We are almost in 2020: therefore nothing prevents me from saying that we have now thoroughly digested the shared universes, the overall visions, the "cartoonish" structure applied to cinema. Let me explain: Marvel and the like have now accustomed us that different films with different directors can have a common thread capable of maintaining consistency with the shared universe without finding strong limitations and therefore having ample room for maneuver. Unfortunately, however, during this lesson the people in charge of working on the new Star Wars trilogy were unjustified absent, since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a gigantic legalized ret-con: for heaven's sake, nothing striking, we do not find scenes in which two lines of dialogue modify something that happened previously, but it is clear that the work done in this last episode was more a damage control. Still, to make an omelette you have to break some eggs.
Duality
The Star Wars saga has always had an intrinsic duality made up of various aspects: light side and dark side, good and evil, fans of the saga and haters, well-structured plots and poorly written plots. In short, a medal made up of two diametrically opposed faces. Even the last trilogy, defined as a sequel trilogy, has an intrinsic duality: on the one hand, the tradition that we find in the idea of J. J. Abrams, on the other hand, the creative “courage” of Rian Johnson. The direct consequence is therefore quite easy to guess: Abrams ne Skywalker's rise he used all his writing skills to bring the saga back to the old canons, both in quality and in themes. While this may sound like a good thing, it still has its downside.
In fact, the film opens with a rather confusing first half hour in which some information, hastily proposed to the viewer, makes them understand some dynamics and fix some choices made in The Last Jedi. In short, with a stroke of the sponge the courage of the previous film is canceled in favor of the classic, the old wins over the new. Although this may leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, in the end, however, on the screen is proposed bread for the teeth of the fans of the saga, something very understandable for them and above all akin to what they are looking for. In this, therefore, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker from a sop to those who see the film, which despite everything is quite welcome. The rest of the film unfolds between travels, shootings, lightsaber fights and revealing moments, all masterfully wedged in a crescendo that culminates with the finale, not just of the film but of the whole saga.
The force
I happened to hear about a serious writing error, something thematically out of place and objectively wrong, defining it as "the midichlorians" of that particular product. In short, the Force is something transcendental, and never as in this film had it been talked about in this way: despite 8 films they have accustomed us to think of it as a thing split between good and evil and capable of giving certain powers, here everything comes rewritten giving even more mystery to this thing. Ability different, a faint demarcation between the two sides and, above all, many concepts related to the soul and free will burst into the plot without arousing suspicion, whispering this information to the spectators in a natural way to the point that it seems to have always been there. Certainly, it is decidedly different from the more “physiological” vision of The Phantom Menace.
And if this can be mirrored in Jedi, Sith, Order Process e Anime, it also becomes intuition, trust, faith in something that we cannot touch but only perceive. The transcendental vision of the Force in this film comes very close to Lucas' original idea, and that final scene from The Last Jedi becomes the sole survivor of Johnson's vision, a symbol towards the future of a series that we will surely see again, only not anymore. in the shoes of Skywalker.
The Cunning
Many define nostalgia as a weapon, although I think it's actually more of a viewer's weak point: Abrams Books he knows that point well and makes sure to hit repeatedly, in a sly way, until you KO you on the cinema seat. Historical characters, cameos, dialogue lines and much more will make you understand, from the first minutes and throughout the 2 hours and 20 of the film, that this will be the last film you will see with the heroes you have always loved. And if in the end Luke we had already said goodbye The Last Jedi, and while the characters of the trilogy prequel we had left them behind, in reality, like a Pandora's box, everything comes back to mind as an avalanche of shared experiences: we are talking about a saga with more than 40 years on our shoulders, which has had its ups and downs but which in the end it made us dream of those worlds beyond the earth, those adventures that took place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
We have deliberately omitted every plot detail, even the synopsis, because we will talk about that in the next few weeks between articles and videos. But we can certainly say that an end is never easy to assimilate, and that even if those spaceships, those swords, those noises and those masterful music by John Williams make us feel warm, we knew it would all be over. This is the magic of the film: despite cleverly canceling some courageous choices to return to a more "classic" setting, in the end it is like seeing old friends and saying goodbye for one last time. Sometimes courage also lies in putting aside courage itself: sometimes, you need to know how to say enough, put a point and retrace your steps, sacrificing something for the lesser evil. This lesser evil is a beautiful film, a last paragraph for a saga that one can only love, and like all things, accept its defects. Undoubtedly the trilogy sequel could be managed much better, perhaps by choosing a well-defined path, but if we take into account the different heads, then it is obvious how Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker both the only ending, the best we could have expected and the time to close with these characters and move on. The galaxies are immense, past and future of this fantastic universe await us. May the Force be with us.
