As a film given the unwieldy task of wrapping up 42 years of storytelling, and nine films' worth of plot, Star Wars Skywalker saga, had perhaps an impossible job to do. But that doesn't mean it's not a job that could be done, had the story been placed in the right hands and given the proper amount of care and planning it deserved.
At the end of the day, however, The Rise of Skywalker is a deeply flawed movie that truly raises more questions than it answers, and creates more problems than it solves. Here, we try to find some of the good to come out of the movie while explaining why it serves as such a massive disappointment to the franchise as a whole.
Love: More new ideas added to the universe
If there's one thing the sequel trilogy, in particular, has excelled at, it's been expanding the concepts we've known and understood about the universe that fans have so ionately loved for over four decades. Given The Rise of Skywalker's prioritization of plot over character, we're given plenty of new plot elements and parts of the Force to process and understand.
New ideas introduced in the film include the notion of a dyad in the Force, a bond that is as strong as life itself and finds two souls living as one; Force healing being seen for one of the first times in live-action Star Wars; and physical objects being transferred through Force bonds.
Disappointment: Rey's story is meaningless
For four years, fans have clamored about the importance of Rey's story, particularly to young women who saw themselves in the inspiring tale of a girl who was no one making a name for herself in the world. The story also reinforced the universal notion of the Force being accessible by anyone, regardless of bloodline.
But with all that The Rise of Skywalker does, and undoes, in Rey's story, the heroine's journey ultimately rings completely hollow. Rey's parents never abandoned her: they sold her because they loved her and wanted to keep her safe. Rey's powers aren't her own: they're dictated by the masculine bloodline she hails from. It's all deeply disturbing, and disappointing.
Love: Familiar faces
The sequel trilogy has never shied away from both benefiting from and exploiting the nostalgia of fans who are eager to see the familiar faces they so loved in movies past. The Rise of Skywalker makes good on those desires, even if in different levels of focus, with the inclusion of some fan-favorite characters.
Billy Dee Williams' legendary Lando Calrissian has the most prominent role of those returning to the fray for the first time, even if his screentime is far less than some perhaps had hoped for. Additional fun cameos include a blink and you miss it return for Rebel Alliance hero Wedge Antilles, Ewoks, and Jawas.
Disappointment: Ruins the original trilogy in retrospect
The original trilogy will always be the most beloved of all the Star Wars franchises. But it's also worth noting that the original trilogy now remains the only one of the trilogies to end on a truly hopeful note. The Rebel Alliance defeats the Empire in the end, and Return of the Jedi ends with a joyous celebration in the forests of Endor.
But now, that entire ending means nothing, and the celebration is ruined. As we now know, thanks to the foolish decision to resurrect the Emperor for no real reason, the Rebels never really won anything. The Emperor and his Empire were just lying in wait, lurking and anticipating the time when they could finally return.
Love: Cute creatures
For the entire duration of the saga, Star Wars has always introduced viewers to aliens and droids of all sizes, shapes, and species. But many of its most memorable creatures also happen to be unbelievably adorable.
The Rise of Skywalker continues this trend. Jannah and her fellow defected Stormtroopers ride around on regal Orbaks, space horses with lavish manes. The adorably anxious droid D-O follows BB-8 around like a lost duckling. But cutest of all is the pint-sized black market droidsmith, Babu Frik, who steals every scene he's in with his adorable whiskers, expressive eyes, and hilarious dialogue and dialect.
Disappointment: A series at war with itself
Whether you loved or hated both The Last Jedi, it's impossible to feel anything other than discomfort with the way that The Rise of Skywalker so callously does away with so many of the plot elements and relationships its predecessors introduced.
To put it simply, The Rise of Skywalker is a film that seemingly exists primarily to undo any good the first two entries in the sequel trilogy had established. Characters feel out of character and cold, entire arcs and stories are forgotten about or invalidated, and actions are outright contradicted. It's a messy conclusion to the trilogy, and even more disappointing for the saga as a whole.
Love: Redemption is possible for anyone
At its core, Star Wars has always been understood as a story about hope, about love, and about the potential for redemption. The Rise of Skywalker powerfully continues that trend that was so present within both the original and prequel trilogies, delivering a redemptive story arc that is at once both more powerful and more believable than Darth Vader's split-second change of heart ever was.
In the character of the redeemed Ben Solo, The Rise of Skywalker truly hits upon a gold mine of emotional and moral conflict. Redeemed through the love of three people - his late father, Han Solo; his late mother, Leia Organa; and his dyad partner and lover, Rey - Ben Solo stands as a testament to the redemptive power of love in all its forms.
Disappointment: Meaningless nostalgia
When the sequel trilogy first began, many claimed that it seemed as though the saga was entirely leaning on nostalgia, producing a lesser imitation of A New Hope in the form of The Force Awakens. But it's impossible to look at The Rise of Skywalker and see anything other than an attempt to cram in nostalgic fan service.
While there are many glaring offenses that serve as examples of this, including heavily recycled dialogue and scenes, the film's ending is by far the worst example of all. Rey has no reason to be on Tatooine and no reason to declare herself a Skywalker. It's not the ending her character deserves. It's the ending the film thinks the saga's once cyclical narrative deserves. And it couldn't feel more wrong.
Love: Love can still ignite the stars
As we've already described, love in every form is one of the most important themes across the saga. Though you'd be hard-pressed to find a single romantic story that ends up happily, with Rey and Ben's ill-fated romance now added to the ranks, the series never shies away from showing love as the most important and most powerful part of humanity.
The Rise of Skywalker may be filled to the brim with turgid, repetitive adventure quests and forced scenes between a trio of characters that never get along. But when the film focuses on love - the love between friends, between families, and between lovers - the saga itself has never felt more alive.
Disappointment: Palpatine wins
Star Wars may have purported to tell the story of the Skywalker family, but if we're meant to believe what The Rise of Skywalker is telling us, Palpatine is the one who wins in the end. At the end of the final film in the Skywalker saga, every true Skywalker is dead. Only a member of Palpatine's bloodline has survived the decades of war.
The film might try to sell us on the idea that Rey is carrying on the Skywalker name, but there's no version of this story in which it feels earned. Rey is merely a Palpatine usurping a Skywalker legacy that was never hers to begin with. The Emperor gets the last laugh.
