The Rise Of Skywalker (2019)

Big 2019 Movies Part 15.

Previously-

• IT: Chapter Two (2019)
• Joker (2019)
• Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
• Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
• Doctor Sleep (2019)

Previously with Star Wars-

• I Love Star Wars
• The Force Awakens 
• Rogue One 
• The Last Jedi
• Solo
• Happy twelfth Star Wars day.
• Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker poster!

Let's get right to it....

I fucking loved it!!!!
Loved the ever-living shit out of it!!!

Is it perfect?
No.
Is it terrible?
Oh, FUCK no!!!!!!

The haters can suck it.
"It", being my ass after a fresh crap.

Solo is weaker, and I dug Solo.
The prequels are weaker, and I've even come around on the prequels.

All of its problems can be traced down to that it should be 3 hours to let stuff breathe.
Disney insisting it be 2 hours and change makes it cram a lot really hard.
Hopefully, we'll get the 3 hour cut on blu-ray.

But, in spite of that it's got a non-stop gas pedal stomping pace, and stuff gets crammed, what's there is awesome stuff.

There's a lot there, I'm gonna have to see it a couple more times.
But, I was going to anyway.

A lot of fan theories come true.
A lot of fan theories are destroyed.
A lot of fan theories happen....but in a different way than you expect.

You get a lot of shit you always wanted to see finally happen.
And a lot of shit you didn't know you wanted, but did.
And SOME shit you fantasized about as far back as the 80's, and didn't think they'd ever do, so you gave up on it, and forgot about it.
But, shit, they do it, and you're like "oh, we're doing this?? OKAY!!".

Fans of the old EU books will be vindicated.
There's shit either directly lifted, or that mirrors that stuff.

Speaking of...there's some (mostly minor) plot threads they're gonna have to flesh out with new EU books.
Or else, some of it's in that 3 hour cut.

But, nothing that breaks my heart that it's not there.
Your mileage may vary.

One of the criticisms is that a lot gets solved with ret-cons.
Ehh....that's a Star Wars tradition though.
"I am your father", and "Leia is my sister", are ret-cons.
The prequels are ret-cons.

This "Lucas had it planned all along!!", line is a fairy tale.
So, that doesn't bother me.
Again, your mileage may vary.

All I know is, I walked out of the theater feeling great.
Really fucking great.
That felt like real positive closure for Star Wars for me.
I didn't get that with "Revenge Of The Sith".
I felt like "ahh, there, that's all done", but I didn't feel jazzed.
With this one, I feel jazzed.
I haven't felt this great since Return Of The Jedi.

I could stop here, really.
I'm all set.
I don't need anymore.
I'll probably look in on whatever they do next, but I don't need it.
Marathon-ing the 9 Skywalker ones will set me up for the rest of my life just fine.
I'm good.

How would I rank this in the sequel trilogy?
Um..hmm.
Well, I like TLJ, and I put TLJ just behind ESB...
But this one made me happier than TLJ.
It's that eternal struggle between ESB and ROTJ.
ESB has the raw bloody dramatic meat, but ROTJ makes you cheer.

I think I have to re-rank them, because TROS makes me see all the films in a new way!

Sequel trilogy.

1. Force Awakens
2. Rise Of Skywalker
3. Last Jedi

Skywalker saga

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Return Of The Jedi
4. Force Awakens
5. Rise Of Skywalker
6. Last Jedi
7. Revenge Of The Sith
8. Attack Of The Clones
9. Phantom Menace

Plus spinoffs

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. A New Hope
3. Rogue One
4. Return Of The Jedi
5. Force Awakens
6. Rise Of Skywalker
7. Last Jedi
8. Revenge Of The Sith
9. Solo
10. Attack Of The Clones
11. Phantom Menace

Yeah, a lot of critics are ranking TROS a 6-7 out of 10, and a literal 6 out of 11 on the list is about right.

Not the best, or the worst, but you'll have a great time, feel great walking out, and IMHO, it's a satisfying conclusion.
To the sequel trilogy for sure.
YMMV on whether it wraps up all 9 well enough.

Go see it.

Up next, this a couple more times, and the winter and year end recap!