Rise of Skywalker: One of Cinema’s Greatest Franchises Goes Out with a Bang
by Chris Churilla
*** SPOILERS WITHIN ***
OVERVIEW
With this film, a cinematic journey that began over forty years ago comes to a close, and it ended on a high note.
The previous entries in this trilogy were a mixed bag for me. The Force Awakens (2015) was far too similar in plot to A New Hope (1977), and The Last Jedi (2017) struck out too far on its own, but this one was a perfect blend of the familiar and the new.
HISTORY
In the summer of 1977, young filmmaker George Lucas introduced a story told a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away centering on young farm boy Luke Skywalker and the vital role he would play in bringing down the Galactic Empire and the villainous Darth Vader.
At the time, no one thought it would be a hit, not even Lucas himself. He was so sure it would flop he did not even attend the film’s premiere, instead traveling to Hawaii with another young filmmaker by the name of Steven Spielberg.
Reportedly Spielberg was the only one who thought it would do well; he supposedly predicted it would be the biggest movie of all time. While other movies have since eclipsed the film in terms of profit, it remains one of the centerpieces of modern pop culture.
It was followed by two more sequels: Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). No one thought there would be more films, but then in 1999, Lucas produced three prequels—The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005)—which set up the events in the original trilogy.
The films were not well-received, mostly due to the poor performances of actors Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen, who played the trilogy’s main character, Anakin Skywalker.
Then filmmaker J.J. Abrams took the reins with this latest trilogy. The first two films met with mixed reviews, and now, with no more movies left, it was once again up to Abrams to end the franchise on a high note.
SYNOPSIS
The movie starts shortly after the events of The Last Jedi. Rey has continued her Jedi training with Leia as her teacher.
As for Kylo Ren after killing Supreme Leader Snoke in The Last Jedi, he does what any person does when they violently seize power, which is to ensure there are no challengers. He then hears a shocking rumor: Emperor Palpatine, thought killed in Return of the Jedi, is, in fact, alive.
Traveling to an old Sith stronghold, he learns the rumors are indeed true, though Palpatine is on life support. The former emperor may need machines to keep him alive, much like Darth Vader, but he has lost none of his cunning. He offers to teach Kylo abilities that seem to defy the natural order—an offer he made to Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith. In return for the training—and a massive fleet lying in wait—he only asks Kylo to bring Rey to him.
Meanwhile, the Resistance learns through an operative the First Order is planning a massive attack using that fleet. Still, the Sith stronghold is on a planet in a hazardous area of space that is virtually unexplored. In order to travel there safely, they need a piece of Sith technology that will guide them, so Rey, accompanied by Finn, Poe, C3-PO, and BB-8, begin their search.
They find the technology hidden in the wreckage of the Death Star from Return of the Jedi, but bad weather forces them to wait until it clears. But Rey takes the risk, traveling to the wreckage alone, where she is once again confronted by Kylo.
Lightsaber. Image courtesy of Cade Roberts on Unsplash.
Han Solo. Image courtesy of Jeremy Perkins on Unsplash.
Rey, now in possession of the Sith technology, travels to the stronghold and confronts Palpatine, who then shocks her with an incredible truth: she is his granddaughter. She was left on the desert planet of Jakku by her parents, who sought to prevent her from going down the same path he did.
Alone on the Dunes. Image courtesy of Luke Bender on Unsplash.
Meanwhile, the Resistance fleet, following Rey’s path, reaches the planet and confronts the enemy fleet. They are woefully outmanned and outgunned, but they fight anyway, hoping a call they put out for help would be answered.
Simultaneously, Ben reaches the planet and races to join Rey in her battle against Palpatine.
As for the Resistance fleet, they are slowly picked apart, given their inferior numbers. Palpatine tries goading Rey into killing him, but he also reveals doing so will enable him to leave his body and transfer into hers, allowing him to leave his weakened shell.
Ben reaches Rey, but Palpatine blasts him into a crevice, apparently killing him. Rey then reaches out to the Jedi masters of old, who transfer their power to her, giving her the strength to defeat him.
In the skies above the stronghold, the Resistance’s call is answered by a massive fleet of ships, allowing them to defeat the enemy fleet and ending the threat of the First Order.
DEATH OF KYLO REN
For me, the most powerful moment in the film was when Kylo Ren dies and Ben Solo is reborn.
It was so powerful I had tears running down my face. I have been watching movies for almost thirty years, and it is a rare thing for a movie to affect me so deeply.
In the previous two entries, we see Kylo struggle to embrace the Dark Side of the Force. He certainly had the hurt and anger, as well as the willingness to indiscriminately hurt others, but you sense he had yet to fully commit to the Dark Side.
It is certainly easy to understand how he abandoned the Light. As a member of the Skywalker bloodline, he was strong in the Force. After the events of Return of the Jedi, his parents sent him to Luke, attempting to restore the Jedi.
While his parents may have seen it as a way to train him in the Force, he saw it as being abandoned; Leia even said as much in The Force Awakens.
If they hoped his training in the Force would help, they were wrong. Luke, sensing the rise of the Dark Side in his pupil, went to him one night to kill him. He activates his lightsaber and stands over him, ready to administer a killing blow, but then stops.
Unfortunately, Ben wakes at that moment, and seeing his teacher standing over him, he defends himself, and his sense of abandonment deepens even further, making him a ripe candidate for recruitment by the Dark Side.
In The Force Awakens, it seemed his journey to the Dark Side was completed when he murders Han, but even then, he is still plagued by a pull to the Light, as shown in The Last Jedi when he does not fire on the ship his mother was on.
A story of redemption is a powerful one. The Bible is full of such stories, but the most memorable one for me is the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32).
When I served in the Army as a chaplain’s assistant, my first chaplain’s favorite story was the Prodigal Son. He liked to point out that after the son realizes his mistake and returns home, his father saw him from a long way off—and the only way that was possible was if he was still looking for him, hoping he would come back.
We are all sinners. No matter how good we think we are, no matter how strong our faith, we will make the wrong choice. We can let these stumbles define us and wallow in the mud, or we can lift ourselves up and struggle to get back into the light.
We all fall. It is then we find out how strong we are, how willing we are to get back up because we know staying down is not where we want to be.
NOT ALONE
In the climactic battle, it certainly appeared Palpatine had his bases covered: Kylo was seemingly dead, and Rey couldn’t kill him because his spirit would transfer to hers, but he could hurt her with total impunity.
But Rey remembers Luke’s words, that the power of all the past Jedi Masters lives within her, and all she needs to do is reach out for it.
I could not help but think of Matthew 7:7-8, which states,
Ask and it will be given to you…for everyone who asks receives.
In difficult times, it is easy to think we are alone, that no one can help us. We are so focused on our problems we do not see the possibilities for help are all around, but all we have to do is ask.
However, it should not stop there. Just because we ask for something does not mean we will get exactly what we want; like the parables Jesus used, there is a hidden meaning, so we must be open to see through the lens of faith so that we can recognize the help God gives us.
Resources
We’ve created a free downloadable PDF to explore the article deeper. It contains discussion questions about the topic in general terms that will give you a jumping-off point for beginning a conversation.
The second page contains a way to see the topic from a biblical perspective.
And finally, to go deeper into the subject, we have chosen a few curated resources to explore from other authors’ and thinkers’ research or perspectives.
Read. Engage. Enjoy!
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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