Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

My relationship with Star Wars, like many people of my Gen-X generation, is a rather profound one. It may have shaped my moral compass. For sure it was one of the first films where I fell in love with all the characters. It was magical. And the toys! I collected all the cards, action fictions, posters, and books. It was schoolyard conversation. Star Wars was a huge chunk of my childhood. Return of the Jedi was released in 1983; I was thirteen years old. Then I grew up.

When The Phantom Menace was released in 1999, I was twenty nine. I had watched Pulp Fiction, Silence of the Lambs, Terminator 2, Seven, Jurassic Park, and Good Will Hunting. I was an adult (well my wife might disagree) watching adult movies. Star Wars was happy memory for me. So when I watched The Phantom Menace, not only was it boring, but it was designed for children. It wasn't how I wanted it or I remembered it. The fun seemed to be sucked out of it. And let me tell you, I wanted to love it. I wanted to love it so much and I didn't. I waited like everyone else for the next two films; saw them on opening day. They weren't much better. Fast forward to 2015 and I'm now forty five years old with two kids who I inflicted my love of the original films on. The Force Awakens was the film I had been waiting for since I was thirteen. I thought it was really good. Not great, but good. There was hope. Then The Last Jedi came out. It crushed my love of Star Wars all over again. I hated it. I was done with Star Wars for good. Thought about selling all my toys and moving on with my life.

I read the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes for The Rise of Skywalker and they were pretty awful. Many people told me, oh, if you didn't like the last one, you won't like this one. I put off going. I had always gone on opening day. I waited weeks before going to see it. I guess I was dreading putting the final nail into my Star Wars coffin. I took my son, who is now thirteen (the same age I was when I watched Return of the Jedi). We were two of four people in the theatre. The words came across the the screen, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. . . " It pulled at my heart strings. I waited to be crushed. 

I'm very, very happy to report, The Rise of Skywalker is my favourite Star Wars film since Return of the Jedi. It has everything you want. It has the childhood fun I remember. It's nostalgic, it's fresh, it has magic. And it's got a new droid, Cone Head, or as I call him, Squeaky Wheel. This is the Star Wars film I've been waiting for, for thirty six years. My son loved it too. Go see it in theatres now.