It’s now been a whole year since the release of The Rise of Skywalker, which marked the grand finale to Disney’s Star Wars trilogy. To label this film, or even the trilogy as a whole for that matter, as divisive would be an understatement. For a fandom as loyal as the Star Wars fanbase, pleasing them is a task on an unparalleled level of difficulty – as Disney has so expertly proved in the last few years. Regardless of your opinions on each of these films, there’s no denying that the hype and expectations surrounding Star Wars globally have dwindled tremendously. So, now that a year has passed, how exactly will these films be remembered?
Disney’s reportedly $4bn acquisition of Lucasfilm back in 2012 was followed by a tremendous excitement from both Star Wars fans and the general public alike. A universally loved Star Wars film had not been seen since 1983’s Return of the Jedi. Despite the release of the prequels between 1999 and 2005, these films were met with a mixed response, to say the least. Everyone was desperate to see this brand new era of Star Wars and discover who would be in it, what would happen and, most importantly, if it would be good.
Flash forward three years, with the release of The Force Awakens in 2015. With assured director JJ Abrams (Star Trek) at the helm, it pretty successfully managed to re-introduce the Star Wars universe to the world. It broke record after record, was a critical and commercial hit and, vitally, was loved by many fans. It was an almost perfect start to this ‘sequel’ trilogy. Of course, critiques of the film being unoriginal and a carbon copy of A New Hope in narrative terms were thrown around, but practically everyone was fascinated by the new characters, delighted to see the beloved old ones and were intrigued to see where this road would lead. This, undeniably, was the calm before the storm.
Two years later saw the release of The Last Jedi – arguably the most controversial Star Wars film to date. Episode VII’s director Rian Johnson (Knives Out) was a very different filmmaker to Abrams. While Abrams’ aim in the first was to ease the fans back in, Johnson’s was instead to surprise them, question them, and give them something that they quite possibly hadn’t seen before – certainly not in a Star Wars film at least. While there are some that consider this as one of the greatest entries into the franchise (myself included), The Last Jedi was overwhelmingly discarded by the most hardcore of Star Wars fans. This second entry in the trilogy did not adhere to many, if any, of the expectations that these fans felt they were entitled to. Most people took a distaste to the treatment of Luke Skywalker, the film’s sub-plots, consistent twists, attempts at humour, newly introduced characters, and moments that broke or damaged certain established rules within the universe.
Some of these criticisms were more than valid, but most, admittedly, really weren’t. At odds with fans was the general consensus from critics, which was that The Last Jedi was a complete triumph. Some critics before its release were even labelling it as the best Star Wars since The Empire Strikes Back – a fan favourite of the series. However, very few of the hardcore fans managed to agree with this sentiment. Following this, much of the public and Star Wars fanbase turned on Disney and their new Star Wars films. They labelled it a disaster and saw no way of coming back from what they deemed as such a significant failure. This was simply the first step of a long, rocky road that many were not happy with the final destination of – that, of course, being The Rise of Skywalker.
Some months before the release of The Last Jedi saw the removal of director Colin Trevorrow (Jurassic World) from the proposed Episode IX. Many theorised that this was in response to Trevorrow’s critically panned film The Book of Henry which, at the time, had just been released. However, it seems to have now come to the conclusion that Trevorrow and Disney executives had intense creative differences behind their plans for their film. Disney instead opted to bring about a reunion, by announcing JJ Abrams as the director of the final film in the trilogy. After releasing a film rejected by the fans, why not bring back a director who managed to please them? What could possibly go wrong? As it turns out, quite a lot.
The Rise of Skywalker, to put it simply, was a complete mess. Abrams proved to be a poor choice, as the film spent far too long trying to undo what The Last Jedi established, rather than just moving forward with what they had. One such undoing was the parentage of the trilogy’s protagonist, Rey. Rey’s parents were briefly alluded to in The Force Awakens, before Rian Johnson decided to reveal in his film that they were nobody of importance, with no significant lineage whatsoever. This was a strong decision, one that embraced the idea that who you are and where you come from doesn’t determine or shape you. However,
Abrams then reversed this in The Rise of Skywalker by revealing that she is, in actual fact, a Palpatine (um, what?).
If I’m being honest, I pondered for a second leaving the cinema as I first watched this unfold. This was a twist that practically no one was willing to get behind, as it brought back a character that had no reason to come back, and just failed to work as a plot
point by creating such a jarring narrative that made almost no sense whatsoever. Even in spite of this, the film was criticised by the fanbase for its repetitive narrative, mishandling of side characters, and, at the other end of the spectrum in relation to The Last Jedi, for its obscene amount of fan service. It just felt like, depending on how you look at it, as ‘damage control’. Rather than trying to continue with the predecessor and tell a cohesive story, Abrams and co. chose to make intense reversals to every decision previously made and only upset everyone more.
Looking back, this trilogy hasn’t managed to age well. While I appreciate The Force Awakens and have a great amount of love for The Last Jedi, the choices made in The Rise of Skywalker only force the story told across all three to be viewed as a failure. It very nearly caused the breath to be sucked out of Star Wars entirely. However, even though I haven’t quite managed to find my connection with it, shows like The Mandalorian have managed to keep fans and viewers from shifting their attention elsewhere. Disney’s decision to have different storytellers for each instalment of their trilogy proved to be a wrong one, resulting in an uneven, disjointed mess that failed to portray a reasoned story filled with consistent characters.
Of course, some praise can be given for Disney’s willingness to give filmmakers such a level of creative freedom, especially in this Marvel Cinematic Universe dominated world where each and every entry feels like a cookie-cutter version of the rest. But, in
practice, it just didn’t really work. Individually, it’s two great films out of the three. However, as a whole, it resulted in one big jigsaw made up of pieces that don’t quite fit together.
Words by Eddie Nourse
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Thanks for the inciteful review.