I am pretty much sick to death of butt hurt overzealous Star Wars Fans, there is literally no pleasing you guys. First it was the prequals are terrible, Jarjar is the worst, Jake Llyod is bad, Hayden Christensen can’t act – now it’s omg these films are too inclusive, this films is to much like the old films, this film is to different from the old films, or there is an Asian person in my movie. Now once again with a new film we have people being upset because it is now THE WORST STAR WARS FILM EVER. If you are one of these people I will say this, stop, take a breath and think:

Is this really the worst Star Wars film ever?

Yes the film was a little rushed, yes there was a few walk backs and yes it was not a perfect movie but for the forces sake, it is just a movie. A movie where the director had a very short amount of time to pull it all together. And for all it’s flaws this film tries really hard to tick all the boxes, because JJ knew the fan reaction to The Last Jedi, he knew that he had to make fans happy or they would hate the film.

So what does the film give us?

Light saber fights

As we now know one does not need Light Sabers to make a great Star Wars movie, but they do help. The Rise Of Skywalker does not hold back on battles. They are well choreographed and very dramatic, the only issue I have is that the best fight was featured heavily in the trailers. I felt this was poor form and they should have saved that for the movie.

Space Battles

Again this was the same as the previous one. There was one amazing space battle, it was stunning, it was kind of unique and it was everything great about Star Wars, but still they used shots of it in the trailers – What is the point in this?

The Knights of Ren

Since The Force Awakens we have wanted to know about this quite terrifying group and in 2019 we finally got an origin comic showing that they were a minor Dark Side cult obsessed with Palpatine. One who had rudimentary use of the Force. The Rise Of Skywalker finally let us see them fight and it was a let down. They looked awesome until they did anything. But still the addition and look of them was what we wanted.

New Force Powers

If you asked the average fan they would tell you that Jedi can trick you, do the odd illusion an d move stuff with their minds, with Sith can do all that and shoot lightning. Finally we got another one, one that is only for the Jedi – Force Healing. One that is well established within extended canon.

The Emperor

Though his introduction was rushed and Snoke’s origin was reduced to a throw away line we finally gained the return of the Emperor. He looked, sounded and felt like an epic villain, mostly down to a fantastic performance and some awesome visuals. My own criticism is that maybe his motivations where a bit generic. That and him having a son was a little out of left field.

More Diversity

I cannot fault this. Rose was handled in a better manner than previously and the diversity was pumped up – though not perfectly like in Rogue One.

Lando

What can I say, is there anyone cooler than Lando?

Tributes To Old Jedi

Now this was truly special. At the end of the film when Rey is surrounded by all of the Sith, right when she has given up hope you hear a lot of familiar voices:

• Obi-Wan Kenobi
• Yoda
• Luke Skywalker
• Anakin Skywalker
• Qui-Gon Jinn
• Mace Windu
• Ahsoka Tano
• Kanan Jarrus
• Aayla Secura
• Luminara Unduli
• Adi Gallia

 These 11 voices represent Jedi from all over the current canon and having them choose to support Rey helps cement her legacy as the new master of the Jedi order.

Shots Of Familiar Planets

A small but minor touch was in true Return Of The Jedi (Version 2.0) style the film ends with shots at various planets such as Coruscant, Endor and Jaku.

New Characters

This is where I believe they really dropped the ball with the film – they introduced several new characters that ended up being pointless and not really contributing much to the story. When they could have used older ones from the extended Canon such as Hera or Sabine Wren either could have stood in for Zorii Bliss who was played by the always brilliant Keri Russell.

In the end like I said earlier this film ticked a lot of boxes, which will garner a mixed reaction from fans. In my opinion they should have aimed to be more like Rogue One and The Last Jedi, they should have stopped worrying about making a film for fans and instead they should have made a film for themselves. It is far from the worst Star Wars film and it is Far From the best. I enjoyed it and I will probably see it again.