Some Star Wars films have aged well over time, but several aspects of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker it still doesn't make sense five years later. In all fairness to writer/director JJ Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio, The Rise of Skywalkerthe script had to be written quickly after writer/director Colin Trevorrow left the project in late 2017. Abrams had to finish the film in even less time than he had with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
While the circumstances are understandable, it doesn't change that The Rise of Skywalker is an incredibly confusing film that tries to do too much at the last minute. With continuity errors that complicate the Star Wars timeline and lack of basic narrative logic, The Rise of SkywalkerThe company's fast pace isn't enough to cover up its glaring problems. Analyzing the film's 15 biggest mistakes only reveals more elements that don't make sense.
15
Palpatine broadcasting his plan across the galaxy
And he should be a master strategist
Bringing Emperor Palpatine back, especially at the last minute, was already a questionable idea. This becomes immediately apparent in The Rise of SkywalkerThe opening crawl, which reveals that he has sent an ominous message to the galaxy that the audience cannot hear (except in the Star Wars crossing with Fortnite). It makes no sense for Palpatine to warn the heroes when it has the element of surprise.
If Palpatine had stayed quiet, he could have simply launched the Final Order fleet and easily taken control of the galaxy. General Hux may still have leaked the information to the Resistance, but it would have been more difficult to assemble a fleet if Palpatine hadn't threatened the entire galaxy. Starting the film this way makes Palpatine seem like an incompetent villain.which the rest of the film reinforces.
14
Transferring a message via cable
There are more efficient ways to convey information
In the classic Star Wars fashion, the heroes receive vital information that could turn the tide against the First Order. Unlike the previous Star Wars movies, Boolio transfers the message to R2-D2 by cable, which takes time and gives the First Order's TIE fighters a chance to reach the Millennial Falcão. This is a huge technological step backwards from simply placing information on a data card as in A New Hope.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story There was also a scene where it took time and effort to transfer the Death Star plans, but that was because the files were large. Boolio only refers to his information as a message and subsequent scenes never imply that he passed on schematics or anything else that would require the use of a cable. Iit seems like the scene was only done this way to add extra tension even if it didn't make sense.
13
Jump at the speed of light
Apparently there is something called luck
Poe Dameron uses light-speed jumps to evade the First Order's TIE fighters, allowing him to make several quick hyperspace jumps. On the one hand, it makes sense that the Resistance would need to develop new and risky maneuvers due to the First Order's hyperspace tracking technology. Star Wars: The Last Jedi. On the other hand, Poe had to be very lucky to achieve this without killing his crew.
It is also implied that this is not a new technique and that Poe learned it when he was a spice salesman. However, another former spice dealer Han Solo said in the first Star Wars film that calculations of the speed of light needed to be precise because there was a very high risk of hitting something. If the man who never wants to know the odds says it's too dangerous, then jumping at the speed of light shouldn't be so easy.
12
“Somehow Palpatine has returned”
With little or no explanation
The only thing worse than bringing Palpatine back at the last minute is doing it with little to no explanation.finished with the now infamous but hilarious phrase “Somehow Palpatine has returned.” If the writers wanted to bring back a dead character and make him the true mastermind behind the events of the sequel trilogy, they needed a good explanation. Unfortunately, the best we can do is “Dark science. Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew.”
Even this line doesn't make sense, since there's no way the Sith are the only ones who know about dark science and cloning. The Rise of Skywalker the Rae Carson novelization contains more details about how Palpatine cheated death, but viewers shouldn't have to resort books for information that should have been in the movie. It's also a missed opportunity to expand on Palpatine's speech about achieving immortality in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
11
Replacing General Hux with Allegiant General Pryde
An unnecessary last-minute replacement
Richard E. Grant's performance as Allegiant General Pryde was admittedly a highlight of The Rise of Skywalkerbut his character is ultimately unnecessary. General Hux was introduced as the leader of the First Order's armies, only to be sidelined in favor of a new general. this had to be established in an already bloated film. Just because The Last Jedi turned Hux into a joke didn't mean The Rise of Skywalker had to double.
Hux could have easily swapped places with Prydeand making him Palpatine's servant would have made more sense. Hux's father, Commander Brendol Hux, served Palpatine during the Empire's reign and was a founding member of the First Order. This would give new context for Hux telling Finn he needed Kylo Ren to lose and possibly explain some of his questionable choices in The Last Jedi.
10
Pasaana should have been Jakku
Another desert planet
The planet Jakku received criticism when The Force Awakens came out as an unnecessary clone of Tatooine, and Abrams made the same mistake in The Rise of Skywalker. The heroes travel to Pasaana, another desert planet, to find vital information to locate Exegol. However, since Bestoon's Ochi knew Rey was on Jakku anywayadding Pasaana was unnecessary.
The film could have revealed that Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian pursued Ochi to Jakku but lost him in the sinking fields, the same ones Rey warned BB-8 to avoid in The Force Awakens. If Lor San Tekka was with them, that would explain why he was hiding on Jakku.and Luke would give him a map of where he was going. If Pasaana really had to be another planet, then at least make it something other than another desert.
9
“Do they fly now?”
Jetpacks have always existed in Star Wars
As the heroes flee the First Order on Pasaana, they are shocked to see stormtroopers wearing jetpacks, comically shouting “They fly now!” This shouldn't be confusing to Finn, as Republic clone troopers and Imperial stormtroopers had jetpack variants, so why would it be any different for the First Order? Even though they've never seen a flying First Order stormtrooper, jetpacks aren't unheard of in the world. Star Wars.
8
So many powerful moments are undermined
Sometimes in the same scene
Amidst the crowded plot and fast pace, The Rise of Skywalker it has powerful emotional moments, but most of them are ruined in later scenes. One of the most glaring is the “death” of Chewbacca, where Rey apparently kills an iconic Star Wars character, only to reveal five minutes later that he survived. C-3PO also sacrifices his memories to complete the mission, but R2-D2 restores them before the third act.
Even the film's most devastating moment is undermined when Rey dies, but is immediately revived by Ben Solo. Although this leads to a happy moment where they kiss, the scene turns tragic again with Ben's sudden death. If The Rise of Skywalker I didn't want to commit to those emotional moments, so the plot should have been simplified by cutting them out.
7
Poe was a Spice Runner before joining the Resistance
Contradicting the films and books
The Rise of Skywalker finally revealed something about Poe's story, but in doing so, it created a continuity error. THE Star Wars books established that Poe was a member of the New Republic navy before Leia recruited him into the Resistance. The Last Jedi reflects this by having Poe identify himself to the First Order as “Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic fleet.”
Unfortunately, The Rise of Skywalker contradicted this by revealing that Poe was a spice dealer before leaving to join the Resistance. Star Wars: Poe Dameron – Free Fall by Alex Segura has attempted to reconcile Poe's conflicting history with mixed results, but that shouldn't need fixing. Even though Poe being a spice seller wasn't a mistake, It seems redundant for the film to copy and paste Han Solo's story into Poe.
6
The blade points to the right place in the ruins of the Death Star
Convenient but highly unlikely
When the heroes arrive in the Endor system, they discover that the dagger's alignment with the Death Star ruins points to the Wayfinder's location. The fact that much of the Death Star survived the explosion in Return of the Jedi and landed somewhere other than Endor is already hard to believeBut even more confusing is how accurate blade alignment can still be. Fragile ruins located in the ocean should have already moved, collapsed or been eroded.
Even if the ruins remained intact, why would Palpatine or his servants create this clue? Why risk such a valuable artifact being destroyed if the structure collapses or allow someone not loyal to the Sith to find it? This might be the most ridiculous part of the entire moviewhich means something considering things that happen later.
5
Why exactly did Leia die?
Confusing deaths must run in the family
Killing off Leia Organa was probably inevitable after Carrie Fisher's death, and the filmmakers had limited footage to work with. Still, the way Leia dies is confusing, as the film never clearly establishes that she is so weak that using the Force could kill her. All she does is say a word to her son on the other side of the galaxywhich hardly seems enough to drain the last of his strength.
Perhaps the shock of connecting with Ben when Rey stabbed him was more than Leia could bear, but it felt like she was already dying before that. This shows that the screenwriters failed to learn from the mistakes of previous films.like the death of Padmé Amidala in Revenge of the Sith was criticized for apparently having her die of nothing more than a broken heart. Like mother, like daughter, it seems.
4
Luke's X-Wing work
He did everything to make sure that wouldn't happen
Many fans were disappointed that Luke didn't appear in person at the end of The Last Jedibut this could be forgiven because he had no way of leaving Ahch-To. However, The Rise of Skywalker made the baffling decision to have Rey leave Ahch-To via Luke's old X-Wing, which never should have worked. It had been submerged for more than half a decadeand the door to Luke's cabin was supposed to be made from his X-Wing.
3
Planet-killing Star Destroyers Can't Navigate Alone
Why don't they just go up?!
The Rise of Skywalker has the highest stakes of all Star Wars films thanks to Palpatine's fleet of 10,000 planet-destroying Star Destroyers. Unfortunately, having such a ridiculously high threat level requires an equally ridiculous explanation of how the heroes can win. The weakness the writers have defined is that the star destroyers are unable to navigate Exegol's chaotic atmosphere alone.
If 10,000 planet-killing star destroyers are so useless, then there's no point in having them.
Not only is it absurd that ships capable of destroying planets may not have basic navigationbut the Battle of Exegol contradicts this. When General Pryde sees that the Resistance is targeting the navigation tower, he decides to guide the fleet with his own command ship, but why can his Star Destroyer tell which way is up? If 10,000 planet-killing star destroyers are so useless, then there's no point in having them.
2
Rey did exactly what Palpatine wanted
Is he really gone forever?
Rey's final battle with Palpatine is a perfect example of the sequel trilogy copying the original trilogy visually, but without the context that made the originals work. When Luke saw that overthrowing his father would turn him into what he fought against, he decided he would rather die as a Jedi, and this inspired Vader to redeem himself and turn against Palpatine. The Rise of Skywalker also highlights this theme, but does not follow it.
Palpatine tells Rey he wants her to kill him in rage so his spirit can be transferred to her, and although she refuses at first, that's exactly what she does to defeat him. Rey kills Palpatine by redirecting his Force lightning and looks very angry when she does soso she still takes revenge on the man who killed her parents. This is thematically inconsistent and doesn't make it clear why the audience should believe Palpatine is gone this time.
1
Rey burying the lightsabers on Tatooine
A confusing ending to a confusing movie
Just like in the beginning, The Rise of Skywalker ends with a final illogical moment. Rey travels to Luke's childhood home on Tatooine and buries his and Leia's lightsaber in the sand, and while it may seem appropriate to end the Star Wars saga where it began in 1977, makes no sense in the universe. It was here that Anakin and Luke were forced to bury those who raised themwhile Leia has no connection to Tatooine.
Rey burying the lightsabers is also thematically inconsistent with her taking on the name Skywalker.as it visually represents her leaving the Skywalker legacy behind to forge her own path. Instead of honoring her mentors' lightsabers, she buries them in a random location where they will eventually decay and no one will ever find them. It's just one of many moments that show why Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker It's a lackluster ending to the Star Wars saga.