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

Hello guys and welcome back for another round of movie reviews with Movie Nerd, a place where you can be nerdy about movies!

First of all, I want to wish you a very Happy Christmas! Second of all, I know that it has been a while since my last review but with all this Christmas preparations I couldn't find the time to do a review for the final episode of the Skywalker saga. Now, I am here and I have a little time on my plate to give you my honest opinion about the movie and about the whole saga as well.

Before I dive into this review, let me offer you a bit of a synopsis: Lucasfilm and director J.J. Abrams join forces once again to take viewers on an epic journey to a galaxy far, far away with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the riveting conclusion of the seminal Skywalker saga, where new legends will be born and the final battle for freedom is yet to come.

So, I know what people are saying about this movie and how the opinions are very split with critics and fans, alike but mostly the critics because, if you check the Rotten Tomatoes score, the audience gave a fresh one for this movie and so do I because I was very pleased with what J.J.Abrams managed to do with this.

I would like to say that I am not a fan of The Last Jedi very much because that is a way different Star Wars movie than Episode VII and IX and I was glad to see that Abrams successfully returned the series to what it was before, as he did with The Force Awakens, which I also liked.

Like I said, I was very entertained by this movie, I enjoyed it and I very much liked it. It has a very fast pace, very alert even, a lot of action sequences that don't disappoint, very well shot and framed with some great visuals and another great score from John Williams.

All of the characters are back together, which I liked because The Last Jedi did not handle the characters very well, it split them apart and that was one of the problems of that movie. Here, they are back together as a team, giving us the sense of family and friendship that existed in Episode VII. Also, they come along with some great humor and I was not expecting that much humor going into this but it was a lot of fun.

Speaking of returning characters, Lando is back and, also, the villain that was behind all of this, since the beginning, Palpatine is back but you already knew that if you have seen the movie or the trailers. Bringing Palpatine back was a good thing because you needed a villain that made some sense, some logic and with his return, we get some questions answered and some mysteries revealed. Plus, with the return of Palpatine, the movie gets a bit darker, a bit edgier and a bit scarier and creepy. The scenes that Palpatine appears are very horror like movie scenes, creepy and terrifying creating a atmosphere that you don't often find in a Star Wars movie.

You can see that Abrams played safe once again, as he did with Episode VII. Every Star Wars fan will notice that J.J. took some bits and pieces from every Star Wars movie ever. It is full of references to past movies, especially Return of the Jedi because it has more similarities with that movie.

Two negative things that I can say about it is that you can see the now very obvious lack of imagination that Disney is suffering for many years now and it shows in this movie and others as well. It's based more on nostalgia and less on fresh ideas. The second thing would be that, although it answers some questions, it also raises new ones that maybe will be addressed in future spin-offs.

As a saga, everybody knows that it had it's ups and downs, especially with the prequels, which, in my opinion, are the worst, except for Revenge of the Sith, which is the best one from that trilogy. With the original trilogy, Empire Strikes Back remaines the best one, in my opinion and with this new trilogy, for me is The Force Awakens. Also, the two anthology movies are good, Rogue One more than Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Overall, it is a mess but a lovely one nonetheless. I for one enjoyed it, I had a very good time with it, I saw what I was expecting, I was very pleased and satisfied with what they came up with, I thought the ending was done admirably, although not perfect but I think it was the ending that every Star Wars fan wanted and they did the best that they could have done. It ends where the story began, a story about duality and identity. Loved the action, the fast rhythm, the relation between the characters, the good humor and how it all wrapped up. I really don't understand why this movie is so hated. Gets a thumbs up from me and a fresh review as well. 8.2/10

OK guys, that is my review for this one and I think that will be my last review for this year. No movie that is coming in the final weekend of the year interests me so this will definitely be my last for this year. No worries, coming back next year with fresh reviews in January and, also, some new things that I would like to try on my site. More of that in January. Until then, take care, stay movie nerdy, keep on reviewing, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to us all!! See you in 2020! Cheerio!