The end at last – and it’s exhausting!
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker Cert:12A 2hrs21mins ★★★★★
At the media screening of what appears to be the last Star Wars film, a brief shot of the Scottish actor Denis Lawson at the controls of a Rebel Alliance fighter flashed up on to the screen, and I – along with everyone else of a certain age – let out a little cheer. As events – that took place, of course, ‘a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away’ – headed towards their climactic conclusion, we were indulging in the Star Wars equivalent of virtue-signalling, our cheers indicating that we were there when Lawson made a similarly brief appearance in the original film in 1977. Now, three prequels, five sequels and an astonishing 42 years later, it was all coming to an end.
I’m not done with Lawson yet. He’s also the uncle of Ewan McGregor, the Scottish actor who played the younger Obi-Wan Kenobi in the now largely uncelebrated prequels, the character made famous by Alec Guinness in the original trilogy and who introduced us all to ‘the force’.
And I mention old Obi-Wan… no, not because he makes a surprise return; he doesn’t. Shame. But all sorts of other old characters do. In the end rather too many, in a film that often looks great – watch out for the spectacular sequence combining the wreckage of a Death Star and toweringly stormy alien seas – but is so complex and convoluted story-wise that the real challenge is just keeping up.
Chief among those returning – and I mention this only because it’s been much anticipated and he appears very early – is evil Emperor Palpatine, also known as Darth Sidious. Most of us thought he’d died at the end of Return Of The Jedi but apparently not. He’s been hiding out on a Sith stronghold, quietly bigging up ‘the dark side’. Still, nice to see another Scottish actor, Ian McDiarmid, returning to the fold.
Leading the forces of good is Rey (Daisy Ridley), who’s spent the time since The Last Jedi working on her Jedi powers. She is certainly feeling the force these days and goes into battle on the Resistance’s behalf aided and abetted by former stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). It’s a trio that very obviously replicates the original one of Leia (Carrie Fisher), Luke (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford). And, oh yes, all the much-loved droids – C-3PO, R2-D2 and BB-8 – are back too, along with Chewbacca.
Fisher, of course, died in 2016, but thanks to technical wizardry she’s back again here, with Leia effectively taking over the same role as Rey’s mentor that Leia’s brother, Luke, had in the last film. But while I was massively moved by Fisher’s original return to the franchise in The Force Awakens (when she was still alive), and quite moved by her first posthumous appearance in The Last Jedi, this latest and over-contrived return from beyond the grave left
me entirely dry-eyed. Director JJ Abrams, who gets so much right here, could have done better.
All Star Wars films need a baddie, and here, while Palpatine is literally hanging around in the dark, it’s Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), son of Han and Leia, which – for those who know their franchise bloodlines – makes him Darth Vader’s grandson. Even if the only Star Wars film you ever saw was the original, you know that can’t be good. Ah, but who else can he bring over to the dark side?
Ridley has improved a lot since her first appearance in The Force Awakens and now makes a thoroughly convincing contemporary heroine, although she’s certainly helped by having an actor of Driver’s undeniable quality to work against.
But this is a film that – in its determination to tick so many franchise boxes, please so many different fan bases and tie up so many loose ends – eventually takes a rather too complex path towards the inevitable ending. Yes, you come out mildly moved, but most of all you come out exhausted.