So here we are, the journey that began with The Force Awakens has reached its end, and what a journey it has been. Whereas just a few years ago, Star Wars was a bastion of hope and nostalgic joy, for many, the intervening years as seen a complete downfall of this once beloved and respected series. I'm not one of those people but I'm not an idiot either, I have my issues with The Last Jedi and Solo, despite liking both of those films, and a lot of the issues I had with them have festered over the years, not enough to kill the Star Wars dream, at least for me, but I, even with my new found love for this series after The Force Awakens, could tell something wasn't right. Then the trailer for The Rise of Skywalker dropped and it revealed that Emperor Palpatine was returning, and more than anything else, I was curious as to how a character whose death carried so much weight in the original trilogy on a thematic level could be brought back at all, let alone if his return would make sense. I've seen this film three times now and luckily I've mellowed a lot on it, because the first time I saw it, it really pissed me off, and I will now explain to you why.
The film's reintroducing of Palpatine is gotten out of the way immediately, with the film's opening crawl establishing that Palpatine is back, because that's dramatic, before Kylo Ren flies out to Exegol to meet him. This opening sequence demonstrates one of the film's greatest strengths; it's presentation, because it is an absolutely beautiful film, even more beautiful than The Last Jedi, in fact. On the flip side however, it also demonstrates one of the film's weaknesses, Palpatine himself. His return isn't really explained, which wouldn't be as much of a problem if his return was established or foreshadowed in The Last Jedi, which it wasn't. Instead we get Palpatine just showing up and giving Kylo Ren a massive fleet of fully crewed and fully operational Star Destroyers, which he somehow built without anyone noticing, and we're just supposed to buy that he's even still alive after Darth Vader threw him to his death and then the ship he was on was blown apart and left to rot in the sea. It really was difficult for me to get over this the first time I saw the film, because it just stinks of damage control, like the writers had a plan for Kylo Ren and after The Last Jedi killed Snoke, they needed the next best thing, and Kylo Ren's ark is one of the best things about this film, so I suppose it would pay off if Palpatine's return made sense and didn't undermine the ending of Return of the Jedi, which it does. 
On the plus side, however, there are a lot of things in this film I like, and one of those things is the characters. Even after all this time, I never saw Rey as a Mary Sue, and I still wouldn't in this film were it not for one simple reason that treads into spoiler territory, but she can do something in this film that no Jedi or Sith could do in any of the previous films, this thing was mentioned in Revenge of the Sith, but it was talked about as if it were a legend, no Force users in the films have used it before, but Rey can, and that's something I don't like. Her story in this film is ok, the film's wisely retcons her origins after The last Jedi threw them in the trash, and were it established in The Last Jedi, who her parents really are could have been a really cool twist, because it actually is, and it's something I desperately want to love. Finn and Poe are given less to do in this film, which is a shame, but a lot of what worked about them in The Force Awakens still works here, these are likable characters, even if they are hopelessly overshadowed by Rey, because she's the last hope, don't you know. One thing I'm not a fan of however is the love triangle element, simply because of how the film repeatedly robs Finn of chances to tell Rey something, which is almost certainly I love you, but this is always played for laughs and he never gets to say it, so why even bother. And how Poe is awkwardly shoved in there doesn't feel as genuine as it should because as far as we've seen in these films, Poe and Rey hardly know each other.
All the important original trilogy characters make an appearance in this film too, and to the film's credit, their handling of Leia and their closing of her story was done really well in my opinion, and Luke Skywalker acknowledging that he was wrong to run from his fear is an obvious attempt to clean up some of Rian Johnson's mess, as is him saying a Jedi's weapon should be treated with respect. Lando's in the movie, but he doesn't really do much, helping them out of a tight spot in the first act and coming to the rescue in the finale, and as usual, Chewie and the droids are along for the ride as well, but here's where we encounter another big issue. This film seems to have an issue with fake out deaths; first 'killing' Chewbacca, then undoing it a scene later, then later 'killing' C3P0, only for him to be fine again once they get back to base. At one point they even 'kill' Kylo Ren, only for him to be fixed up again in literally the same scene. Like Leia getting thrown out into space in The Last Jedi, it feels like this film's too scared to actually kill people, which is kind of annoying when it keeps happening like this. It's also kind of ironic that the film keeps doing this when it's main villain is a character that conclusively and thematically died in Return of the Jedi, but has returned seemingly for the sake of fan service and a need to have a bigger bad in place of Snoke. The film throws in a few new players as well, but they're even more of a mixed bag than the old ones.
Along their adventure, they find a droid who is really adorable, they find a clan of First Order defectors on Endor, and after two films of being mentioned in passing, the Knights of Ren finally show up, and are given barely anything to do besides look cool, which they don't really, and eventually get their arses kicked in the finale. Then there's a new First Order dick for our heroes to deal with after General Hux became a push over, which is yet another issue I have with this film's story, because at a point in the film, Hux makes a decision that's completely out of the blue and his motivations for it are about as childish and silly as I think you can get, and it's a decision that results in him being straight up replaced by new First Order dick. This is all standard Star Wars fair, but none of these new faces are that memorable when up against the big hitters the original trilogy and the small hitters of this sequel trilogy. Really though, the only character in this film that gets anything close to a satisfying ending is Kylo Ren, and even then, the film straight up ruins the moment. I really mean it ruins the moment too, as of all the things we didn't like about this film, me and the friend that I saw it with first were most pissed off by that thing that happens, I know how unhelpful that sounds but I'm sure you can figure it out. I'm sure you can also figure out my issue with the way the film ends; it's probably not surprising to know that the film ends on Tatooine, but what happens on Tatooine, or rather, who's there and who isn't really annoys me, it takes the one complete ark of this trilogy and does it a disservice.
A lot like The Last Jedi however, while Rise of Skywalker has an impressive number of narrative shortcomings, I'd say even more than its predecessor, it also has a shit ton of scenes that are just awesome. Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds is like this, and YouTube reviewer Chris Stuckmann said of that film that it has a bunch of scenes that are great to watch in isolation, but don't really come together in a film, and for me, that is Rise of Skywalker. This film has so many moments that I love, moments of action, moments of character conflict, quieter moments, scenes that are just plain awesome. For example, there's a scene where Rey and Kylo Ren are having a conversation using the Force and it breaks out into a Lightsaber fight, that sequence is cool as hell. There's a cameo in the film that is easily, undoubtedly the best scene in the film, one that pays homage to the new and the old while wrapping up this trilogy's most compelling character ark. And there are a few moments throughout that are just visually insane, like the opening sequence on Exegol with its fleet of hundreds of Star Destroyers rising out of the ground and looming in formation against a dark, stormy sky, back lit by ominous flashes of lighting. Or how about a moment in the same scene where Kylo Ren wonders through the ruins of Exegol, Sith statues hundreds of feet high towering over him as the same ominous lightning flashes and shrieks in the distance. How about the inevitable moment hope arrives on Exegol in the film's finale, or the moment that Rey encounters a vision of herself as a Sith lord and gets thrown into an incredibly brief lightsaber duel with it.
The film is just full of these little moments that make me smile, and they would make it easier to ignore the film's flaws if the film didn't keep reminding me of said flaws. I'm supposed to love the finale of a Star Wars film, but Rise of Skywalker's finale has as many moments that infuriate me as it has moments of excitement and Star Wars wonder. Unsurprisingly, the film's various action sequences are great too, there's an entertaining chase sequence as our heroes try to outrun the First Order on a pair of stolen Speeders, there's all the Lightsaber battles of the film, which are very good, and I'm a sucker for ship battles and dog fights in movies, so naturally in the finale where a puny pack of rebel fighters takes on the entire Final Order fleet is pretty dope, and it gets even more dope once the backup arrives. But even with how good this film's action and presentation is, even with all the little moments that are simply amazing, the film ultimately lacks the connective tissue that it needs to be a solid, enjoyable package. But as I said at the beginning, I've mellowed a bit after my second and third viewing of the film, and like The Last Jedi before it, the things I don't like, I still don't like, and the things I do like, I like more. I still can't honestly say that I've lost my love of this franchise because of this film, and I still don't think this is the worst one, that's still Attack of the Clones. It doesn't make me happy to compare this film to Halloween, but like that film, there are things that annoy me about this film, and no matter how much I want to like it, they get in the way.
Your Journey Nears Its End
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a yet another Star Wars film that's punched a hole in the Star Wars fanbase, and it's yet another Star Wars film that I really wanted to love, but ultimately ended up only liking. For every moment I loved, there was another that I couldn't stand, and unfortunately, the moments I love are just that, moments, while the things I didn't like are crucial elements of its story, because this film just barely manages to keep it together, right up to the point that it doesn't. I do think this is a better film than The Last Jedi, simply because this one is more fun, but neither of them come close to The Force Awakens, and ultimately, as the conclusion to the story that began in that film, and as a conclusion to the story that began with The Phantom Menace, it is disappointing.
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