More ambitious than perhaps anyone suspected, director J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of the Skywalker not only concludes the Skywalker Saga but also takes a loving, and definitive, look at the core concepts of the 42-year-old franchise. It’s occasionally sloppy in its storytelling, but the film’s cast, visuals, action and through-line come together to make a thrilling and fitting finale.

The film never slows down, with the opening crawl casually revealing that Emperor Palpatine is alive and has broadcast that to the galaxy. He’s even shown to have a massive army that he’s amassed in the decades since the fall of the Empire. The Resistance is forced into an almost no-win scenario, and so Rey, Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, BB-8 and C-3PO must make their way across the galaxy to find a Sith Wayfinder — a map that can lead them to Palpatine.

 

Complicating matters is Kylo Ren, who’s working gain access to Palpatine’s army. Alongside the Knights of Ren, all Palpatine requests of Kylo is to kill Rey. But Kylo’s connection with Rey makes that more difficult, and opens up the possibility of one of them giving in to the other’s side of the Force.

 

The script, by Abrams and Chris Terrio, moves at a fast clip, which instills the movie with an unrelenting sense of urgency. But that also means some sequences and revelations unfold quickly, leaving the audience little time to adjust to the new information before blasting off to a new location. That’s probably the roughest aspect of The Rise of Skywalker, leaving viewers with more questions than answers.

 

However, it also imbues the film with a frenetic energy that such an ambitious finale requires to accomplish what it has set out to do. The film doesn’t only resolve plot threads left dangling in the new trilogy, it’s willing to explore some of the biggest thematic elements of the series. It’s an ambitious decision that brings with it an appropriate weight. If the sacrifice for the sheer scale of The Rise of Skywalker is to move at lightspeed, then it’s well worth the rapid-fire revelations and rewrites that bring the story to an satisfying, and emotional, conclusion.

The characters feel fully fleshed out in a way they hadn’t even in the previous films, allowing the natural chemistry among Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac to carry the movie when plot contrivances threaten to upend it. Adam Driver brings a surprising complexity to Kylo, especially as his relationship with Rey becomes more fraught. Familiar faces from the earlier movies also appear, with actors like Ian McDiarmid and Billy Dee Williams easily readjusting to their decades-old roles. Even new faces, like Keri Russel as the mysterious Zorii and Naomi Ackie as the heroic Jannah, feel fully integrated into this universe, rather than mere scene-fillers.

 

Abrams proves to be the perfect director for the film, keeping the focus largely on the characters. When it goes big — and it frequently does — Abrams shows off his keen eye for action. The Rise of Skywalker never becomes lost in its epic visuals, but instead maintains a focus on the characters and their goals. Indeed, the visuals are also among the most impressive in the entire series, with cinematographer Dan Mindel bringing a great deal of style.

At times, the film feels like a response to the ideas presented by Rian Johnson in The Last Jedi, but it never outright undoes those elements. Instead, it tries to blend together each part of the Star Wars saga to weave a story about the Force and choosing to embrace it (and yourself) instead of allowing the universe to decide for you.

 

Some might have thought it impossible, but Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is able to clear the massive expectations to close out the Skywalker Saga on a high note.

 

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