Ethan Mohoi

When I first heard that there was going to be a Star Wars movie that was going to be 3 hours long (according to the length of the soundtrack), I was excited. But after discovering that it had been cut down (2 hours and 22 minutes run time), I was quite disappointed. And in viewing the movie it’s clear it could have used that extra run time. There were multiple points where a supposed story altering event occurred then within the next few seconds was reverted. The lost run time could have been used to smooth over these “plot conveniences” and make them feel not as awkward, as I know the frequent doubling-back present in this movie is the point of many a review. Yet despite this, I felt as if it did just a fine job as the closing chapter in a trilogy of trilogies. It introduced enough of its own ideas to make it stand out from the rest of the films, yet still stayed tied down with the feel of the sequel trilogy and make supple call backs to the first six films. There may have been a few cringe worthy jokes, quips, and moments within the film but that’s what you got to expect when walking into a modern Disney film from a non original Disney franchise. In conclusion, Rise of Skywalker stays true to Star Wars but could have definitely used the extra run time it had available to it to smooth over some of the plot points, giving in a 4/5 in my eyes.