Everything I enjoyed about Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Now I’ve put into words why I was disappointed with The Rise of Skywalker and how it concludes this latest Star Wars trilogy, I want to focus on what I did enjoy about Episode 9.

*** Naturally, spoilers are ahead. ***

The core-group of heroes, together again

The Last Jedi helped the new trilogy’s heroes grow by splitting them up, but it was a shame they didn’t have much screentime together. The Rise of Skywalker makes the most of their reunion, basically dedicating the first of the film to showcasing the trio, together at last.

Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Issac are charming and have chemistry to spare, bouncing off each other really well during the film’s most haphazard stretch.

Babu Frikk

I mean, come on.

C-3PO

Anthony Daniels gets a lot of great lines during the first half of the film, which allows Threepio to be the most Threepio he’s been during the modern films.

Leia’s Death

I went over this in my other post, but Leia’s death is the best scene in the film. She uses all her strength to reach out to Kylo Ren, or rather her son Ben Solo, just as he’s about to kill Rey. In a moment of rage, Rey then uses his own lightsaber against him, plunging it into his chest.

Ben survives the encounter when Rey heals him, but Kylo Ren dies in this moment.

“I Know”

Shortly after, Han Solo appears to Ben as a memory. I’m not sure how I feel about the set up or the staging the scene, but the dialogue and delivery is fantastic. Riffing on Han’s final scene in The Force Awakens, it ends with Ben casting away his lightsaber and expressing love for his father, who of course already knows.

A rare moment of fan-service in the movie that serves a purpose.

Chewbacca learns about Leia’s death

My favourite parts of this film were all grouped together apparently. When he’s told Leia has passed, Chewbacca falls to his knees devastated and wails uncontrollably. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

Finn finds kinship

There are three interesting developments for Finn in this movie, and two of them I really liked. The one with the most potential comes on Kef Bir, where he runs into Jannah, the leader of a group of former stormtroopers who defected much like he did. He’s thrilled to meet this group and recruit them, and it puts his journey in a bit of context by reminding him where it all started.

Finn is force-sensitive?

There are a couple of hints that Finn is also sensitive to the force. While not explicitly stated if this is the case, I liked this little development because it was unexpected.

This may also tie to the third development, the reveal that he had something personal he wanted to reveal to Rey in what he thinks are their final moments. Was he going to reveal he’s force-sensitive, or more likely, was he going to declare his love for her? We don’t find out, so it never really matters.

Wedge!

Dennis Lawson makes a brief return as Wedge Antilles and it is fantastic.

Emperor Palpatine’s design (before he’s revived)

In the first encounter with his (sigh) granddaughter, the Emperor is attached to a robotic device not too dissimilar to GLaDOS in Valve’s Portal games. Presumably keeping the Emperor alive in his weakened state, the look is striking and cool.

The less said about his prequel-tastic look post-revival the better.

Horny Poe

I do not need to elaborate on this.