Star Wars Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

“Confronting fear is the destiny of a Jedi. Your destiny.” – Luke Skywalker

Number of Times Seen – 1 (18 Dec 2019)

Brief Synopsis – The remnants of the resistance try and find a way to stop Kylo Ren from creating a new Empire in order to rule the Galaxy.

My Take on it – I am still reeling from watching this movie at the very first showing and will keep his review spoiler free.

I must say that I love living in a country that usually has early showings of these kind of movies and this allowed me to be among some of the very first people to see this film in the theater.

I assume that after one of my subsequent watches in the future, I’ll discuss things with spoilers, but that will happen within a few weeks from now.

This is a film that I personally have been anticipating for 4 years and can say that I was quite impressed with the way that they handle many of the elements within this trilogy yet also have numerous references to the previous two trilogies along the way.

The character arcs are finally played out in a way where so much of what happened in the previous two films now make more sense and they take things places that one would never expect them to go.

This enhances the film to a point where it’s even more intriguing to watch how it all unfolds in front of our eyes.

The film has a great message and they find ways to make it ring true numerous times without making it feel tedious or overused.

This, in turn, helps the story gain even more closure or many of the story threads dealt with in the previous two films.

Th twists and turns of this film are great and they help make things even more unpredictable along the way.

The way that the story deals with friendships and alliances both new and old works really well in helping to establish a continuity that connects things to the previous array of films and I really liked how they found connections in places that one never expects since they were assumed to be completely unconnected previously.

There has been much talk about this film being the final one dealing with the Skywalker line, but they still make this story feel so relevant and not a last ditch way to make more money because the story works well on numerous levels that makes it a very worthy addition to the stories that deal with characters living a long time ago in a Galaxy Far Far Away!

My assumption at this point is that this film will definitely be among my favorite films of 2019 and I highly anticipate the opportunity to see this film again and take in everything that happens once again.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that this film is on par with and even exceeds some of the other movies in the Star Wars saga and I look forward to doing a marathon the films in the series at some future juncture in order to take t all in during one interval.

Bottom Line – Amazing end to this new trilogy since it finds a way to bring together so many elements not only from this trilogy but also from the past two. The characters have great arcs here and some of them go places that one would never expect which helps make things even more intriguing to watch unfold. The film’s message is still intact throughout and they find a way to reiterate a similar theme throughout that helps make this film grant much closure to many of the events of the previous two films. The film has some great twists and turns along the way that help make things very unpredictable which works really well. The story deals with both friendships and alliances new and old and stays true to the previous films while finding intriguing ways to connect events that we seemingly unconnected. Not sure if they plan to eventually make more films dealing with the Skywalker line of the series, but they were able to find a way to make this film worthwhile in its story telling abilities in order to give us one more amazing story in this Galaxy Far Far Away! Probably will be among my favorite films of the year and I can’t wait to go and see it again to catch all that I might have missed during this initial viewing. Definitey worthy of being in the company of the other 10 films of the Star Wars Saga! Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Though they are no longer the main characters, each movie in the sequel trilogy was meant to showcase one of the main characters from the original trilogy. Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015) focused on Han, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017) on Luke, and this movie will reportedly focus on Leia. This actually mirrors the original trilogy, in which Luke interacted with a central character from the prequel trilogy. Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977) focused on Obi-wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980) on Yoda, and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) on Emperor Palpatine. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)