The world premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in Los Angeles was a glorious event that reunited many stars from a galaxy far far away and brought together critics and members of the audience to celebrate the last movie in the saga.
Many moments from this week’s premiere sent chills down our spines. From Harrison Ford reuniting with Billy Dee Williams, and Mark Hamill and Kevin Smith posing together, to John Boyega and Spike Lee hanging out, and ultimately, John Williams and Anthony Daniels standing together as legendary icons of Star Wars who’ve carried the franchise ever since the release of A New Hope, the premiere event had an ambience of goodbye wrapped around a feeling of nostalgia and reminiscence.
Appearing alongside these old legends were also some newcomers to this fictional universe, including Keri Russell, Naomi Ackie, Dominic Monaghan and Pedro Pascal who plays the titular role of The Mandalorian.Â
The Rise of Skywalker will conclude the story of the Sequel Trilogy by setting the stage for the final confrontation of the Resistance and the First Order while also promising to bring the ancient conflict between the Jedi and the Sith to its definitive end. Suffice it to say, that Disney has a lot riding on this and director J.J. Abrams must weave together many loose ends in order to give us a satisfying conclusion to a story that’s been passing on from generation to generation for over 40 years.
While early reactions called The Rise of Skywalker a powerful and epic finale to the saga, the aggregated critical score indicates that the movie is essentially a mixed bag of awesomeness and convoluted absurdity. And after everything we’ve been through with this franchise, who’s to say which is which?
In any case, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will release in theaters on Friday, but ultimately, it’ll probably be weeks before a reliable consensus forms around the last movie in the story of Skywalkers.
