By Steve Crum
For a Star Wars fan like myself (I still have the original 1977 program sold in the lobby), screening Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was both a proverbial labor of love AND a duty. My fervent anticipation of a new Star Wars flick was still flickering. Per se. However, News Flash: This grand finale to the “Skywalker Saga” nine films is a must see, but a bit disappointing.
Credit J. J. Abrams, who co-wrote, co-produced and directed this episode as well as episode 7, The Force Awakens, in 2015. In his defense, it was a daunting task to tether all the plot lines and character elements into a cohesive conclusion. Think of all the characters from Luke Skywalker to Darth Vader to Palpatine to Kylo Ren and Rey. Then there are the robots, storm troopers, brothers and sisters (Luke and Leia), husbands and wives (Han and Leia), and various planet inhabitants. If it sounds like a bulk of beings to squeeze into 142 minutes, it is because it is. As a result, one has to look fast and wide to glimpse the many cameos and walk-ons.
The end result is an obviously huge scale action-adventure tale with state of the art effects and sparse time for good natured joking and character development. Then again, why is character development necessary? In most of the movie, it isn’t 
needed. We already know these people, these creatures, these robots. However, major characterization change does occur with two of the principal characters: the last Jedi Ren (played by Daisy Ridley); and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), the Supreme Leader of the First Order and son of Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford).
To summarize the overall plot, using studio publicity, The Rise of Skywalker takes place “a year after the events of The Last Jedi. The 
remnants of the Resistance face the First Order once again—while reckoning with the past and their own inner turmoil. Meanwhile, the ancient conflict between the Jedi and the Sith reaches its climax.”
It is good seeing Carrie Fisher return as Leia, albeit via clever editing and unused footage from The Force Awakens. (Fisher died in 2016.) And 82 year-old Billy Dee Williams has more than just a line or two in his return as Lando Calrissian, the original owner of the Millennium Falcon.
Richard E. Grant, last year’s Best Supporting Actor Oscar winner for Can You Ever Forgive Me?, displays his evil chops as First Order General Pryde. The long list of Star Wars returnees includes Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Lupita Nyong’o (Maz Kanata), Ian 
McDiarmid (Palpatine/Darth Sidious), John Boyega (Finn), and Joonas Suotamo (Chewbacca).
Spoiler Alert: There are some surprise characters returning as well as some surprise deaths. That’s all I will reveal….except to look for a sea of quicksand.
Oh yes, let us not overlook composer-conductor John Williams. The brilliant 87 year-old came out of retirement to score yet another Star Wars movie.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lacks the outright fun and originality of the previous episodes, but it achieves its goal of providing big scale closure.
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GRADE, On A to F Scale: B