Rise of Skywalker showed that loving Star Wars has its limits

The last decade of star wars It has been… a lot: interesting, exciting, exhausting, disappointing. You choose a descriptor and it could probably be applied any time after The force awakens revitalized the franchise, the two spin-off films did what they could and the last jedi I tried to make new changes. What one word describes The Rise of Skywalker in the cleanest and most charitable way? How about “engaged”?

The Rise of Skywalker It was released in theaters on December 20, 2019 and, back then, all eyes were on it. This was a film in an unenviable position: Beyond the mission of concluding Disney’s “Skywalker Saga,” it had to deal with handling Carrie Fisher’s passing between films, plus discussions about how director JJ Abrams and the co-writer Chris Terrio returned. I would follow the path marked by wake up and Last. And arriving during the Christmas season, it became the last “last” of a year that featured the equally momentous Avengers: Endgame and the game of Thrones end.

So yes, there was a lot of pressure on Raise deliver the products and finish in a way that satisfied everyone. And after all the preparation,… he didn’t really do that. At all. Sure, people like or enjoy the movie, but there’s no denying that it feels like something happened during production and the end result is a movie that leaves a strange taste in your mouth. After leaving the theater and going online, there was an overwhelmingly collective feeling of “what the hell was going on?” that?” That made talking about it even more incendiary than the last jedi. That part may have been unavoidable, but the rest is strictly down to the film as it stands, from its strange moments of fan service to the jabs and open knowledge that it was born after original director Colin Trevorrow left the project. Whatever highlights the film is said to have, they exist in a film that was apparently so successful that the entire catalyst for its events had to be put in place. fortnite preview, but not the film itself.

Yeah The last Jedi The shadow has fallen over star wars For seven years and counting, The Rise of Skywalker he’s a monster that shoved the entire franchise into his mouth and has yet to digest it or just give up and spit it out. While it made money, it didn’t take long to suspect that Disney might have been embarrassed by the reactions. (Case in point: the comic adaptation of the film is finally will be out in February after it was announced in 2020). Any goodwill initially obtained with The force awakens basically eroded in real time once Raise revealed that Palpatine returned somehow, or later, when Chewbacca is “killed.” And if that weren’t enough, the “Rey is Palpatine’s granddaughter” reveal could have been the film’s first kiss of death and the last of the Skywalker Saga. Ultimately, the film posits that Rey being Palpatine doesn’t matter since she chose her own name and family. But by adopting the last name Skywalker, she simply swaps one inherited name for another in what could hilariously read as the story of a woman carrying out the most elaborate identity theft scheme in the universe.

Is Disney bad at this? star wars? That question has been around for years and arose once again in the wake of The acolyte cancellation. The results are not conclusive: on the one hand, Andor It’s really good television, and other media like High Republic and various video games have been consistently good. At the same time, Disney can’t seem to get any kind of firm control on the film and television front: there hasn’t been a new movie in theaters since Raise came out, and every new announcement of one (or three) movies that are released too much what’s happening feels like an ongoing joke. Likewise, it’s a game of chance as to how a show will turn out, what cameos it will inevitably feature, and what kind of future it will have. The public seems to like the current broadcast. Star Wars: skeleton crew, But it is not yet known if he will go as far as the creators hope, or if his wings will be clipped and he will not be able to fulfill his promise, a problem that goes far beyond this franchise.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel; namely, Dave Filoni Mandalorian and Grogu movie in 2026 and a second season of Ahsoka, plus the second (and unfortunately last) season of Andor in April. Will the public be willing to take a chance again and see where this all goes? It’s easy to say “yes” and point to Marvel, which many have felt has had its strongest year since. Avengers: Endgame. But the MCU has yet to have a movie that openly broke the company. The Rise of Skywalker He did, and he’s about to pull some interesting new tricks up his sleeve. Yeah star wars You will get back to the same level… well, it will take some work and, more importantly, consistency and conviction.

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