I did not like Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. I had my reservations going into the theater around this time last year, true, but the fact is Star Wars Episode 9 just is not a good film. I'm fairly certain I'll get flak for that let's be real, but I don't care; Star Wars fans are just as toxic as Super Smash Brothers Melee fans.
I think this editorial should be prefaced by the statement that I am not a Star Wars fan. I appreciate the series and what it has done for Sci-Fi, I did like the original trilogy, and of course Jedi Knight II Jedi Outcast is one of my favorite FPS games of all time; while Star Wars Trilogy Arcade is a game I aughta revisit when arcades open back up. the fact is that there's something about Star Wars to like and nothing I say or do with challenge that status, especially given The Mandalorian.
however to understand Star Wars Episode 9, and why I feel Star Wars as a film franchise desperately needs a reboot, we have to go back a few years. Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, first major S'Wars film in a decade, first numbered S'Wars film since Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith (I mean you could've called it Star Wars Episode III: Fall of the Jedi and it would've made sense), and the first time we get to see Luke, Leia, and Han Solo; played by the original actors; in a theatrical film since 1983. The Force Awakens upon reflection was a good movie, and it had the potential to start a whole new line of Star Wars films with a whole new line of Star Wars fans and, potentially, create a whole new line of Star Wars schisms.
the decision by the Walt Disney Company, who bought the rights to Star Wars around that time, to nullify the events of the Extended Universe placing them in the Legends timeline and out of the events of the new canon timeline, in my opinion was shortsighted; but it meant that any and all future Star Wars content would have to be consistent and not confusing like the Legends timeline. course, this did mean we were stripped of the Rogue Squadron; the Shadows of the Empire novels, the Old Republic, and my mans Kyle Katarn; most badass Jedi scoundrel in the galaxy far far away, but it also meant that new stuff could come out and not be required reading for new games or something. Rogue Squadron, one of my favorite Star Wars trilogies, was based on a series of novels written by Michael A. Stackpole, and it did help to read the novels on which the games were based to get a better idea of why Luke Skywalker was flying with Wedge Antilles even though at this point he should be training his mind to be a Jedi Master; it was not required to understand the games. After all, Luke was already a gifted pilot; it ran in the family and he blew up the Death Star; and given that knowledge playing as Luke in a flight sim was a natural fit.
perhaps this is the most grievous error Disney has made with the Star Wars franchise. rather than making the books or alternative sources optional, the rights holders have made it so that supplemental material is necessary to understand the context of the canonical events. an easy instance I can make is referencing "stealing the death star plans".
there were in total, nine separate timelines as to how the Death Star plans were stolen, most of them in video game format. Star Wars X-Wing, Star Wars: Dark Forces, Star Wars Battlefront II by Pandemic Studios, Star Wars: Empire at War, Star Wars: Lethal Alliance, and Star Wars the Force Unleashed all featured some telling of how the Death Star was foiled by espionage; all of which were rendered non canon by the existence of Rogue One, a spinoff film that can best be described as Saving Private Skywalker. I mean, that's doing a disservice to Rogue One but I mean I haven't seen the film yet so what do I know.
the Disney canon is Episode I-IX and anything made after the Force Awakens. this inculdes ancillary works such as Star Wars Rebels, Solo: A Star Wars Story (the lowest grossing Star Wars film of all time) and The Mandalorian, as well as Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order by EA and Respawn Entertainment and Star Wars Squadrons, also from EA but this time by EA Motive. My opinion is that Disney wanted to keep this story straight for future generations, however that good idea and all it implied was undone by the existence of one particular game.
yes, we're going into Fortnite territory, and I'm gonna make it clear that I don't find Fortnite in and of itself terribly offensive. it's a solid game with solid mechanics and a solid unique selling point. do I believe it earned its pop culture status? yes. do I believe it should be its own metaverse that crosses over into various varieties of media? hell no.
the biggest issue I find with that approach is that it has the potential to make certain events exclusive for a period of time. with the advent of a literal drive-in movie theater within Fortnite, it does provide moviegoers with upcoming scenes from upcoming movies. when done right it can hype up a movie's release, or hell you can broadcast trailers from other games on the Epic Games Store, thus making the drive-in theater a 24hour Cinematech broadcast.
when done like what Disney did, you could hide critical information inside a trailer that can only be seen once before it gets uploaded to youtube by someone smart with enough sense of digital preservation. in this case it was that Emperor Palpatine / Darth Sidious from the first six movies was returning as the series' ultimate villain. They made a throwaway reference to it in the opening crawl of Ep 9 and I did not appreciate that.
at the end of the day though, I can't remember anything about Episode 9. I struggled to remember that Rey is Palp's clone's daughter and that she gets a post-game weapon. I barely even remember the fifteen billion Star Destroyers scene and why that was important. I remember things about Episode VIII for better or worse; and part of that was Luke making Adam Driver's Kylo Ren character look like a bitch.
every Star Wars movie has something memorable about it. I has Pod Racing and Darth Maul. II has the I hate sand monologue and the Yoda vs Dooku fight. III has the Obi Wan versus Anakin fight and Mace Windu getting yeeted. IV has the Death Star Siege and its implications, V has "I am your father" and the existence of Hoth, VI has Ewoks, the Endor speederbikes and Death Star II and all that implies; VII has Finn realizing that maybe being an Imperial sucks and also Kylo Ren was badass in that film. VIII has Luke fuckmothering Skywalker, the suicide mission at the start, and Carrie Fisher being Leia and honestly a cinnamon roll for the last time of circumstance in her life. hell even the spinoff titles have something notable.
in the end, that is perhaps the greatest failure of Ep 9. it's unmemorable as a Star Wars movie. it's just another science fiction/action film. we're dealing with the potential end of Star Wars films and you go out on an unmemorable note. one year on, I remember more and care more about Tron Legacy, a movie that came out nearly 10 years ago, than I do about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and that's a shame.
Web Sources:
Fortnite Live Star Wars Event Saturday December 14th ... (gamespace.com)
Star Wars: How the Death Star Plans Were Originally Stolen (screenrant.com)
Star Wars movies on ‘hiatus’ after Episode 9, says Disney - Polygon
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