Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

🎬 Introduction

The Rise of Skywalker begins with the opening crawl announcing “The dead speak!” and it’s all downhill from there. Released in 2019, this film had the impossible job of wrapping up not just the Sequel Trilogy, but the entire nine-film Skywalker Saga. And it buckles under the weight.

For a Dad, this movie is frustrating. It feels like an apology for the last one. It spends half its runtime retconning The Last Jedi (Rose is sidelined, Kylo’s helmet is back, Rey’s parents matter again) and the other half sending our heroes on a fetch quest for a “Wayfinder.”

It’s frantic. It never breathes. It throws everything at the wall—Force healing, Sith fleets, horses on Star Destroyers—hoping something sticks. And while it’s never boring, it’s also never satisfying. It feels like a fan-fiction edit of a movie rather than a cohesive story.

For our movie/TV series hub, see Star Wars Skywalker Series Watch Order & Guide.

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🧠 Story & Themes

Emperor Palpatine is back (somehow). He has a secret fleet of planet-killing Star Destroyers on the hidden Sith planet of Exegol. Rey, Finn, and Poe must find a map to get there and stop him. Kylo Ren is hunting them.

The theme tries to be Found Family vs. Bloodline. Rey discovers she is a Palpatine (the granddaughter of the Emperor). She has to choose to be a Skywalker. It’s a direct reversal of the “you are nobody” theme from the last movie, which was arguably more powerful. Making her royalty shrinks the universe.

Redemption (Again). Ben Solo (Kylo Ren) gets a redemption arc that mirrors Vader’s exactly. It feels rushed. He turns good because his mom calls him and he remembers his dad. It’s sweet, but it lacks the buildup.

The Power of Friendship. The trio finally spends the whole movie together. Their banter is the best part of the film. They feel like a team.

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🎭 Characters & Performances

Daisy Ridley acts her heart out. She cries, she screams, she fights. She carries the emotional weight of the film on her shoulders. Her conflict about her dark lineage is played well, even if the twist is dumb.

Adam Driver is once again the MVP. His transition from Kylo Ren back to Ben Solo—marked by a simple shrug and a smile—is fantastic physical acting. He sells the redemption better than the script does.

John Boyega and Oscar Isaac. They finally get to go on an adventure together. Finn has a subplot about being “Force sensitive” that is hinted at but never resolved (he keeps trying to tell Rey something and never does). It’s maddening.

Ian McDiarmid. He is basically a zombie wizard here. He cackles, shoots lightning, and quotes his own lines from Episode 3. He’s fun, but he undermines the victory of Episode 6. If he never died, did Vader’s sacrifice matter?

Carrie Fisher. They used unused footage from Episode 7 to include Leia. It’s… awkward. The dialogue is vague and generic because it was written around existing clips. It’s a respectful attempt, but it feels uncanny.

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🎨 Visual Style, Animation & Audio

Exegol. A planet of shadow and lightning. It’s moody and scary. The massive stadium of Sith cultists is a creepy image.

The Death Star Wreckage. The duel between Rey and Kylo in the crashing waves is the visual highlight. The water effects are incredible. The physicality of the fight—exhausted, wet, desperate—is great.

The Space Battle. It’s just… too much. Thousands of Star Destroyers vs. thousands of “people’s fleet” ships. It becomes visual noise. You can’t track the action. It lacks the clarity of the Endor or Yavin battles.

John Williams. He bows out with a score that is essentially a “Greatest Hits” album. He brings back every theme. It’s nostalgic, but it doesn’t offer much new memorable music.

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👨‍👧 The Dad Perspective

Runtime: 2 hours 22 minutes. It feels faster because the pacing is relentless.

Suitability:

• Scary Bits: Palpatine is zombie-like. His eyes are white, his fingers are rotted. He drains the life force from Rey and Ben, turning his face young again. It is borderline horror.
• Intensity: Flashing lights (strobe effects) on Exegol are intense.
• Deaths: Ben Solo dies. Leia dies. It’s a body count movie.

Confusion: My kids were lost. “Wait, who is that?” “Why is he alive?” “What is a Dyad?” You will spend the whole movie explaining plot holes.

Rewatch Value: Zero. We have watched it once. It’s exhausting. It doesn’t make you feel good; it makes you feel tired.

Talking Points: It’s hard to find a moral here other than “good guys win.” Maybe the idea that your blood doesn’t define you—you choose your own family. That’s a good lesson for adoption or blended families.

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🔥 What Went Wrong: The Development Story Behind Rise of Skywalker

Here’s the thing nobody wants to say out loud: The Rise of Skywalker was never going to be a good movie. The production was broken before a single frame was shot.

The original director was Colin Trevorrow. Yes, the Jurassic World guy. He was hired in 2015, spent two years developing the story, and co-wrote a script called Duel of the Fates with Derek Connolly. And by most accounts — including the script that leaked online years later — his version was actually coherent. Rey remained a nobody. Her power came from pure Force-sensitivity, not royal blood. The story took place across the galaxy in pockets of resistance. It built meaningfully on what The Last Jedi had set up rather than burning it down. It wasn’t perfect. But it had a plan.

Trevorrow was fired in September 2017. Disney cited “creative differences.” What that means in Hollywood: somebody somewhere decided the movie wasn’t going in the right direction and called in the cleaner. J.J. Abrams — who had directed The Force Awakens — was brought back.

Here’s the catch: Abrams started filming in July 2018 without a finished script. They were writing it while shooting. Not polishing a nearly-complete draft — writing major story beats while cameras were already rolling. The Palpatine return, widely suspected to have been a very late decision, was teased in a trailer before it was even properly worked into the narrative. That’s not filmmaking. That’s controlled chaos at $275 million.

And the result is exactly what you’d expect from a film assembled under those conditions. Characters vanish for thirty minutes then reappear with no explanation. Plot devices are introduced and abandoned (the Jedi dagger, the transmission from the First Order spy, the entire Knights of Ren). Every time the movie approaches an interesting idea — Ben Solo’s internal struggle, Finn’s Force-sensitivity, Poe’s past as a spice runner — it flinches and moves on.

The real problem, though, runs deeper than any single hire or firing. Disney launched the sequel trilogy without a showrunner, without a story bible, and without a plan. Three movies. Three different directors (Force Awakens set one direction; Rian Johnson took Last Jedi somewhere completely different; Abrams had to end a story no one had agreed on). They approved billion-dollar productions the way a committee might greenlight a quarterly report.

Think of it this way: imagine you’re building a LEGO Death Star, but each section — the reactor core, the docking bay, the superlaser — is designed by a different kid who doesn’t communicate with the others. Each section looks okay on its own. But when you click them together, nothing aligns. The corridors don’t connect. The instructions contradict each other. You’ve got a Death Star-shaped object that technically qualifies as “done.”

That’s the sequel trilogy. And The Rise of Skywalker is the section where someone just jammed the last pieces together and hoped no one would look too closely.

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From the screen to the shelf: BB-8 rolls through the saga’s finale — and our LEGO BB-8 (75452) review covers the brick droid that closes out the sequel trilogy.

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📌 FAQ — Frequently Asked Questions

How did Palpatine return?

“Cloning. Dark magic. Secrets only the Sith knew.” That’s literally the explanation the movie gives. It’s implied his spirit possessed a clone body.

What was Finn trying to tell Rey?

J.J. Abrams confirmed later that Finn was trying to tell her he is Force-sensitive. But he never says it in the movie!

Why is Rey a Skywalker?

She adopts the name to honor Luke and Leia, her masters. It signifies that she chooses the Light side over her Palpatine bloodline.

Is this truly the end?

For the “Skywalker Saga,” yes. But Rey is getting a new movie (New Jedi Order), so the story continues.

What was the original ending planned for the sequel trilogy?

No coordinated plan existed. Colin Trevorrow’s unmade Episode IX script (Duel of the Fates) would have kept Rey as a nobody, featured a galaxy-wide resistance, and built on The Last Jedi’s themes. It leaked online and fans generally prefer it — though it had its own issues.

Is the Rey New Jedi Order movie still happening?

As of 2025, yes — Daisy Ridley is confirmed to return in a new film set after Rise of Skywalker. It’s been in development for years. Whether it finally gets made remains uncertain, but the door is open.