The Rise of Skywalker’s Climax Is Terrible
The final film in the Skywalker Saga misses the mark
It’s been over half a year since the final film in the sequel trilogy released, and the more time passes the more angry it has made me. The film has made many questionable narrative choices but none more so than the climax.
It’s Dumb
Let’s just reiterate what happens at the end of the film real quick before I complain about it. Palpatine draws Rey and Ben (formerly Kylo) together so that he can use their dyad bond to absorb their power and become whole again. At that point, Palpatine no longer needed Rey to kill him for some Sith mumbo jumbo and could rule the galaxy himself once more. Fully rejuvenated, Palpatine sends up a massive bolt of force lightning directed toward an armada of Resistance ships fighting it out in the sky above them, crippling the Resistance ships severely.
At pretty much the same time, Rey is visited by many of the Jedi we’ve seen before through various voices in her head, which leads to the whole “I am all the Sith vs I am all the Jedi” confrontation. Rey overpowers Palpatine and disintegrates him.
That last part is what truly boggles my mind. Palpatine shoots lightning at Rey, Rey pulls out a second lightsaber, and then because of holding up two lightsabers in an x formation, Palpatine’s lightning bounced back at him.
That’s right. Palpatine killed himself.
I’m not sure what JJ Abrams was going for here. This isn’t fitting for one of the most well-known villains in film. It makes Palpatine look like he’s not intelligent for not turning his lightning off. Not only is it not satisfying in the moment, it just flat out betrayed Palpatine’s characterization. A brilliant schemer who orchestrated a war on both sides, bamboozled everybody, used the Dark side effectively to cloud the entire Jedi Order and used foresight to lay an impressive trap on the rebels in ROTJ.
Where was any of this intelligence in TROS? Because he manipulated Kylo? Hardly. Faking voices is easy. Palpatine died a dimwit and to be honest, I can’t look at the character the same way again. Thanks, JJ.
It’s not a Star Wars Climax
In the original trilogy, Luke could not find it within himself to strike down his father, cast his lightsaber aside, and subjected himself to Palpatine’s punishment. Darth Vader, witnessing his son getting electrocuted, subjected himself to that lightning and tossed his master down the shaft nearest them. It was not a testament of greater power that won the day but a testament of love. A love that a father had for his son.
George would continue this theme in the PT, when in the climax of ROTS, Anakin falls prey to his arrogance and loses three of his four limbs to Obi-wan’s more strategic placement. Just like in the OT, the deciding factor of the fight wasn’t power, because if it was then Anakin would have surely won. It also continued the strong themes of love, as Obi-wan didn’t have the heart to kill the one he believed to be his brother. Anakin groveled on the ground screaming “I hate you!” while Obi-wan cried for him. It’s true that the PT was written later on and that this had to happen, but ROTS still did the betrayal of Anakin well.
Star Wars has a special repeating theme:
Kill someone in anger and you will become evil.
Ultimately, a Jedi’s place is to use the Force for defense and never for attack. This is why Rey only holds up her lightsabers and Palpatine kills himself, because if Rey ended up killing him then it wouldn’t be a SW climax. Wait, so it is a SW climax then? It does follow this rule. I still don’t think so. This is because JJ approached this like he was swimming in a kiddie pool. The climaxes of the previous two trilogies worked in this manner because of the emotional weight behind their choices.
The only thing distinguishing Palpatine and Rey is that they’re on opposite sides of a binary and that one is inevitably more powerful than the other. Rey is of his blood, but the trilogy has had so little consistency that even though this was revealed an hour earlier in the movie, that nobody has any emotional investment. It exists to explain her powers, not to improve the dynamics between characters. Rey HAS to find a way to win without striking down Palpatine because that MUST happen. Good MUST win. There’s nothing natural about this.
Star Wars has always thematically left the story up to the relationships of the characters over their power levels. Magic systems are only tools for good character writing and interactions. This is why Kylo needed to remain the main antagonist in the final film of the trilogy because their relationship was the only thing the audience had any tie to. With Snoke dead, the same plot obviously can’t happen, but Rey figuring out how to win the day while remaining a Jedi would be an interesting watch. Can’t say the same for TROS.
Originally posted on facetsoffantasy.net.
