Star Wars: Can ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ meet expectations?

Credit: Lucasfilm — THe Millenium Falcon

One final (Kessel) run

The shots in the The Rise of Skywalker trailer are fantastic. Rey (lightsaber in hand) leaping backwards towards an oncoming enemy ship: it is unbelievable and breathtaking as a visual. Exactly the type of thing that makes Abrams such a dynamic director.

I’m looking forward to Episode IX. But I think Rian Johnson gave MTV News some words of wisdom for fans, as they eventually dissect what is to come over the next eight months:

"“I want to let go of all my expectations. I want to sit back. I want to be entertained. I want to be surprised. I want to be thrilled. I want [J.J. Abrams] to do stuff I wasn’t expecting him to do, and just go along for the ride. For me… that’s why I go to the movies, you know?”"

I think Johnson’s words are partly a defense of The Last Jedi, which suffered from over-the-top guesses and heavy trailer analysis. But I also think Johnson’s words are an insightful warning about expectations. Abrams’ title and trailer for Episode IX reveal very little about the next installment. He is very careful that way, and generally, most of Hollywood has learned to do this well. Still, every word of the title and every second of the trailer will be dissected and theorized about an infinite number of times – and, yes, even by me.

It is time to just enjoy Star Wars again. The Rise of Skywalker might be excellent (and keep in mind how difficult a task that is), and it might just be fairly average – like most films are. No matter what, with everything that Star Wars has going for it, it should be able to deliver something exciting and fun. And that’s why any of us go to the movies.

Special movies come around once or twice a year. If you are lucky, you can double that. But you probably have to watch a ton of movies. Storytelling is hard to do. And the fact that most movies can be about average overall is pretty impressive – considering all of the different voices, huge costs, and infinite decisions that must be made to complete a film.

If The Rise of Skywalker somehow blows the collective minds of the audience, that would be awesome. And I think Abrams is capable of this kind of storytelling. He might even make the fans (including myself) come to appreciate The Last Jedi even more.

But what might end up happening – and this just feels likely – is that this rushed product will feel like three separate movies instead of one united story. It would be weird if The Last Jedi feels completely out of sync with the other two because important things (and even some cool things) happen in that movie. But it’s something that could transpire because of the way this trilogy has been handled. And that would be a shame.

So now what to do with all of those rising expectations? Oh, I can feel it. And we haven’t even see any Hasbro Vintage Collection toys with The Rise of Skywalker emblazoned across the top yet. Collecting those is a must, but just the photographs will be enough to build more anticipation. As I wait eagerly for December, I am left with the words of Ben Kenobi in the first Star Wars: “We must be cautious.”