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Tag Archives: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Is Both Too Much and Not Enough
[CAUTION: This review contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker]
The Rise of Skywalker never stops. From minute one, it is utterly relentless, bringing back major characters, leaping across time and space, and blowing through plot point after plot point at breakneck speed. Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy recently speculated that if director J.J. Abrams had known he would be spearheading this final installment back when he originally signed on for The Force Awakens, he would have saddled up and directed the whole damn trilogy. The Rise of Skywalker bears that out, if only because it feels like Abrams tried to cram two movies into one here.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens Is Like a Great Cover Song
CAUTION: This review contains major spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
I had a phase as a teenager where my musical tastes veered toward covers: punk rock versions of old standards, acoustic covers of hard rock classics, and even orchestral arrangements of Top 40 hits. The blend of the foreign and familiar appealed to me at a time when my taste in music was just beginning to expand. When an artist takes another’s work and puts their own spin on it, transforming what a song means or how it works at an emotional level by filtering it through a different lens, the end result can be both compelling and approachable.
The Force Awakens is, essentially, J.J. Abrams’s cover of A New Hope. That’s not a knock. It’s a superb cover, that hits the right notes while still creating something new, and it stands as a genuine achievement that’s all the more notable in light of the franchise’s prior missteps.
