“Rise of Skywalker” is the newest movie in the most recent Star Wars trilogy. The new trilogy consists of new characters from the Resistance all fighting for the same cause as the original gang: peace and justice in the galaxy against the First Order, a military dictatorship formed after the fall of the Galactic Empire in Return of the Jedi. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!

In the newest movie, Rey, a young and upcoming Jedi, is finishing her training to finally defeat Kylo Ren and the First Order and bring democracy to the galaxy once again. Rey must learn to overcome the past and learn the ways of the Jedi by her mentor, Leia Organa, the general of the Resistance. 

Meanwhile, Kylo Ren is on the hunt for sacred Sith holocrons which will lead him to Exacle, an ancient Sith planet that is housing the one and only, Emperor Palpatine, the same one who converted Darth Vader to the dark side. Rey must defeat Kylo Ren, and the Emperor before he regains control of the galaxy. The Resistance discovers that the Emperor is still alive and is plotting to take over the galaxy with his hundreds of battleships, so the Resistance and their allies come to stop him and his new order. 

In true Star Wars fashion, we get the opening scene of the title and the summary of the movie, then the movie itself. The movie begins with Rey completing her Jedi training, with the same flying blaster that Luke used in “A New Hope” to help her training. She ends up getting angry at it, and destroys it, showing her aggression. This could signify many things, including that she could resonate strongly with the dark side. 

The rest of the movie plays out like a regular Star Wars movie: the good guys go on a daring mission against the bad guys, and ultimately win. But what was the real reason Star Wars fans were anticipating this new movie? All Star Wars fans wanted to see how the Skywalker saga ended, and while some fans are upset with the ending, I left the theater satisfied and happy. I felt that the resolution was appropriate for the ending of an incredible and legendary saga. 

Some believe that the plot of the newest installment was a copy and paste of the original trilogy; the bad guy happens to be related to the good guy. Although it did seem as if the plot was somewhat the same, the movie was different in how the characters finally developed into who they are supposed to be, and the return of the greatest Sith lord ever was something that I personally loved. The whole plot of the movie was, in my opinion, very good. Palpatine back with an even bigger empire, wanting Rey to become the strongest Sith ever? That’s a great plot to end a Star Wars movie. 

The newest Star Wars movie helped develop Rey as a character. The movie did good in showing how she is finally letting go of her past, and learning the truth about what happened to her parents, which was something that was holding her back from her full potential. We never actually found out who they were, nor where they came from, but we found out what happened to them. 

The story of her parents “abandoning” Rey was what most Star Wars fans were made to believe, from scenes in “The Last Jedi” where Kylo Ren tells Rey that they were drunks who sold her off for drinking money. But in “The Rise of Skywalker”, we learn that they sold her to keep her safe from her own grandfather, who wanted to make her his slave for the empire, essentially another Darth Vader. In this sense, I thought Disney did a good job in explaining what actually happened to Rey’s parents. 

Some Star Wars fans believed that Disney just didn’t try to make a new, original Star Wars movie, and knew they would make money no matter what. As true as that may be, I believe that they did a good job of completing the Skywalker saga. 

Jonathan Fernandez is a student who believes Disney could have done more. “What Disney could have done was just actually plan out the whole trilogy,” explains Fernandez. “ They should’ve kept the same directors and that would have stopped different directors trying to take the story in different directions as there was no real plan.” 

Most Star Wars fans concur with Fernandez, saying how they felt the story just went back and forth and that with one consistent story and director through the new trilogy. It seems as if Disney used the name “Star Wars” an iconic movie series for self gain, and to make more money.

Overall, the Star Wars fan bases are not the happiest with the newest trilogy, due to the fact that it felt as if Disney was trying to just make money, instead of delivering on a great new trilogy for Star Wars fans to love, like the original. The Rise of Skywalker was a good movie, not the greatest nor the worst, but needless to say, it was underwhelming.