The Rise of Skywalker is the worst Star Wars movie ever somehow topping the crap that was Attack of the Clones.
There was no plan to bring back Palpatine. It was an asspull to come up with some threat after Snoke was killed in The Last Jedi and Kylo Ren couldn't carry the movie on his own when he already lost to Rey in The Force Awakens.
That said, the actual location of Exogol is one of the highlights of the movie. I love how creepy it is and the Sith chanting in the background. It feels unnatural.
Leia, C3PO, Chewbacca, Han, and Luke all have great scenes. I think JJ Abrams gave Leia a thoughtful and deserving sendoff while fleshing out her backstory with her Jedi training. He did the best he could with Carrie Fisher's unfortunate passing. C3PO had some funny quips especially with Babu Frik involved. And the end scene with Chewbacca getting a medal was wholesome. Han Solo had a much more satisfying end to his character end with helping Kylo redeem himself. And Luke redeems The Last Jedi by catching his lightsaber.
The actual story, however, is so devoid of creativity and originality and it executes old ideas worse than in the past. You liked the Death Star? Let's make a whole fleet of planet destroying star destroyers. You liked Palpatine in Return of the Jedi? Let's recreate the throne room scene. It's one giant scavenger hunt to find Palpatine who behaves like a complete dummy by announcing his attack. Why wouldn't he attack while he's still secret? Such nonsense. And there's a general in the First Order we never saw before who secretly works for Palpatine to try to damage control that he was brought in at the last second.
Let's talk about the ending. The Knights of Ren are wasted. Kylo chops them up like paper scraps. Rey gets a second lightsaber and then suddenly deflects Palpatine's sith lightning that was strong enough to mess with all the Resistance ships. Damn, Mace Windu and Yoda were dumb for not thinking of that when Palpatine was way weaker. Rey killing Palpatine also invalidates the Prophecy of the Chosen One. JJ tried to damage control that by having Rey hear the voices of the past Jedi but it's not enough. Kylo dying after kissing Rey once he heals her was so dumb that everyone in my theater laughed. The best new character of the trilogy is the only one to die. Rey adopting the Skywalker name at the end is obviously a way to tie her into the whole Skywalker saga but still feels forced considering she never got along with Luke in The Last Jedi and was more connected to Leia. But it's less offensive than the other things I mentioned.
If someone wants to watch this movie for special effects and action, I'm sure they'll have a fun time, but as someone invested in the Star Wars universe, this movie was so unoriginal and poorly executed it hurt to watch.
There was no plan to bring back Palpatine. It was an asspull to come up with some threat after Snoke was killed in The Last Jedi and Kylo Ren couldn't carry the movie on his own when he already lost to Rey in The Force Awakens.
That said, the actual location of Exogol is one of the highlights of the movie. I love how creepy it is and the Sith chanting in the background. It feels unnatural.
Leia, C3PO, Chewbacca, Han, and Luke all have great scenes. I think JJ Abrams gave Leia a thoughtful and deserving sendoff while fleshing out her backstory with her Jedi training. He did the best he could with Carrie Fisher's unfortunate passing. C3PO had some funny quips especially with Babu Frik involved. And the end scene with Chewbacca getting a medal was wholesome. Han Solo had a much more satisfying end to his character end with helping Kylo redeem himself. And Luke redeems The Last Jedi by catching his lightsaber.
The actual story, however, is so devoid of creativity and originality and it executes old ideas worse than in the past. You liked the Death Star? Let's make a whole fleet of planet destroying star destroyers. You liked Palpatine in Return of the Jedi? Let's recreate the throne room scene. It's one giant scavenger hunt to find Palpatine who behaves like a complete dummy by announcing his attack. Why wouldn't he attack while he's still secret? Such nonsense. And there's a general in the First Order we never saw before who secretly works for Palpatine to try to damage control that he was brought in at the last second.
Let's talk about the ending. The Knights of Ren are wasted. Kylo chops them up like paper scraps. Rey gets a second lightsaber and then suddenly deflects Palpatine's sith lightning that was strong enough to mess with all the Resistance ships. Damn, Mace Windu and Yoda were dumb for not thinking of that when Palpatine was way weaker. Rey killing Palpatine also invalidates the Prophecy of the Chosen One. JJ tried to damage control that by having Rey hear the voices of the past Jedi but it's not enough. Kylo dying after kissing Rey once he heals her was so dumb that everyone in my theater laughed. The best new character of the trilogy is the only one to die. Rey adopting the Skywalker name at the end is obviously a way to tie her into the whole Skywalker saga but still feels forced considering she never got along with Luke in The Last Jedi and was more connected to Leia. But it's less offensive than the other things I mentioned.
If someone wants to watch this movie for special effects and action, I'm sure they'll have a fun time, but as someone invested in the Star Wars universe, this movie was so unoriginal and poorly executed it hurt to watch.