Hello readers and fellow movie lovers! I wanted to do something a little different instead of a typical review that I usually do. I recently (ish) went and saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker with a group of friends of mine, and then shortly after I subscribed to Disney plus and made a day of just watching the entire filmography of the Star Wars saga. Something just got stuck in my mind after doing a full run of the series: the sequel trilogy. The controversial, fan-dividing, multi dimensional sequel trilogy that was made by Disney needs to be addressed. I just wanted to log onto Medium, share my thoughts, and hope that I can make some sense out of this trilogy for some people. So sit back, read at your personal pleasure and pace, and let’s dig into this.
Star Wars, for those who might be wondering, is definitely something that I grew up watching and enjoying, particularly the prequel trilogy. As I got older, I explored the depths of the original trilogy and naturally fell in love with them. Watching the lightsaber battles when I was a kid was an absolute blast, and as I got older, I loved that I was able to indulge in the nostalgia of it all, as well as unravel the real story behind the (at the time) six movie series. This series, to put simply, is magical and incredibly meaningful to me in a lot of ways, but this sequel trilogy introduced an entire new vision to the story, one that some people liked, and some people disliked.
Here’s the thing. I think that, in this moment in time, Star Wars is very difficult to talk about, because they always have some sort of legacy. In the early 2000’s, the prequel trilogy was absolutely abhorred by fans, and George Lucas was shunned because of it. Now, it seems that there a lot of people who can only praise the prequel trilogy.
Something about Star Wars that I think is so unfortunate is that people try to look for someone or something to blame on why Star Wars “isn’t the same anymore". Star Wars is Star Wars, nothing will ever change that. Sometimes it’s not going to be very good, but it’s a vastly extensive franchise that will continue to produce more movies, shows, spinoffs, or whatever, and it will not be made to our exact worldview and/or vision from when we were kids.
How I view this trilogy is as follows:
- The Force Awakens: Set up
- The Last Jedi: More set up
- The Rise of Skywalker: Sequel to The Force Awakens
I mean, if you really think about it, JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson seemed to have two totally different visions for this story, and given that Abrams directed the first and third movies, the trilogy as a whole felt hollow to me. The story just didn’t conclude into a cohesive whole, even though the movies themselves we’re entertaining enough to watch. The Force Awakens was really riding on the hype of the fanbase and introduced the fun part of Star Wars again to an entire new generation, which I admit was exciting at the time. As The Last Jedi crept around the corner, I felt it did two things:
- Created more phenomenon/spectacle moments for the lore of Star Wars
- Ripped apart what the original trilogy intended in its legacy (although I think The Rise of Skywalker did this even more-so)
With the release of The Rise of Skywalker last year, it tried to conclude a more cohesive narrative that was almost non-existent. The biggest thing I think it has going for it is its big revealing moments for certain aspects of the characters. Speaking of which, I felt underwhelmed by most of the characters introduced in this series. Rey was incredibly underwritten, Poe didn’t seem to have much of an arc whatsoever, and what we know of Finn is that he was a stormtrooper and now he’s running around yelling at everything. Palpatine (though I enjoy Ian McDiarmid) in The Rise of Skywalker… kind of but also kind of didn’t work for me, it felt a little out of left field and I just don’t think it was the best call. I think my biggest gripe about The Rise of Skywalker was in fact Palpatine being alive. It unwraps the redemption of Anikin Skywalker/Darth Vader in Return of the Jedi, crosses out the whole “he’s the chosen one" fallacy, and opens a can of worms that I feel could’ve been avoided. There’s a lot of things that I could nitpick on, and I know I sound incredibly anti-Star Wars for even saying these things, but I’m going to argue that I’m completely not.
What I think happened with this trilogy, is there was no concrete roadmap. To me, they very much seemed like they were just making Star Wars for the sake of making Star Wars, and not much beyond it. Hear me out before I get ripped apart; There are several aspects of this trilogy that I thoroughly enjoy. Visually, new and improved Star Wars is stunning to look at. The color pallet is crisp, the effects are sharp, the choreography is… (well, come on, I grew up with the prequels, let’s be honest). The acting to me is completely admirable and well executed, and, if I’m being honest, I feel dirty just even nitpicking Star Wars. This is a franchise that is meant to be fun entertainment for everyone, not a political debate in comment sections and conversations. So, I am not “hating” on Disney’s Star Wars, I just think that this entire trilogy (plot-wise) was very convoluted and messy due to a lack of vision, continuity, and mistakes upon the direction of the filmmaking.
To wrap it up the best I can, I want to ask a very important question regarding this trilogy. What was it about? This is the question that has been stuck in my mind ever since I walked out of the theater from seeing The Rise of Skywalker. Is it about Rey? Yeah absolutely, but isn’t also about Kylo Ren? Yep, that too. What about the message that it’s conveying?… Do you see what I’m getting at here? The whole pie is made up of many ingredients that just… don’t go together very well, even though the individual ingredients are okay on their own. I said this at the beginning and I’ll say it again, Star Wars is indeed special to me, it always has been, and I just don’t like the fact that thinking about it, talking about with friends (who all have different opinions by the way), is stressful. This shouldn’t feel like an international debate, but it does for some reason, and I can see it in the fanbase. Did I enjoy going to the theater with my friends and family to watch this trilogy unfold before my eyes? Absolutely, wouldn’t take back any of it. Do I think that this story was absolutely necessary in the cannonicoty of Star Wars? Not necessarily.
That is the end of my rant. Thank you so much for reading, and may the force be with you ✌
