This will be the final word in the story of Skywalker.
And so we come to it - the final episodic Star Wars movie EVER... or at least until things have settled down. That may take a long, long time. 2015's The Force Awakens was largely embraced by the franchise fandom, but two years later The Last Jedi sliced opinion into two irreconsilible halves more effectively than Kylo Ren could have managed with his coolly impractical light-sabre. This time it fell to J J Abrams, writer-director of the trilogy-starter, to pacify the disgruntled, unite conflicting viewpoints, keep the studio executives happy and (most importantly of all) deliver a great film. Talk about being screwed before you begin...
Look, let's not get off on the wrong foot here. There's much to enjoy in The Rise of Skywalker and overall I had a good experience - possibly because I'm not a mega-invested long-time Star Wars fan. But is it the film to pull the trilogy together into a cohesive whole? I only wish I could answer yes...
Plotwise the movie begins with a massive, perplexing leap from what's gone before. A new-old threat has made itself known in the galaxy far-far-away - even while the First Order continues to assert its power - and the surviving members of the Resistance are on a mission to find a thing that will help them locate said threat. Meanwhile the eternally conflicted Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is seeking Rey (Daisy Ridley) either to kill her or turn her to the Dark Side. Planet-demonlishing death-rays are nearing completion, while an effort to swell the good guys' ranks seems to be going unheeded. Basically the nasty is about to hit the galactic fan, while our heroes flouder to respond. The much talked-about 'hope' seems in short supply and they're running on pure resolve.
Okay, let me deal with the problems first, all of them boiling down to narrative issues, most of which were built in by Day One of the Skywalker shoot. This entire trilogy turns out to have been planned with little regard as to where it was ultimately going. The Force Awakens was a joyous re-assertion of the franchise mythology, The Last Jedi (in my opinion) a wickedly entertaining subversion of that same mythos, leading the story off in an intriguing new direction. However a host of fans were incensed by the latter, bitching to the extent that the studio - I'm assuming - insisted on reversal tactics for the final film. Let's put the story back on a conventional track, they decided - re-introduce a classic Star Wars villain, reinstate the conventional lore and recoup the followers we lost last time around. Oh and let's throw in some nostalgic cameos (here's looking at you, Lando) that add nothing beyond naked fan service. That'll set things right. Yeah... or perhaps it'll serve to hash things up completely.
There are two lessons here that movie-makers at this level really should have learnt long since. The first is - have a plan. You know, one whereby individual writer-directors communicate sufficiently for their individual trilogy segments to mesh and where all the key players know, roughly speaking, what end-point they're working towards. Two - once you've struck a course, show the conviction to follow it through. Don't - please don't - pander to fans at the risk of narrative integrity. Decide on your story and then tell it, should the galaxy implode.
The producers of the new Star Wars trilogy abandoned both these rules with the result that The Rise of Skywalker spends way too much time re-setting the story and rushing its characters around the galactic chessboard, while it should be pausing to build on what's already been established. Central players from the previous film are sidelined (presumably due to poor fan response - grrrrrrrrr), while new ones are introduced but not properly developed. Meanwhile developments in certain character relations are hinted at like in previous films, but remain frustratingly unexplored by the end. Story-wise this is - in a way that its predecessors avoided - one cluttered and messy film.
All that said, there is much I love unreservedly about The Rise of Skywalker, to the extent that I'll still want to possess my own copy. The production design, so impressive in the previous two episodes, attains breathtaking heights of beauty here, enhanced by cinematography that's stayed uniformly sharp throughout the whole saga. It all looks so magnificent, the locations so solid and convincing (despite lavish use of CGI), that it's nothing short of a privilege to hang out there, more so with John Williams' evocative themes swelling around you. The cast play out their with similar conviction, whatever the deficiencies of the plotting. Finn and Poe (Oscar Isaac) have forged an enjoyable bromance and Chewie is never less than lovable, while the Rey/Kylo relationship is simply the best reason to watch the movie. The chemistry between these two frenemies sizzles like the dazzling red and blue of their light-sabres and the camera is besotted with them both. No joke - the scenes between this couple are the sexiest thing in cinema this year.
Add to that the droid action (I can never get enough of BB-8 barrelling around spacecraft and planet surfaces), the masterfully choreographed action and the touching way in which the late Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia is incorporated into the drama and there is a huge amount here that I will gladly dive back into for a second watch.
You know I'm even content with how the movie resolved its central character journeys, while the final shot is a moment of understated perfection. However all of that can't counter the main flaw - a lack of a unifying narrative vision across the three episodes, something which becomes painfully apparent in this final one. That'd be a shameful shortcoming under any film-making circumstances. But with hundreds of top-quality creatives feeling the Force and producing work nothing short of sublime, it's nigh on unforgivable. Frankly the Jedi and the Sith both deserved better.
Gut Reaction: Perplexed and even mildly bored, until the central character dynamic drew me in and the bravura visuals production values swept me away. The whole thing's so flipping gorgeous, I couldn't help but submit.
Memorable Moment: Rey and Kylo's blazing, water-logged showdown. Just damn.
Ed's Verdict: 7/10. Despite how damaged the underlying story structure is, this scores high for how formidably well-made it is in physical terms. Skywalker scales amazing heights of practical film-craft, even while its narrative crumbles.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. Gandalf - The Lord of the Rings
Happy New Year! Welcome to 2019 and a whole new shining vista of Filmic promise. As ever on January 1st I'm looking forward to specific cinematic offerings that'll be on view over the next twelve months. (Yes, Gandalf - I've already decided what I'll be doing with much of my time between now and December 31st.) Of course there'll be delicious surprises along the way - indy and world cinema gems that haven't received a lot of media attention so far, and some titles that have yet to secure a release date. But as of right now, here are the fifteen films landing in UK theatres this year that have got my interest the most peaked...
1. Stan and Ollie (11th January)
This is a long time coming. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy deserved a movie tribute long since, but maybe it's good we were made to wait till Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly were there to take the roles. It looks like perfect casting, and the choice to focus on the pair's post-Hollywood theatrical tour of the UK should make this as poignant as it is funny.
High Hopes: A warm-hearted nostalgia piece that gets what made this screen double-act so sublime?
2. Mary Queen of Scots (18th January)
Saoirse Ronan is the doomed Mary (it's history, that's no spoiler) and Margot Robbie is her royal sister Elizabeth. Their story has been told before, but this time around the screenplay is based on John Guy's revisionist history, which paints a different and more nuanced relationship between the two queens - or so I've been led to believe. A tragic tale of thwarted sixteenth century girl-power, it seems. At any rate I can't wait to find out.
High Hopes: One seriously riveting double-act in Ronan and Robbie, and some complex and powerful historical drama?
3. If Beale Street Could Talk (18th January)
Barry Jenkins wrote and directed my favourite film of 2016 in Moonlight, so I'm fascinated to see if he can repeat the trick with this new one. Based on James Baldwin's novel of love in fraught circumstances, it's already attracting lots of award season buzz, and that beautiful black and white poster suggests an intense and moving experience.
High Hopes: So - an intense and moving experience then?
4. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (1st February)
Melissa McCarthy is in need of some forgiveness following the disappointments of Life of the Party and The Happytime Murders last year (her natural funniness showed through in the former of those, but as a film it didn't work at all). This project is giving her an opportunity to prove her dramatic chops Steve Carrell-style, and with none other than Brit treasure Richard E. Grant. Her best comedy work has a real dramatic edge to it, so this will be nothing if not fascinating.
High Hopes: Serious chemistry from this unexpected and intriguing Grant/MelMac combination?
5. Fighting With My Family (14th February)
Stephen Merchant is writer/director of this 'based-on-a-true-story' - ehhh - story, having been talked into the project by Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. The fighting is literal and takes place in a wrestling ring - it's a family tradition you see. Nick Frost and Lena Headey play the parents, while their rising wrestling-star daughter is played by ever-rising acting-star Florence Pugh (see my review of 2016's Lady Macbeth). The Rock is in it as well, as himself. Got to be seen then.
High Hopes: A star-making turn from indie darling Pugh, and some well-turned comedy moments, in and out of the ring?
6. Happy Death Day 2U (14th February)
One of the unexpected delights of 2017 was Happy Death Day, effectively Groundhog Day reworked as a slasher movie. The delight came from how funny it was, chiefly due to Jessica Rothe's performance as the persecuted, repeatedly dying Tree Gelbman; her transformation from nightmare sorority girl to bad-ass heroine was both comic and cheer-worthy. Director Christopher Landon claims to have a great idea for the sequel and the original cast is back, so...
High Hopes: More macabre but strangely good-natured high-jinx in a follow-up that serves to enhance the original rather than crap all over it?
7. Captain Marvel (8th March)
Marvel Studios are finally doing it - basing a super-hero film entirely around a female lead. (Their rivals at DC managed it almost two years back with Wonder Woman.) Gender politics aside, Captain Marvel will tie into the Avengers: Infinity War cliffhanger in some intriguing way and is all set to revolutionise the MCU. Plus the trailer is terrific. As far as long-term planning goes, no one does it better than Marvel.
High Hopes: An entertaining and inventive origins story in its own right, plus a barnstorming performance from Bree Larson as the new Cap?
8. Us (15th March)
Get Out was the directorial debut of comedian/actor/writer Jordan Peele. It was also one of the most original and attention-grabbing movies of 2017, taking generic horror ideas and twisting them into something provocative and politically confrontational. Us is his follow-up - once again with a generic-sounding premise and a teaser campaign suggesting it'll be anything but. Plus it stars 12 Years a Slave/Black Panther actress Lupita Nyong'o in the lead. Sold.
High Hopes: A worthy Get Out follow-up that cements Peele's status as a modern mainstream auteur?
9. Avengers: Endgame (26th April)
Avengers: Infinity War ended in nothing short of apocalyptic devastation. It'll take one hell of a satisfying follow-up to salvage the mess into which the heroes (and all of the universe) was plunged. The Russo Brothers are in charge, however, along with their long-time writing team, and we wondered this time last year if they could pull off Infinity War. In case you missed it, they did. So fingers crossed and brace yourself for one hell of a ride.
High Hopes: Popcorn greatness???
10. Rocketman (24th May)
Bohemian Rhapsody copped criticism from certain quarters for being too sanitised and generic an example of the music biopic. (I enjoyed it for what it was - a glossy celebration of Freddie Mercury and Queen.) Here we have Taron Egerton as the young, talented, flamboyant, excess-embracing Elton John - an opportunity to truly embrace the madness along with the music. Well the soundtrack will be great if nothing else...
High Hopes: Something a bit more impressionistic, a bit less by-the-numbers than BoRap, plus a Remy Malick-level performance by Egerton?
11. Godzilla: King of Monsters (31st May)
2018 had its share of colossal and colossally stupid monster movies (Rampage to its credit made me laugh - a lot). King of the Monsters promises to be very different, following on as it does with 2014's beautifully made and uncharacteristically smart Godzilla. Anticipation is stoked not just by the creatures - which look properly spectacular - but by an eminently impressive human cast headed up by Sally Hawkins, Vera Farmiga and Stranger Things' breakout star Millie Bobby Brown. I am Kujira - hear me roar.
High Hopes: All the spectacle of Rampage and The Meg put together, with an actual grown-up screenplay?
12. Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (26th July)
Here's a divisive phrase - 'the new movie from Quentin Tarantino'. Want to make it more divisive? Add - 'concerning the Manson Family murders' (among other stuff). Tarantino is the Godfather of contemporary cinematic cool; his style and subject-choices have influenced numerous other film-makers (to varying degrees of success). The deliberately exploitative nature of his movies raises hackles along with champagne glasses. But with a cast of surnames including Pitt, DiCaprio, Robbie and Pacino, how can you not take an interest?
High Hopes: Something that's challenging for sure, but that treats the subject-matter with a touch of gravitas?
13. IT: Chapter 2 (6th September)
Bring on this one! 2017's first IT chapter was an irresistible blend of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Stand By Me. You ended up rooting loudly for its juvenile heroes, as they faced down Pennywise the psychopathic clown along with every other fear-rooted guise in which he manifested himself. This time around the youngsters have grown up to become familiar faces like James McAvoy and Jessica Chastain - and they're all going to have to return to their childhood home of Derry, Maine. IT/Pennywise/the embodiment of their darkest fears is back. Be a fun kind of afraid.
High Hopes: A second chapter to match the first, thereby delivering the definitive adaptation of Stephen King's horror classic (no disrespect to Tim Currie)?
14. The Irishman (TBC)
Martin Scorsese returns to the crime genre with which he's most strongly associated (despite all else he's done), with this story of real-life mob hitman Frank Sheeran. De Niro, Pesci and Keitel are all back working with the director, and Al Pacino is there as well - the first time he and Scorsese have worked together. Steve Zaillian (Schindler's List) wrote the screenplay, so all the stars of movie greatness seem to be aligning on this one.
High Hopes: It'll live up to say 75%-plus of all that potential?
15. Star Wars Episode IX (?th December)
The Last Jedi succeeded in splitting the Star Wars fan base more effectively than a well-aimed light-sabre stroke. Some embraced it as one of the best episodes to date, while others raged against it an act of fandom betrayal. (I was on the 'love' side, but I'm not a long-time franchise aficionado, so what do I know?) J. J. Abrams, who kick-started the new Star Wars era back in 2015, is writer/director once more, and it falls to him to rebalance the force, bringing happiness to Skywalker devotees worldwide. Good luck, mate. Seriously.
High Hopes: A miracle of a final chapter that reunites fans of all stripes, while not sacrificing the integrity of the previous film? (Or failing that, a damn good end-of-year space-romp?)
