Sound Inc Studios

Rise of Skywalker felt like the third part of one of those creatures you and two of your friends would draw back in school. Your first friend draws the head, the next friend draws the torso and you draw the legs.. but neither of you know what the other has drawn. Their writers are out of touch with what makes Star Wars special, the real soul of the mythology and it feels like they've started the trilogy too soon (without a plotted out story or competent writers). The fact that Rian Johnson WROTE The Last Jedi tells you all you need to know. They have shamelessly trodden on sacred ground without giving proper heed to the lore or mythos of the saga. The story suffered from severe convenience, and felt very much like Game of Thrones Season 8 - there were objectives and plot points that had to be served to complete the goal of the moive. The "Young Obi Wan" and saving grace of the whole thing was Adam Driver, who was excellent, and actually Daisy Ridley too (this is the Rey we deserved to see in The Last Jedi) and their relationship to one another was the most interesting thing in the whole movie. This film started with 15 minutes of the best Star Wars sequences I've ever seen... with my only criticism being the "Wayfinder" - which should have been a Sith Holocron or something that didn't feel like a sith version of "The Jedi Compass". The Temple was reminiscent of Rebels and for a brief moment, I thought JJ had done his research and pulled something special out of the bag. Nope. The rest of the movie felt like a set of "fetch me" or "travel here" missions you might find on a massively multiplayer online game. A Jarring storyline that was so fast paced and jumpy it had to be explained (almost to the point of being 4th wall breaking) as it went along. Saved by nostalgia, two good leads and lots of familiar locations and jaw dropping set pieces, but ultimately the story felt like it's own adventure, fighting against The Last Jedi, with more time spent on course correction and apologising than actually having a solid, well paced, rational story that gave meaning and drive to the decisions made by the characters. As a lifelong Star Wars fan, when key points and important cameos came up, I found that I didn't really care because I just wasn't invested. They have trodden on the lore and what is possible both in The Force and in the general physics of the galaxy that they're going to have IMMENSE difficulty writing anything chronologically after this point in time. I hope that Disney will learn from this, as they've also overseen the amazing Rogue One and brand new The Mandalorian which are both INCREDIBLE. Rogue One, I would put level pegging with Empire Strikes Back and Solo wasn't half bad either. Disney... I say to you, you produced a movie widely accepted as better than two of the original trilogy movies. How did you do that? Please do it again. If you are reading this Kathleen and co.: "YOU CANNOT COPY AND PASTE YOUR DISNEY MOVIE STRUCTURE TO STAR WARS, GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD, DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND LISTEN TO YOUR STAFF WHO UNDERSTAND THE SAGA". In a few words. A stunningly beautiful shame.

I was apprehensive, but Disney have done a wonderful job. This is what happens when you let Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni get on with things. This is true star wars entertainment, giving depth and scope to peripheral parts of Star Wars lore. It's so very entertaining, thrilling and very much a western set in a galaxy far far away. The styelisation and mood of every episode is gripping, it really made me feel like the Empire got a good kicking after RoTJ. Great stuff. Give the man a trilogy.