The Rise Of Skywalker Spoiler-Free Impression

I have just returned from the 10 am showing of The Rise of Slywalker here in Germany, where the movie opened today. And I am here to tell you if you may or may not enjoy the movie, what kind of fan may enjoy the movie. And I will provide a very short first impression! This article is 100% spoiler-free, so click through for my brief impression!

The critics have mixed feelings, apparently

Before I begin and talk about what kind of fan may or may not enjoy the movie and whether or not you should maybe even avoid it, let me preface it by quickly telling you what kind of fan I am, that is, what I think about the other live action movies released so far. I hope this helps to better gauge my impression.

This is my ranking of the previous Star Wars live action movies:

1. A New Hope
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Rogue One
5. Return of the Jedi
6. Attack of the Clones
7. Solo
8. The Phantom Menace
9. The Force Awakens
10. The Last Jedi

As you can see I really like the prequels. And I don’t like the sequels as much, I think The Last Jedi was the weakest movie so far and its themes didn’t resonate with me. I do like the prequels despite their flaws, the acting, some of the special effects, some of the dialogue, because I love the story, the setting, the design and basically for the one reason that is most important, I think they are fun.

I don’t like the sequels as much, because while the effects may be ok, the acting generally pretty good and the dialogue more or less improved, I do not like the themes and the story. And story, setting, design and fun factor are more important to me than improved acting or dialogue.

Ok, so who may or may not enjoy the movie? And of course, remember, no one can tell really tell you if you will like something. It’s always your own opinion that counts, not someone else’s. I am merely trying to provide a rough guideline here!

• Reylos: in many ways the movie tries to appeal to Reylo fans, it is, in many ways, a Reylo movie. However, whether or not Reylos will like the movie is uncertain, Reylos will still want to see the movie, if Kylo and Rey is all that matters to you
• The Last Jedi and Rian Johnson fans: depending on how you try to justify certain things in the movie to yourself you may either feel The Rise of Skywalker at best makes The Last Jedi mostly irrelevant and at worst you may feel it throws The Last Jedi and Rian Johnson under the bus. You may also feel the movie pokes fun at The Last Jedi. If you genuinely liked the decisions made in The Last Jedi and its themes you may not like The Rise of Skywalker all that much, maybe not at all even
• Fans who loved The Force Awakens but hated The Last Jedi: The Force Awakens is the better movie. If you like JJ’s general approach you will be fine, most likely, but chances are you will like The Rise of Skywalker a bit less
• Fans who are critical of the sequels, its themes, the story, The Last Jedi and who may even believe Rey is a Mary Sue: Avoid this movie. Ask for a refund. You don’t want to see it. Never. Not even for free or on streaming. Watch Return of the Jedi instead.
• Casual fans: it’s Star Wars. With Star Wars music. And lightsabers. You may need to read a book or ten and maybe a few comics to fully understand what went on, but you may enjoy yourself!
• General moviegoers: the movie has explosions! But this is not Endgame, not even close. You may be completely lost during the movie unless you remember details from previous entries. Several things may completely fly over your head. You may feel a bit confused and lost, if you expect a final fight like in Endgame or so you will be disappointed, though

And my opinion?

JJ Abrams and Chris Terrio tried. But the movie, to me, is a resounding “meh”. It is convoluted, at times confusing, character motivations make little to no sense.

The movie feels like watching an episode of your favorite show, but you missed 5 episodes inbetween and you feel as if you should watch them first, only to find these episodes you think you missed don’t exist.

At best I would see this trilogy is terribly disjointed. TFA: ZIG, TLJ: ZAG: TROS: ZIG ZIG ZIG SPLOINK. If that makes sense.

I would rate TROS either somewhat above TLJ or maybe even below it. I cannot say really, I will have to think about it.

The only reason The Rise of Skywalker will not be talked about for the next two years is, that it’s the final movie in the trilogy. It’s over. Let’s look forward!

That’s all for now! The spoiler review is coming soon!

Keep the comments 100% spoiler free! You can discuss the movie once I post the spoiler-review in a short while, later today!

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