, it still would have been a powerful symbol of unity, and the final defeat of the Emperor by those who’ve fought against him from the very beginning.

Or maybe I’ve completely gotten the wrong end of the stick and misunderstood those two scenes entirely and I’m an idiot who needs to stay away from talking about Star Wars if I am going to do nothing but write a load of nonsense. What do you think? Were they missed opportunities, or the inclusion of those characters be too much - after all, the force ghost of Anakin Skywalker coming back to help Rey defeat the Emperor is great symbolism; defeat him once, defeated him again.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)