It appears the Emperor is alive and he is making his presence known again. Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) tracks him down with the use of a Sith wayfinder device. The remnants of the Rebel Resistance led by General Liea Organa (Carrie Fisher) sends a team of Rey (Daisy Ridley), Poe (Oscar Isaacs), Finn (John Boyega), Chewbaca, BB-8, and C-3PO on a mission to the planet of Passana to find clues to the location of the Sith planet Exegol. Kylo Ren and the Knights of Ren have tracked the team to that planet. It begins a quest that leads to the reappearance of Lando (Billy Dee Williams) and the wreckage of the Second Death Star on one of the moons orbiting Endor. This is the final battle for the fate of the universe between the Resistance and the First Order which has planet destroying Star Destroyers.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is a better STAR WARS movie than the train wreck known as STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI which divided fans on whether it was a good or bad film. The final installment of the Skywalker saga does it best to wrap up the current trilogy and connect back to previous trilogies while also taking some jabs at THE LAST JEDI and making do with deleted footage of Carrie Fisher to finish Liea's arc (since she was originally supposed to the focus of Episode 9 (or Episode IX) before Carrie Fisher's untimely death on December 17, 2016). There are several Easter Eggs to previous STAR WARS movies and other parts of STAR WARS cannon (the books, comics, and animated shows). It is disappointing that Luke Skywalker died in the last one and has one scene as a force ghost. Kylo Ren's arc is satisfactorily wrapped up while Rey's arc is somewhat good and some characters get the short end like Rose, Finn, and R2-D2. The Emperor makes his return as the villain beyond the curtain while it is welcome to see Lando return for Episode IX (along with a surprise return of one character for a scene with Kylo Ren). The Knights of Ren get some use in this movie, but I wish they had more use as characters though after being talked about in Episode VII and not even being used for Episode VIII.

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER moves along at a good pace and makes up for some of the creative choices done by director Rian Johnson. The battle scenes are well put together, but there are a few plot holes I wish they took time to get rid of when they were making this movie (and part of that may have to do with there not being a concrete plan for the latest STAR WARS trilogy from the start and THE LAST JEDI's story really throwing an ax to what was set up in THE FORCE AWAKENS. I do look forward for the rumored regime change in the STAR WARS universe as THE MANDOLORIAN TV show is one of the best things in the STAR WARS universe since ROGUE ONE and the Original Trilogy (Episodes IV, V, and VI). I do look forward to STAR WARS movies that are more of single films with the worry of them being part of some future trilogy as Lucasfilm currently shifts the focus to live action STAR WARS shows for Disney+ for the near future.

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