I *finally* got around to seeing Rise of Skywalker this weekend. After decades of being a fan, seeing all the movies from Empire through the prequels to Clone Wars to Rogue One in the theater on Day One, Disney has managed the impossible: making me go “meh” and waiting a month to see the latest offering. In the faint chance that there’s anyone still uncertain about whether or not to go, I’ll say this: it’s not as bad as “Last Jedi.” But that is a phenomenally low bar. TLJ and Solo set expectations so low that Rise could well be the most hideously steaming pile of dung ever to have trained chimps smear across the movie screen, but it just comes across as something that a large number of skilled and talented folks worked very hard on just for a paycheck. The acting is ok, but the story is straight out of a video game and the visual effects are basically just Lucasfilm shaking their box of existing digital assets out onto the screen and saying “eh, I guess that’ll do.”
It seemed to be very much *not* an effort to wrap up a story in the best and most satisfying way possible, but instead simply an effort to nail the coffin closed and dump it in the hole so that they can get on with other things. The film makers are no doubt as sick of the property as the fans are.
Entertainingly, the long-time fans of Star Wars including old farts like myself dislike this movie a lot less than a lot of new fans, the ones who came on board with Rey-For-Pay and company. Us olds are annoyed that these movies crapped upon the legacy characters and story; the latest generation of fangirls seem upset that their preferred romantic pairings didn’t happen. As an example, take this video someone shot of the last scene. There are a number of very vocal female-type persons in the audience who *really* don’t like what’s happening:
By all accounts “The Mandalorian” is some high-quality Star Wars entertainment product, proving that good Star Wars *can* be made today. It just needs the right people helming it. People who understand and *like* the franchise.