Review Detail

I'm not certain if you can strip The Rise of Skywalker of its stupid but Spence, here, attempted in the most elegant fashion possible.

There are great ideas here, for certain. I always maintained that, with Carrie Fisher's untimely passing, Disney, JJ Abrams, Chris Terrio and co ought to have begun Episode IX with Princess Leia having already died off-screen, rather than bafflingly trying to resurrect her through repurposed archive footage. This major issue I had with the original film is resolved here -- I do think, due to this decision, in terms of pacing, Spence's introduction here is the least smooth altered sequence of his edit. We have to handle the fact that both ("somehow") Palpatine has returned and that Princess Leia has gone in very short, close succession -- and the performances from Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver in responding to this news; repurposed from footage placed later in the original film; don't work the best in selling this moment. Also, the moment where Finn and Poe find out about and react to Leia's death -- in the original film, following a defeat in the second act and here, following what's tantamount to a victory in the first -- doesn't exactly line up to where it is now placed in the narrative; they seem to already come in upset for no reason. Despite this, I think the way in which the decision to mostly excise Leia from the film allows the narrative to breathe in a way far superior to what came out in 2019 and gives the characters a great-big kick up the ass in terms of motivation.

This, however, is the only motivation Rey will have for a while as, in cutting out the much-maligned Rey Palpatine arc, she does just seem to be going through the motions here. The overall pacing of the film is much improved when we're not flashing back to Palpatine's son or whatever or being bogged down in revelations from the past -- this edit works very well narratively in placing all events in the present -- but, due to the fact that our protagonist has lesser inner conflict here; that "fetch-quest" structure inherent to the original film that makes it feel incoherent is emphasised. Spence tried his best here, replacing Rey's turmoil over her parentage with a classic Star Warsian fear of turning to the dark side but, without this revelation that she is "Rey Palpatine" in the narrative, it's not backed by much.

Other than that, though, I quite enjoyed this edit. I'd be interested to see what would happen if somebody saw The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi and, instead of The Rise of Skywalker, The Final Order in order to gauge if they'd think of it as a stronger film. There's a lot in this film that just isn't going to work regardless of fan intervention -- Poe and Finn being lost in the fold, the rushed conclusion to every narrative thread established in the previous two films and whether or not you thought bringing back Palpatine was a good idea -- but Spence did a great job in mitigating a lot of the elements that people found most egregious whilst preserving an enjoyable viewing experience.