Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Gleeson, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Naomi Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Lupita Nyong’o, Keri Russell, Joonas Suotamo, Kelly Marie Tran, Ian McDiarmid, Billy Dee Williams, Greg Grunberg, Shirley Henderson, Billie Lourd, Dominic Monaghan, Nick Kellington, Mandeep Dhillon, Alison Rose, Amanda Lawrence, Tanya Moodie, Simon Paisley Day, Geff Francis, Amanda Hale, Amir El-Masry, Warwick Davis, Denis Lawson, Jodie Comer, Billy Howie, Harrison Ford.
The longer a franchise exists, the more reason it has to find ways of retelling the same story, albeit with an updated narrative and with the ghosts of characters departed finding ways to influence, what some will hope for and others will lament, the final outcome of one person’s own tale.
There are franchises that keep it fresh, managing to keep the narrative going across generations, and then there is Star Wars, so beloved, at times misguidedly so, especially in films such as Episode I, Episode II and to a large extent the side show that was Solo: A Star Wars Story, films that widened the circle of the overall legend and mythos of George Lucas’ original vision but in no particular way, enhanced it.
As a three part saga comes to its end, again, Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker falls unfortunately into the realm of all the beauty being on the outside, its battle scenes, the endless effects, the sense of glory all being tied up in what could have arguably adorned any science fiction/futuristic/outer space film. Look beyond the outer skin though, go past the epidermis of the structure and the problems of narrative, of consistency and dependable story-telling start to show themselves, not least when it comes to bringing back a long dead character from the grave, the rehabilitation of another, and how to keep the memory of one of the more central characters in the whole forty-year plus saga from being dismissed as nothing more than appeasement.
Looking upon Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker is like being allowed a glimpse of what lays under the constitution of United States of America itself or the language carved into the tablet being held justly by the neo-classical sculpture on Liberty Island, New York. On the surface it is noble, forthright, it has every intention of holding itself accountable for the words it holds dear, and yet underneath it is, in large parts, a system being kept alive by a series of ropes and pullies, of grand gestures and the belief of all who want so much to see it as a shining example to the world.
A distinctly average film that if it had been a stand-alone feature with nothing coming before it, would have been described as third rate, of being akin to the machinery in the wizard’s lair, all magic and circumstance.
There will be, in time, other stories from this fantastic series, other off shoots and side tales such as The Mandalorian but in this supposed last film with many of the original premises from the initial A New Hope, perhaps it is more than time to bring down the wizard’s curtain, to bring to task the ideals without action, and let a great series go out in peace.
Ian D. Hall