Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker [Blu-ray]

Fast shipping. loved the movie and added to our collection.

After the abysmal film that was The Last Jedi, I went into The Rise of Skywalker pessimistic. But regardless I wanted to see the movie because I am a Star Wars fan and I wanted to give my honest opinion on it. So after renting it on prime video and watching it. To my surprise, I loved the movie. It was entertaining, fast-paced, and action-packed. Most importantly it felt like I was watching a Star Wars movie. It was back to being a space adventure movie about good vs evil. The Last Jedi, while a Star Wars movie, felt more like a miserable nightmare. Rian Johnson, the director of The Last Jedi, subverted expectations, didn't answer any questions, and disrespected the saga. JJ Abrams came in and cleaned up the mess after The Last Jedi.We get our heroes back working together in Rey, Poe, Finn, C3P0, BB8, and Chewie. We learn about Rey and why she is strong with the force. We finally also get to see her train with Leia. It was also great to see Rey have an internal struggle with figuring out who she is and where she fits in the galaxy. It made her character seem more human. Kylo Ren continues to be the best part of the sequel trilogy. The scenes with him and Rey are the best parts of the movie. We also get more back story with Poe and Finn. C3P0 and Chewie also really get there moments to shine in the movie. Luke Skywalker is back to being the optimistic mentor who respects his father's lightsaber again. I thought they did a great job of handling with Leia after Carrie Fischer passed away. Seeing Lando again was also a nice touch. And the new characters that get introduced (like Zorri Bliss, Babu Frik, Jannah, and General Pryde) are also really good additions to the story. Emperor Palpatine was pretty cool as well. A lot of his senses felt like something out of a Horror movie. The visual effects were outstanding. Especially in the space battle scenes. The lightsaber fight scenes were intense as well. I thought the movie had a nice and fitting conclusion to the trilogy.The only issues I had with the movie was the Nights of Ren were underutilized. I would have like to see more of who they are and a bit of there origin. There were some other minor issues here and there but it didn't stop me from liking the movie.Overall, I loved Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker. It was nice to have JJ Abrams come in a finish what he started with The Force Awakens. As someone who was personally disappointed with The Last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker really helped patch things up for me. I commend JJ Abrams for doing so. (You could even watch Force Awakens and Rise of Skywalker back to back while plucking out The Last Jedi completely.) I find it ironic critics bashed this movie But loved The Last Jedi 😒. But as you can see in the audience scores above the fans say differently. And I have to side with fans on this one. This movie and The Mandalorian have reinvigorated my faith in Star Wars. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next.Overall score: 9/10

it looks great in 4k

I was hesitant to watch the movie because I read the reviews and most were scathing. I didn't want to spend the money on a bad movie. But I finally gave in because the need to see for myself started to outweigh the bad reviews I read. And I'm glad I did.I rented it this weekend and have watched it several times. I watched it with the captions on which allowed me to get all the dialogue. I recommend that you do that because not all of the dialogue is understandable.I liked the movie. I loved seeing so many of the characters and places from the original trilogy - I've been a fan all my life. Those characters and their stories and the places from earlier movies mean something to me so I'm glad they played a role in this film. It was a true Star Wars film.Many people commented that it had no plot. It certainly did - the search for the Sith hideout and ultimately the final destruction of the Sith. This was introduced in the opening scroll. There was also the stories of Rey and Ben's paths. I thought the action sequences were great. I wish Ben had lived because he and Rey have a story together, but I realized that he needed to die to follow the Star Wars precedent.Does the movie answer all questions? No. We don't know what happened with Finn and Rose, complicated by the fact that I think Finn was going to tell Rey he loves her. We don't really know how Palpatine came back to life or was rescued from the pit Vader threw him in, but we can suppose, and I guess that's more fun. It seemed to me that he was mechanical at first, kept alive by the machines until he stole life-force from Rey and Ben.At least they filled in Rey's story. I didn't expect that, actually. I thought maybe they'd make her and Ben cousins (but I'm glad they didn't because they had alluded an attraction between them from the very beginning). Someone commented that the books state that Luke's son is Ben and Leia has twins. But that isn't significant because the books are different from the movies.Lando was awesome and Harrison Ford looked amazing.I think they did a great job integrating Carrie Fisher, but I wish they'd explained more why she decided to contact Ben at that moment instead of much earlier. Why wait? It's strange. If that was me and my son was a nightmarish baddie, I'd be trying every day to stop him and bring him back to the good side. It just didn't make any sense they way they did it out of the blue. Also, it's kinda farfetched that all she'd need to do is say "Ben" twice and he'd turn to the good side after everything he'd done. She definitely needed to say some more to him.I think at the end Rey calls herself a Skywalker not only because of Leia and Luke, but also because she loved Ben.The acting is amazing, although I think Driver's portrayal of Ben after Rey plunges his lightsaber into his abdomen was lacking. I can't imagine anyone just sitting there with a blank look on their face, breathing pretty normally, after getting impaled with a scorching hot weapon.I loved the scene at the end where he revives Rey and they kiss though. It was awesome to see him smile for the first time in any of the movies - it was so touching. That showed that he had really been redeemed.The scene where Chewie gets the medal, obviously from the first film, was touching. I have been thinking about who's medal it was. Was it the one originally given to Chewie? Did he lose it? Or was it Han's or Luke's? Both of theirs would have meaning to Chewie. I wish that had been more clear.I liked knowing that other storm troopers defected like Finn did, and the fact that behind the movie was the theme that friendship and the bond between friends really can conquer all.I didn't like how at the end Rey buries Leia's and Luke's lightsabers. I feel they deserved better than that. She should've kept them.I think it was a feel-good movie and very entertaining. If you're like me and held off seeing it because of the bad reviews, ignore them and watch it. Was it perfect? No. Would I have done things differently? You betcha. But it's still worth seeing. I know it was the 7th most successful movie of the franchise, but it is better than people have made it out to be.