Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Despite the fact that this is a pedestrian film, who cares if you are a Star Wars fan!

Unfortunately, Director J.J. Abrams has brought us an alleged conclusion to the Star Wars legacy that is lackluster at best. The various encounters between Daisy Ridley as Rey and Adam Driver as Kylo Ren involve little more than a bunch of saber rattling that we have seen hundreds of times in past films. Unfortunately, the film has expected great special effects that mean very little given a plot that will surprise few people.

The best part of the film centered on another fight between Rey and Kylo on a sea-going vessel that was pounded by an extraordinary series of waves. However, you still were left repeatedly shaking your head when space scenes involved our heroes riding horses on the wings of attacking spaceships which is followed by rescuing a couple of the good guys where they are able to walk without any spacesuits on the spaceships that save them. It was so foolish that it was impossible to ignore.

On the other hand, despite my criticism, I have been a Star Wars fan since seeing the first one on the big screen in 1977 when I had just turned 30 years of age. Director George Lucas did a fantastic job showing the battle between Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) with the monstrous Darth Vader (David Prowse). I found the entire plot completely captivating.

I still remember a special scene in this film where Princess Leia was held hostage as her would-be lover Han Solo was slowly lowered into a frigid cylinder which was likely to kill him. As Harrison Ford quietly descended, Princess Leia looked at him and said with tears in her eyes, “I love you.” In response, and just before he disappeared, Ford looked back and quietly said, “I know.”

I’ve never forgotten that encounter, which has led me to embrace all subsequent films regardless of their quality.