The Rise of Skywalker: Let The Past Return, Revive It If You Have To

There comes a moment when a wayward prince, a highborn child with powers beyond measure, must face the spite caused by his past actions. He has to contend with a legacy of suffering left behind and choose how to move forward, should he be given the opportunity. It's a moment with no clear solutions.

Oh wait, this isn't a review of Avatar: The Last Airbender. No such moment exists in The Rise of Skywalker - a title that continues to confound me. A more accurate title (read no further if you don't like spoilers) would be The Rise of Palpatine, as the only true villain in the franchise returns from the dead to reclaim his devilish mantle.

And from that sentence stems all the movie's problems.

In his two outings as director, J.J. Abrams found a way to include another Death Star in Starkiller Base and to resurrect Palpatine. He would like nothing better than to remake the original trilogy under the guise of something new. It is an easy thing to do. Like no other major franchise, Star Wars banks on nostalgia. Referencing the old is a move that goes over well, but it should just be that, referencing, not a wannabe cover album of The Return of the Jedi.

Despite this overt love for the original trilogy, Abrams's biggest accomplishment in Rise of Skywalker is to take the three movies that changed Hollywood and render them irrelevant. Darth Vader didn't kill the emperor. Han and Leia didn't end the Galactic Empire. Luke didn't...do anything except lose his hand in a battle that didn't matter. They were never gone, just hiding in the shadows and developing more planet destroying technology.

That is a far, far worse crime than any Rian Johnson stands accused of. For all the fans' gnashing of teeth over his handling of Luke, he set the stage for a saga finale that didn't include a one-dimensional puppet master controlling everything. Adam Driver's Kylo Ren/Ben Solo would have had to come to terms with killing his father, being rejected by Rey, who seems to understand his inner turmoil, and becoming the Supreme Leader of an army fighting Rey and his mother.

We all know from how skilled an actor Driver can be. Let him and Daisy Ridley take the story in a new direction and provide a more satisfying conclusion than yet another "destroy the Death Star and the emperor" story.

Furthermore, the return of the emperor feels more like an impression of the ever meme-able villain than the earlier iterations of him. He's more one-dimensional than ever, and that's saying something. Here, he just cackles and shows off his lightning-empowered force abilities. He even says, "Do it!" in the comical way we all know. If you are going to make the ill-advised choice to bring Palpatine back, can you at least get him right?

What I can say in the movie's favor is the momentum. Though it may skip steps and is illogical at times, Abrams has a good sense of pace. He's always had that. He's a professional crowd-pleaser and knows how to make even mediocre productions watchable. Driver and Ridley also get the most mileage out of the material given to them. Less committed actors would've put this film in Attack of the Clones territory.

Where I should be contemplating the course of the saga and feeling both elation and sadness at the series coming to an end, I'm left with mild exhaustion and annoyance. For a universe with essentially limitless possibilities and an expansive lore, the lack of variety in the stories makes no sense. Not everything needs a Death Star (or something like it) and an emperor (or something like him). Please, Disney, let someone take a chance and reward them when they do.

Last Christmas I (Literally) Gave You My Heart

 *Opens Christmas Movie Recipe*

- Classic Christmas tunes (Preferably sung by cast members)

- Romance

- Quirky characters obsessed with the spirit of Christmas

- An initially cynical lead who is charmed by their festive surroundings

- Likability

- Overt (and sometimes obvious) life lessons

- Heart (elusive but necessary)

- Poverty (optional)

*Returns Recipe to Hallmark*

I have always had a soft spot for Christmas movies. If anything, they are an excuse to indulge in the comfortable and cheery tunes that mark the holiday season. Right around my birthday, I turn on the movies I’ve seen countless times – Holiday Inn, White Christmas, and It’s a Wonderful Life – the movies that created the formula that we have now become ultra-familiar with.

Last Christmas is a highly engineered attempt to capture the elements audiences expect from the genre and offer a mild twist. Even with talented (or at least prominent) individuals on board, I came into the movie with low expectations – these sorts of things are often imitations of classics and having high expectations is masochistic. Still, I left the theater having been let down. The movie doesn’t have the cheer to make up for its massive shortcomings.

The largest humbug is the story. Emma Thompson can write. Her screenplay of Sense and Sensibility is fantastic. Creating a formulaic yet pleasant enough story seems like a reasonable expectation. It never quite gets there. Emilia Clarke’s character is ailing in body and soul when we first meet her, and following a few chance encounters with a guardian angel-like Henry Golding – can someone please get this guy a more than one-note role? He has all the makings of a star – she’s having a holly jolly Christmas. The twist ending falls flat.

That, however, is not the worst part of the story. It is everything around them. The Christmas emporium run by Michelle Yeoh (this is a Crazy Rich Asians reunion) has the right quirk, but scenes depicting her as a giddy schoolgirl at heart come across empty and lack the humor they were going for. The last part is especially prescient, as there isn’t even enough humor in the story to bring a half-smile across your face, let alone laughter.

Without the humor, the little moments in the movie meant to elevate it beyond simple Christmas fare don’t have the punch they need. The film is very apparent in its lack of sympathy for Brexit yet the film’s politics seem shoehorned in, and it’s not just the nonexistent laughs. The story relies heavily on immigrant stereotypes. They are poor, isolated, and speak with an accent and sing songs from the old country, and they are meant to be pitied. Some things, even in a Christmas movie, cannot be oversimplified.

Because there are so many problems in the story and how the characters are conceived, passing judgement on the acting is difficult. Clarke soldiers on, trying to make the most of it, and trying to make it seem like her transformation is earned. Golding and Yeoh also do their best, while the rest are little more than window dressing.

I also want to take issue with the title. If the creatives behind the film weren’t so invested in an all too literal interpretation of the titular song’s opening line, then they should’ve named it Change of Heart. Alas, a missed opportunity. 

Once Upon a Time...I Went On a Nostalgia Trip

I honestly don't know if this is a good movie or not. In some ways, I fall under the intended audience for it, meaning I am extremely well-versed in Hollywood history, black-and-white westerns, and the events surrounding the Sharon Tate murder. But...if there's a story, a progression, a reason the camera needs to keep filming, I couldn't find it. It's two days in the lives of an aging cowboy star and his close friend and stunt double, and the circumstances they run across...followed by a tag that has nothing to do with story and everything to do with spectacle. They also needed to justify the marketing and Margot Robbie's existence in this movie as Sharon Tate.

Let me qualify some statements. I can get behind reasonable nostalgia and a man coming to terms with his has-been status. There are some truly vulnerable moments in the movie, all of them come from DiCaprio, unsurprisingly the most talented actor in the cast. There's also a little bit of La La Land in that Tarantino documents a Los Angeles that no longer exists. The monuments have mostly been torn down and the city has a short memory.

On a personal level, I connected with the episode wherein Tate finds herself in Westwood and heads to the Bruin Theater to watch the movie she is in. I went to UCLA. I know Westwood and its twin movie theaters real well. Going to a movie by myself was something I did, hoping either to be entertained for a couple hours or for the creators to impart some wisdom I can use in my own filmmaking pursuits (I still do this, though I'm in grad school in Texas). I also got a kick out of watching how other film-goers reacted to what was happening on the screen.

Enough personal nostalgia, back to the review.

I once had someone tell me that Tarantino's schtick is "Look how many movies I've seen and how much I know about them!" He's a fan lucky enough to find himself behind the camera. It goes without saying that one should love movies if they're going to make them, but outside of a handful of moments, the movie is just interesting. The substance is lacking.

Being a big Bruce Lee fan, I have to address his inclusion in the film. Inadequate portrayals are nothing new to me. Not once has Hollywood gotten him right. Tarantino joins the list of failures. Yes, he talked a big game. Yes, he was a bonafide character big on theatrics. Yes, he knew Tate and Jay Sebring (who got Lee his first break in the American film industry). No, he didn't say he would cripple Muhammad Ali, he said the size of Ali's fists would be too big to handle. And no, he wouldn't lose a fight to a stuntman. Lee didn't just fight on screen. He was forced to leave Hong Kong at 18 because he got into street fights for fun. The point is, Bruce Lee isn't a joke or a strawman for Brad Pitt to certify his macho credentials.

I consider this movie an imperfect mess with the occasional high point.

Spider-Man, Spider-Man...Watch out for that hidden cam

Years ten and eleven of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have been the most serious. No, the fun wasn’t entirely taken away, it’s just that there aren’t many laughs and good feelings to go around when the bad guy wins and wipes out half the universe, and when the man who started it all sacrificed himself to undo the “Snapture.” It’s like the Cell Saga from Dragonball Z. Earth destroyed, earth restored, and the original hero taking one for the team (FYI this is a highly inadequate summary; I’m being flippant). For those of you who haven’t seen Infinity War or Endgame…oof.

Fans have also bought in to the point where the Marvel heroes are veering dangerously close to deity territory. So there’s that, too.

Spider-Man: Far from Home is more of the same, right? After all, young Peter has often operated under Tony Stark’s significant shadow. Stark is like a second Uncle Ben, if you will, teaching responsibility. Now it’s time for him to step up when a new threat to the planet arises. Rest in peace vacation plans.

That’s par for the course.

…and then it’s not.

A superhero movie featuring Spider-Man, the hero responsible for reigniting the comic book blockbuster in 2002, shifts from the standard balance between duty and wanting a normal life with the girl he likes to a satire on the genre in the space of a single scene. That is a risky move. Self-awareness and drawing attention to CGI don’t exactly mesh with a brand built on escapism and suspension of disbelief.

The move pays off. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the illusionist extraordinaire, Mysterio, with the right amount of panache and narcissism. Read no further if you care about spoilers. For all intents and purposes, he is making a superhero movie, using advanced droid technology to present what looks a real threat to the world. He can then swoop in and save the day. Everyone buys into his just ridiculous enough origin story, even Spidey, who just wants a break.

Like with all standalone films centered around a major box office draw, there is never a doubt that he won’t win in the end. Most of the entertainment value comes through making fun of contemporary high schoolers. Ned remains a comic treasure. Flash posts everything on snapchat. Zendaya once again channels MJ’s weirdness for maximum effect. She is also responsible for the real tension in the story. The will they, won’t they dynamic between her and Peter is the part I was more interested in. Aside from a few interesting sequences, where the critique of the superhero genre is most clear, the virtual pyrotechnics and Mysterio’s nefarious plot were secondary to the love story.

That’s as it should be. We’ve had enough big, dumb CGI in the last two years, and enough melodrama. It’s time to have that suspension of disbelief broken (providing meme culture hasn’t already done so) time to laugh at the cynical idea that momentarily wiping out half the population would continue to hold weight. It’s time to sit back and enjoy a high school comedy-drama that fits somewhere between Cameron Crowe and John Hughes, hopefully closer to the former because Crowe’s films are superior in every way. Do yourself a favor and watch Say Anything.

One final note, Marvel isn’t stupid. Too many franchises are taking themselves too seriously this summer. That’s why they’ve crashed and burned at the box office. After Endgame’s closing act, the antidote to franchise fatigue is to poke fun at themselves…and do it well. There are good laughs and it doesn’t make audiences feel like they’re unintelligent for investing so much into the MCU. That’s a win for all parties involved.

Avengers: (is this really the) Endgame(?)

 

I’ll get this out of the way first: Endgame gets fan-service-y at times. If Marvel and Disney know anything, it’s giving audiences some fulfillment or vindication of their fandom. Does that create a few plot holes? Probably. Are there now question marks in the MCU continuity? Most definitely. Does this make the movie any less entertaining?

Not at all.

For those of you concerned about spoilers, rest assured, you won’t find any in this review. I’ll keep everything to a general knowledge level.

Following last summer’s colossal defeat to Thanos, an Avengers team whittled down to the core group tries to fight back in the hopes of restoring life to half the universe. The mission is not as simple or direct as it may initially seem.

Despite running over 3 hours, the film doesn’t feel overburdened or overstuffed in the way a Michael Bay explosion-fest would. The Russo Brothers understand the universe they’re working in. They get the pacing spot on. The story is always in motion, except for the occasional pause to contemplate the past and the future.

The balance between humor and darkness does not feel forced like it does in Captain Marvel. No one’s falling over backwards trying to throw in a snarky quip that unravels the tension. The Russo Brothers let the tension build when tension is needed. Humor often comes in throwaway lines and little observations. I think they understand that not everything needs to be given the Ragnarok treatment.

Performances, for the most part, are hard to judge. At this point, Chris Evans is Captain America and Robert Downey Jr. is Iron Man. The only time we notice anything is if something goes against our understanding of the characters. That’s true for the rest of the roster, as well. If there is a standout, it’s probably Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner has mostly had to stand around looking cool and shoot arrows at the bad guys. He actually acts this time. Gasp. His story is among the more emotional arcs in the MCU.

In a lot of ways, Endgame is like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. Many long-running arcs are wrapped up in an entertaining and satisfying fashion. The only complaint I have is in the final battle. There are too many moving parts, too many CGI aliens running aroundand the camera shifts through the scene to the point where it becomes a kinetic blur. The best fight scenes in the series have been in Captain America movies. They’re not glorified light shows. The battlefield has a physical presence and locations matter. I know it would’ve been a challenge to bring that to a larger scene, but Cobra Kai’s Season 2 finale did it, so no excuses.

Endgame is the most enjoyable 3-hour movie I’ve seen. It’s a celebration of an 11-year process that has been unrivaled in Hollywood history, one that will (for better or worse) define the current and future generation of film-making. I may go for a second round, something to tide me over until the next Spider-Man comes out.

(P.S. Marvel, you stole the ending I thought up for one of the characters 8 years ago. I’m suing. Don’t tell me you don’t have mind reading technology. I’m on to you.)