Written by Wyatt Garlow, Staff Writer
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has a lot to live up to. Being the last movie in an extremely beloved saga, TRoS has to deliver a satisfying end while also tying up any loose ends. While the movie grossed $1 billion at the box office, the end to the Skywalker saga has its own faults within the series as a whole and as its own movie.
Characters are a huge part of the Star Wars franchise. They are the reason we go out to see spinoff movies, buy video games and merchandise, so it’s really disheartening seeing how they handled new characters as well as recurring characters in this lm. Seeing Rose Tico, a character who we watched a large amount in The Last Jedi connecting with Finn over their hate of The First Order, get such a small amount of screen time is disappointing. If you take the time to esh out a character, the last thing you want to do is not pay off in terms of plot.
The new characters have the exact opposite problem, being used as another character’s backstory or a connection to their past. With this being the last movie new characters are sure to have less screen time, but it feels unneeded to sort out the main character’s histories before joining the rebellion as that was what the last movie was for.
It’s not a secret to most people that The Rise of Skywalker had a rushed production time. Editors didn’t have time to go into the editing room, so they just edited on set and it’s alleged that lots of story changing cuts were made to either save face or time. When an alleged original script leaked online, it was even more frustrating to see where the movie eventually got to.
The original script’s name is Star Wars Episode Nine: Dual of Fates and contains no Palpatine, no Rey Skywalker and no Ben Solo. It’s a story of a centuries old conflict coming to an end, with Rey wanting to end the Jedi religion and Kylo wanting to end the Sith religion. We do nd out who Rey is, but she isn’t connected to any big names within the series, she’s just Rey.
That’s what’s really matters. Star Wars has a tendency to create this bloodline narrative, you have to be of a certain descent to be a true Jedi, but it seemed as if The Force Awakens was going to destroy that with Rey. Being connected to a family name loses the appeal of Star Wars, that the force is something everyone has.
At the end of this beloved series, it doesn’t matter if Rey is fighting Palpatine or Kylo with force ghosts or that seeing Carrie Fisher on the screen strikes a chord in viewers hearts. Star Wars will always be held at the hands of its creators and its undying fanbase, it’s just sad to see all the possibilities slightly outside of the series’ box get axed for any reason. Rating: Four out of five stars.