The Stream: The uninspired storytelling fell flat and leaves you wanting more.

The Big screen: The action sequences are still priceless.

The Final Bill: The story ends, whether you like it or not, but you’ll be entertained.

-S2S

Runtime: 2 hours and 12 minutes
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Rating: PG-13 (for violence and death)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Starring: Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac

Stream to Big Screen, welcome back you are. This week we are reviewing the long awaited third film of the newest trilogy from the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker. This movie reprises the roles of many of the cult classic’s favorites dating back to the 70s. But let’s get to the review.

Honestly, this movie is a letdown for the Disney/Lucasfilm’s brand.  In a way this felt like the producers just going through the motions to end this neverending story. My sentiment is definitely heighten coming off of Disney’s other colossal film product, Avengers: Endgame, from this summer. You can’t “end” one properly and just let the other suffer.  I’m not sure who dropped the ball on this but we had a movie where all of the stakes were on the line and it felt completely lifeless.  We went from planet to planet, searching for their Maltese falcon that will save us… just to realize we have to find something else insignificant to eat up 20 minutes of theater time.  We get your formula Star Wars… particularly in this trilogy.  But for 2 hours plus, we end up at the obvious ending and they still expect us to be wowed.  I think the diehard fan base, which I am not even though I’ve seen all of the movies except Solo, deserves much more than what they got from this film.  Even in the scenery, nothing new was even explored in this film. Same old desert, rain forest etc. One thing I did enjoy about the last Star Wars film Last Jedi was the scenery they gave us. That red salt scene at the end… hot fire. This movie not so much. And don’t even get me started on the lame acting in this movie.

Now don’t get me wrong, the story of Star Wars in this recent trilogy is annoying at best but it’s still a wonder to see visually on the big screen.  This movie does have some really good, yet unoriginal action scenes, throughout.  Who doesn’t love racing around spaceships, lightsaber duels, endless inaccurate blaster shots by the bad guys. No seriously, even though I was bored with the movie, I was enthralled by the constant barrage of action and entertainment.

Long story short, nothing I could say would stop a Star Wars fan from seeing this movie. So let them enjoy their big popcorn. Everyone else, you have to have seen all of the other movies to understand whats going on. So it’s not worth wasting the theater monies on this film. Check it out on Disney+, if you ever catch up on the other installments of Star Wars.

May the force be with you.