The Rise of Skywalker could’ve been an entirely new vision of the Force, instead we got a meaningless rehash of the OT
Here’s my perspective on The Rise of Skywalker, the sequel trilogy and what it could’ve been. Please like and share if you’ve enjoyed this piece or found it interesting :)
I think The Rise of Skywalker was so disappointing to me because is subverted the best and strongest parts of the previous two films and ultimately made it so that this trilogy added almost nothing to the larger saga beyond being an adventure with new characters. I left this movie asking what was the point? Why were you telling me this story and what is the lesson here? Is it that people can be redeemed? We already know this from the original trilogy so why tell it again? For all its flaws, the prequel trilogy also had a clear lesson of the dangers of giving into temptation and of becoming obsessed with power. I find myself struggling to find what this trilogy contributed. There was so much potential in the first two films and this final film reneged on all of that and took zero risks. It sought to please everyone and became a blah movie as a result.
The first two films in this trilogy were all about challenging us to think about what Star Wars is at its core and what it can be. We lift off the mask of a stormtrooper in The Force Awakens and see that stormtroopers are not faceless evil machines, but actually struggle with right and wrong, light and dark.
In The Last Jedi we learn that a young girl from nowhere who had nobodies for parents is incredibly powerful in the force. Rey’s parentage is then walked back, but at this moment in TLJ we believed it to be true. The use of the force by the boy in the stables on Canto Bight only strengthens the argument that you do not need to be of noble lineage to use the force. We get a new look at the economy of the galaxy and incredibly wealthy weapons dealers who sell to both sides, alongside poverty and oppression. We see that within the Resistance leadership there is conflict between Poe and Vice Admiral Holdo. In the real world, rebellions don’t hum along smoothly with no in-fighting, and acknowledging this conflict shows a real maturity of TLJ and Star Wars itself.
Two key themes of TLJ is that the old ways will be left behind and that there is a middle path between dark and light. We see this in Rey and Kylo’s special force connection which seems to exist beyond the duality of Jedi and Sith. It’s neither light nor dark but a way for them to understand and even sympathize with one another, even as they remain on opposite sides of the force and war. Shortly after killing Snoke Kylo tells Rey:
The Empire, your parents, the Resistance, the Sith, the Jedi... let the past die. Kill it, if you have to. That's the only way to become what you are meant to be.
Kylo doesn’t view himself as a Sith or Jedi and is suggesting that Rey doesn’t have to either. There is perhaps more potential in the force than viewing it only in the Sith and Jedi duality. He is suggesting that Rey is meant to find that other path, to combine dark and light without the label of Jedi or Sith. This feels like a moment where we are moving beyond the past of the Empire, the importance of parentage and the Sith vs. Jedi conflict, yet TRoS brings all of these themes back in a regression to the old ways. It’s obsessed with bloodlines and with light vs. dark duality when it could’ve presented a new vision of the force that is a true balance, a true yin and yang, rather than just another win for the old order of the Jedi.
While a rejection of the Sith is obvious, I think a rejection of the Jedi is also in order at the conclusion of the saga. Over the course of nine films, the Jedi have made countless mistakes in their restrictions and lies, yet paid no price. In the prequels, the Jedi were overly restrictive about marriage. When Anakin struggled with possessive visions of Padme’s death he couldn’t come to his Jedi mentors for guidance so he instead found a mentor in Palpatine. A more permissive policy could’ve perhaps prevented Anakin’s turn to the Sith. In Ben Solo’s case he wakes up in the middle of the night to see his uncle lauding over his bed, about to kill him. He is a teenage boy and his Jedi uncle is about to kill him for having too much darkness within him. Honestly, have you met teenage boys Luke?
The Jedi also have a terrible habit of lying to their padawans in order to protect them. Obi-Wan does not tell Luke about his parentage because he fears the pull of the Darkside will be even stronger for Luke if he knows who his true father is. Luke lies to Rey about her parentage for the exact same reason, which is even more perplexing considering that Luke is proof that your parentage does not determine how you use the force. In the case of Anakin and Ben, they both feel they have been lied to because their masters do not teach them about the Darkside but instead label it as impermissible, evil and bad, without showing them why.
And Anakin and Ben are right. The Darkside is not evil. Anger, aggression, fear, and hatred are not inherently bad. What matters is how we use them. We see many of the heroes of Star Wars be afraid, aggressive and even at times hate one another. Any rebel fighter worth her salt should fear the Empire and be aggressive when fighting it. We could say Leia has a hatred for Darth Vader and even initially for Lando, but this does not make her a bad person. It is the Sith that uses their Darkside emotions of fear, anger, and hatred for galactic domination and oppression. But perhaps we don’t have to see the Darkside as solely evil. The Sith have used the Darkside in a horrible way, and while the Jedi strive to do good, they too have made harmful mistakes in how they use the light side of the force. Could there be a third school of the force that acknowledges the power of the Darkside and the darkness that lives within all of us, but instead uses that darkness for good? This is a question I would’ve liked TRoS to answer and I think TLJ teed it up to be answered in the final film. Even the name The Last Jedi suggests that there were no longer be another Jedi, but there will be something else.
Instead of another redemption arc for Kylo Ren, TRoS could’ve chosen to embrace his contradictory nature and conflict. The fact that Kylo Ren still feels a bond and love for Leia and Rey shouldn’t mean that he is destined to be redeemed and excused for his crimes. Instead, it shows that he is merely human and even “evil” individuals can feel love and kindness while committing atrocities. Many Nazis had families who they loved dearly. This does not make them good people or prove they are worthy of redemption, it’s merely one area of light in their lives that are otherwise overly balanced toward darkness.
TRoS had the potential to show us this third path that is neither Sith nor Jedi, but something that is honest about the contradictory nature in every human being. It had the potential to reveal that the darkside isn't any more evil than winter or nighttime is evil. Dark is necessary for light, winter necessary for summer, night necessary for morning. It is the rigidity of the Jedi and the obsession for power and domination of the Sith that has allowed evil to flourish for so long. An honest assessment of the Jedi’s record and a paving of a new path forward in the force would’ve made TRoS a spectacular, beautiful and moving ending to the Saga.
We did not get that ending but perhaps this saga is the true reflection of the force. Star Wars isn’t perfect, neither good nor bad but somewhere in the middle. It’s a work made by humans and its beauty is in its reflection of ourselves, our lives, hopes, and fears. Fans love it and hate it and half the fun is talking about it. The people who make, watch, read and love Star Wars aren’t Jedis or Sith but somewhere in the middle. In the end, it’s much bigger than whatever this trilogy turned out to be.
