By John Ballowe

Warning: Spoilers ahead. 

The Skywalker saga has come to an end. 40 years of film making and storytelling have culminated in a movie that ultimately wowed some and was hated by others. Many fans left with disappointment following the ending of  The Rise of Skywalker, but others found the film satisfactory, with the potential to be exceptional if it had utilized more references to the previous movies. Many critics have bashed the movie, with others praising it. With the ninth installment in the Skywalker saga, The Rise of Skywalker was able to tie up (most) loose ends to plots while also adding a more complete sense of closure.

After the original Star Wars trilogy (Episodes IV-VI) showed fans the evolution of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), and the prequels (Episodes I-III) showed Luke’s father’s evolution from Anakin to Vader (Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen), the most recent three films gave a new perspective on the films following Rey (Daisy Ridley), an orphaned girl with Jedi powers. Her internal conflict, as well as emotional strain with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), is shown throughout these three movies, ending with the most recent film. Even with the certainty of The Rise of Skywalker tying up loose ends, some local Star Wars fans, like Heth Alexander (‘21) and Buck O’Neill (‘21), felt as though the movie needed “Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Yoda” force ghosts instead of the speaking to Rey to help them with a sense of completeness with the series’ end. This may have made the movie too similar to Return of the Jedi, though, with the ghosts that Luke sees on Endor, so the absence is understandable.

I felt as though this had been the best film in the Skywalker saga since 1986’s Return of the Jedi, Episode VI in the Star Wars movie chronology. The implementation of fan favorites like Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) added heartwarming moments to the film, as well as nostalgic feelings for older Star Wars fans. I did not think Carrie Fisher, as Princess Leia, would play a major role in this movie, as Fisher passed away in 2016, but I was pleasantly surprised. JJ Abrams, the film’s director, was able to use footage of Fisher from 2017’s The Last Jedi, the predecessor to The Rise Of Skywalker, and fit the rest of the story around it, something that I felt made the movie fantastic. The references made towards the previous eight movies capped off the Skywalker saga perfectly, so much so that I saw it twice. It was not until after seeing the movie for a second time, and reading and hearing other opinions on the film, that I realized I wished the movie had a little more.

One scene between Han and Ben Solo/Kylo Ren was the pinnacle moment of the film. In The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren kills Han while asking for Han’s help because he does not think he is strong enough to do so. These same lines were taken from the script and integrated into the scene, helping to make this pivotal moment more emotional than it was. After killing Han, Kylo Ren is torn between the light and dark side of the Force until this moment in Rise of Skywalker.

After a battle of epic proportions with Rey that mimics the battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan in Revenge of the Sith, Rey defeats Kylo Ren by stabbing him with his own lightsaber after Leia uses her last remaining bit of strength to try and turn Kylo back to the light for good. After this, she uses her Force healing technique, a phenomenon not seen in Star Wars until “Baby Yoda” used it in the latest installment of the hit Star Wars-related Disney+ series The Mandalorian. While Kylo is sitting and collecting his thoughts, Han appears as a Force ghost, and the same scripted lines from The Force Awakens are used. After this conversation, the Dark Side has left Kylo, and he hurls his lightsaber into the raging sea, completing his transformation back to Ben Solo. 

Another part of this film that caused unease with viewers was how convenient everything seemed to be. From the opening scene when Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) somehow comes back from the dead after Darth Vader (voiced by James Earle Jones) threw him down a shaft on the Death Star 2 in Return of the Jedi, to Rey and Kylo passing lightsabers through the force. The convenience of the gimmicks took away from the movie’s overall aura.  In the JJ Abrams’ and Chris Terrio’s defense, Sheev Palpatine is quoted saying “The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural,” to Anakin (Hayden Christensen) when Anakin is torn about wanting to save Padme (Natalie Portman) from death in Revenge of the Sith. The convenience caused much of the strife surrounding this movie, as well as a lack of closure for some fans. Star Wars fan and Upper School librarian and Collegiate archivist Ben Lamb felt as though the movie lacked closure, despite the fact that he grew up watching the films. He felt as though Rey did not have to be a Palpatine and liked the idea of a Jedi being a nobody. Many fans similarly thought that closure wasn’t achieved, but liked the movie overall. Bryson Raquet (‘21) felt that the ending was upsetting for such a fantastic movie and felt rushed. This is where many fans felt that the film had the potential to be great but fell short. After reading many reviews of the movie, I learned that director JJ Abrams was crunched for time when making and releasing this movie, and this may have played a role in the hurried feeling to the end of the movie. 

With this movie being the last in the Skywalker saga, it is only fitting that it is both Driver and Ridley’s best movie from the series. Both played their roles fantastically and brought their time with the series to an end in excellent fashion. The development of Kylo Ren’s character throughout the trilogy was significant in the saga and although awkwardly ended, closure was achieved. Rey’s story was marvelous as well, even with the surprise Palpatine connection. The closure was achieved with the completion of the Skywalker Saga, and now Star Wars fans are eager to know the next installment in a galaxy far, far away.