Note: Before I even begin to write this (or you begin to read this), please note: I'm not interested in petty arguments over Star Wars. Different opinions on the quality or enjoyment of movies are bound to happen. That's normal and cool. This particular blog is rarely used and probably gets next to zero traffic (which is fine), but if this post happened to pop up in your search and you clicked here, just an FYI. Thanks.
Yesterday morning I watched the 10:30 a.m. showing of The Rise of Skywalker. Before getting into it, I offer my background with Star Wars. Not as a gatekeeper, or to prove I'm a "real fan", or any of that b.s. By all means, please skip it. It's just some context that might help explain my perspective on the final film of the Skywalker Saga.
Overview of my experience with Star Wars (Utterly Skippable)
I've enjoyed the Star Wars saga since the original trilogy of Episodes IV, V, and VI. There were critics of these films, and flaws they saw, but I see them still as flowing perfectly together as part of a coherent story. That's my particular point of view. No need to try to force that view on anyone, it's just what I see when I watch those movies. There are others who see them this way or something close to it who go a step further and idolize them. That leads to trouble.
I also enjoyed some of the initial books in the large collection of extra-movie materials that are now dubbed Legends. But those books eventually jumped a parsec of sharks on a land-speeder by trying to "be Star Wars", only MOAR. As if to keep asking, "How can we keep topping ourselves with bigger reveals, shocks, and surprises while also keeping to a very narrow idea of what make Star Wars... well, Star Wars?" What did many of these writers see as Star Wars? A tale of some evil galactic authoritarian regime with a weapon that can blow up really big things versus a plucky heroes with good aim and better luck who somehow find a way to stop the bad guys. It's as if those were the things that lead to lightning in a bottle for the original trilogy of films, so why not try to recast the same spell by duplicating what went before? Or perhaps for some it was trying to make it familiar to fans. Or maybe lack of originality? Fear of tampering too much with the recognizeable components?
The prequel films got off to a rocky start because they could never be the original trilogy, even with George Lucas at the helm. Sure, some people didn't like Jar-Jar, but Star Wars has had silly characters before. Some find a bigger accepting audience, some a smaller one. Early elementary Anakin and then teenager Anakin annoyed some fans because they didn't act mature. What a surprise. You could also blame the introduction of the concept of midichlorians. I wasn't a fan of that myself, but it's really not much in terms of an explanation. It doesn't really telling us anything new about the force, but it seems like an attempt to try to reduce the force to biology, which for some fans takes away some of its mystery. And spaces in which audiences can use there imagination and wonder are best left unknown. Yet, honestly, midichlorians are a non-answer answer, and the force is still all mysterious and weird.
Yet despite what some fans didn't like about them, the prequel films managed to make it feel like there was a group of heroes who worked together to go on their own adventures and make their own legends. And the plots were solid as were the fight scenes, etc. Sure, the core members of the group got separated at times, but the first film really put them together as a band of friends and that stuck. Moreover, despite being constrained by what we know must happen before Episode IV, it really is their story. Their time. There is no evil Empire or First Order, just a series mysteries that grow into a threat to the Republic. No Death Star. Second Death Star. Starkiller Base. Etc. And maybe that's another thing some people didn't like about them (and in this I would feel the opposite): they weren't locked into that typical pattern from the original trilogy summarized above.
