Star Wars Episode IX: The Final Order

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.

Better.... it's better, that's what I can say.

The quality of the edits is top notch. A lot of the decisions made worked out for the better. Killing off Leia early on allowed the characters to be more independent, and enriches characters arcs like Poe's need to be the leader or, more importantly, the rivalry between Rey and Kylo. There is now more of a push and pull between them, Rey being pulled to the dark while Kylo is pulled into the light, and no Leia means this conflict is allowed to play out with their choices as opposed to others coming in to make the choices for them. The removal of Rey's parentage is cleverly done, using the vision of her taking the throne as the way Kylo tries to get to her. Bonus points for removing goofier elements like the Dark Rey scene or "Empress Palpatine," plus the addition of Palpatine's message to the beginning so we're up to speed. The Final Order feels more like a proper sequel to the previous movies now, and if this was released in theaters there'd be significantly less conflict about it (to put it mildly). It is better than what we had.

However, "better" doesn't translate to greatness, at least in my eyes. Even with these quality of life improvements, and believe me Spence outdid themselves on that front this isn't on them, I can't really bring myself to enjoy this movie. Finn isn't given anything to do, Rose being left to the sidelines, the fake out deaths, the Final Order fleet, Palpatine, that ending... these issues still permeate the film and hold it back immensely. There's still a reactionary vibe to the film that doesn't do it for me. Again, this is not the fault of the editor, who did the best they could and made a significantly more competent, even compelling, movie out of Rise of Skywalker. The Final Order gets a recommendation for me, if only because of how even these smaller changes help the movie immensely.

Spence has done an admirable job at excising what most find to be the most egregious central plot point of Episode IX: 'Rey Palpatine'. Unfortunately, what's left doesn't quite hold the rest of the film up in a satisfactory way for me. Several of the stretched out-shots look quite blurred out and there are some cuts and scene transitions that don't feel quite right.

Other than those minor gripes, the edit is well-constructed and thought through. I wish something along these lines had been filmed originally!

Spence took a complete and total mess of a movie and did the best he could to fix it. And in that he did a pretty damn fine job! The movie is still problematic storywise, but it's a little less overstuffed and more cleaned up. My favorite choices are these:

* Cutting the lightspeed skipping
* Killing Leia off at the start (I love Carrie Fisher but it didn't help to keep her)
* Put memories and Sith voices in Rey scenes to show the lure of the Dark Side
* Made Rey a nobody, no Palpatine connection (I dislike the idea from The Last Jedi but at least we're consistent)
* Dropped the Rey Skywalker nonsense

There's still so much this movie (and the sequel trilogy as a whole) got wrong, but how Spence turned it into a half decent movie is a damn miracle. Great work!

The Final Order is one of the stronger edits of Episode IX that I've seen so far. And while my personal bias means that my favorite edit of Episode IX is, well, my own, this one gets a nice, shiny silver medal at number two. This one earns a high recommendation from me!