Star Wars : The Rise of Skywalker

Saw this on Thursday morning at a midnight screening but wanted to hold back with a review so not to risk spoilers. But I’ve left it a sensible time now, so here’s my thoughts (this will be spoiler free).

Making the 9th film in a saga that has spanned 42 years would seem a thankless task and no version of this film was going to please everyone, even if it was the best Star Wars film ever made, plenty would still be unhappy.

Now, this is not the best of the 9, however what JJ Abrams has done is bring together a more than passable and enjoyable finale, like Force Awakens he makes this a full on space adventure, but that doesn’t mean it’s wall to wall action from the start, he gives the film time to build as we begin to learn how the story arc for the new (and some old) characters will complete.

The film focuses on the culmination of Rey’s story and brings out of Daisy Ridley her best performance of the three, she carries the weight of the film well with energy, humour and emotion when needed. There are also much fuller stories for Finn and Poe, as well as the completion of Leia’s and a couple of nice cameos, one expected, one less so.

The film does try to fit in a lot by trying to tie together a vast amount of loose ends from across the 9 films. The story telling of the 3 sequels suffers a little from Rian Johnson’s excellent but very different Last Jedi, which gives us 3 separate films that need tying together and it pretty much comes off. Rey’s discovery of who she is leads us to the culmination of the Skywalker story with the final battle between the light and the dark, which I felt was well realised in its simplicity and while one of the criticisms of the film is that it took too many easy options, I’m not sure more difficult choices would have allowed episode 9 to end the story in they way they wanted to.

There has, not surprisingly, been criticism of episode 9, alongside a luke warm critical reception (not unusual for a Star Wars film), but for me, while it’s a long way from perfect, it was an enjoyable and satisfying enough end to a saga that has been a part of my life since I was 6.

Go see if for yourselves and of course may the force be with you…. always.