Mini-Review of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

By Dave B.

I’m not going to bother giving you an overview of the plot of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It’s laid out for us all in the first 60 seconds of the 155 minute film. And to some extent, that exemplifies what is wrong with this movie. When you combine the soulless monster that is J.J. Abrams' filmmaking with the soulless monster that is Disney, it’s not surprising that you end up with a soulless film. That’s not to say that The Rise of Skywalker isn’t entertaining, because for the most part, it is. I didn’t start getting really bored until the final 30 minutes of the movie. But it’s entertaining in the sense that it’s fun to watch cool CGI and space battles on a big screen. 

On any other measure of what makes a movie a good movie, The Rise of Skywalker fails. It doesn’t challenge viewers intellectually, it leaves no emotional impact, and we don’t even get the benefit of witty banter because the dialogue is atrocious (Star Wars films have never been known for well-written dialogue, but it’s still shocking how nearly everything said in The Rise of Skywalker is mindless drivel). Basically, The Rise of Skywalker manages to be mildly entertaining and dull at the same time, which is a feat in and of itself. To anyone who has a strong reaction about this film, whether positive or negative, I would say that you’re probably overreacting. Overall, The Rise of Skywalker​ is a less than spectacular finish to this decades-long Star Wars saga. 

In Short...
Premise: Poor
Execution: Decent (in a limited, technical sense)
Rating: 5/10