Starring: Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Adam Driver, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Disney, out now

 NB These reviews contain some spoilers; click here for our spoiler-free review

The Emperor is back, and Kylo Ren is about to begin the final stage of his training. A vast fleet of Star Destroyers are preparing to rise and the only people standing in their way are, most of, our intrepid heroes.

I saw The Rise of Skywalker a week ago. I laughed at the right moments, cried at the others (there’s a moment where Chewie reacts to something which will break your heart) and cheered at others. In terms of entertainment, it is absolutely a worthwhile use of your time. The closing space battle is epic, Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver hold the ricketiest of plots together through sheer talent and Oscar Isaac and John Boyega are, as ever, effortlessly charming.

Kelly Marie Tran, who played The Last Jedi’s much-hyped new lead has under two minutes of screen time.

You did not misread that.

That’s the first problem. Tran has literally nothing to do here and given Rose was the beating heart of both the Resistance and The Last Jedi, it’s a massive one. She has no arc. None. Assuming the best and that her work was cut, that’s unfortunate. Assuming the worst and that the production crew caved to the unprecedented wave of abuse Tran received for daring to be a woman of colour in charge of a pulse, talent and screen time, that’s cowardice of the final order. Either way, it blows a hole open between this and its two prequels that never comes close to being healed.

Every choice made here is safe. Many of them are flat out cowardly and that, for a film about courage in the face of overwhelming odds, is as sad as it is unforgivable. The Last Jedi took so much time to explore the idea that heritage is irrelevant to the Force that to see it rolled back so blatantly here is a slap in the face It’s possible, JUST, barely, to square the circle between the two movies. That Rey’s lineage, while tied closely to the original trilogy now, is also something she chooses to weaponize and use for herself. It works. Just. But there’s so much heavy lifting you’re more exhausted than the Jedi themselves by the end.

Then there’s the issue of Poe and Finn and the emergency girlfriends. The movie responds to the idea (one embraced by Isaac and Boyega themselves no less) that the two men are in love by… parachuting love interests in for them both. Jannah (Naomi Ackie) is a former stormtrooper who, like Finn, deserted. Zorri (Keri Russell) is a pirate and former spice dealer and sometime partner in crime of Poe’s.

There’s a lot to unpack here so I’ll keep it brief. This would present as crass instead of crass and cowardly, if it wasn’t for the big fuss that’s been made of the two whole seconds of a lesbian couple celebrating in one of the final scenes. Two seconds that have been cut in some foreign markets. As a result, Jannah especially presents less as a character and more as conversion therapy with dialogue. It’s not Ackie’s fault, she’s great with what she’s got, but it drags down a key part of the movie’s final scenes. Worse it highlights, along with the equally laughable representation in Endgame, just how Disney feel about non heterosexual audiences; that as long as they show up they can expect crumbs not a meal.

Poe and Zorri is both more complex and, bluntly, worse. Russell gets a little more to do and there’s some actual chemistry between her and Isaac. But while that softens the blow a little, it also hides the worst thing, I’d argue, the movie does. Namely, takes its sole Hispanic lead, who has been established across two movies and countless tie-in media as an almost impossibly decent, heroic compassionate man, and gives him a past as a drug dealer. There’s tone deaf, there’s stupid and then there’s this. It’s intended, seemingly, to put him on the same sort of foundation as Han. Instead, it presents as reductive, offensive and, again, cowardly.

Verdict: So what works? Honestly, a lot. It’s a good time but it could and should have been a great one. The soundtrack’s wonderful, the cast are all working flat out and the effects are never less than impressive and it cracks along. But this is a cover version of a rock classic, played brilliantly but still, in the end, not enough. If the movie had had the courage of its convictions, or half the courage of its predecessor, then it would have been so much more. What we’ve got will have to do. But we could, and should, have got so very much more. 5/10

Alasdair Stuart

 ‘No one’s ever really gone.’ 

And so, we reach the end of a series of movies that began over 40 years ago with the phenomenal original Star Wars. It spawned a franchise which boasted toys, games, books, comics, thermos flasks, T-shirts… the works, not to mention spin-off movies and shows. That shows no signs of slowing down just because Episode IX is tying up the original saga of the Skywalker clan. But is this a fitting ending to the core story?

We catch up with our heroes a year after the events in The Last Jedi, where they suffered a monumental defeat at the hands of the First Order (the Empire by any other name). Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who has assumed the mantle of new Supreme Leader, is attempting to track down the source of some mysterious signals which appear to be coming from a long dead legend. At the same time, Rey (Daisy Ridley) is continuing her training as a Jedi under the watchful eye of General Leia Organa (the late and much missed Carrie Fisher, in extra footage that was mostly shot for The Force Awakens).

When Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac), Finn (John Boyega) and co return from a dangerous mission in the Millennium Falcon with worrying information from a traitor inside the First Order, the hunt is one for a way to stop their enemies from gaining even more power and taking over the universe… forever.

From its opening scenes, where Ren is going nuts slaughtering foes with his lightsabre, through the planet hopping quest for a way to find the path to a hidden world, to the magnificent ending – which is easily up there with the finale of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi – you feel as if you’re in a safe pair of hands with Abrams. Whichever camp you fell into regarding the last movie, and personally I thought Rian Johnson delivered a bold and unique entry in the series, The Rise of Skywalker is a definite fan pleaser. It harks back to classic Star Wars (not least in a number of nods to all the eight films before it) whilst at the same time creating its own legends.

The performances from everyone involved are top notch, with extra props going to Ridley (who makes you feel every single emotion Rey feels) and Driver, whose personal arc has been both a delight and heart-breaking to observe. Plus it’s such a thrill to see Billy Dee Williams return as Lando, the only member of the original cast who hasn’t put in an appearance yet. Even the new additions, such as an impressive Naomi Ackie as Jannah and the always reliable Richard E. Grant as General Pryde, feel like they’d been part of all this for years. And just when you thought there was nothing new under the Tatooine Sun, this film dishes out fresh surprises in spades – not least flying stormtroopers, a lightsabre battle where there has never been one before… and of course that twist.

This kind of thing is what cinema was invented for, a wonderful adventure with heroic heroes and villainous villains, not to mention some jaw-dropping special effects. It’s not only a fitting conclusion to the latest trilogy (which, even at its worst, has felt more like Star Wars than the prequels), but the entire legacy. Trust me, the Force is strong with this one.

Verdict: ‘I’m taking one last look… at my friends.’               10/10                           

Paul Kane