SomeStar Warsmovies have aged well with time, but several aspects ofStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalkerstill make no sense five years later. In all fairness to writer/director J.J. Abrams and co-writer Chris Terrio,The Rise of Skywalker’s script had to be written quicklyafter writer/directorColin Trevorrow exited the project in late 2017. Abrams then had to finish the movie in even less time than he’d had withStar Wars: The Force Awakens.
While the circumstances are understandable, it doesn’t change thatThe Rise of Skywalkeris an incredibly messy filmthat tries to do way too much at the last minute. With continuity errors that complicate theStar Warstimelineand a lack of basic storytelling logic,The Rise of Skywalker’s lightning-fast pace isn’t enough to cover up its glaring issues. Analyzing the movie’s 15 biggest mistakes only reveals more elements that make no sense.
15Palpatine Broadcasting His Plan To The Entire Galaxy
And he’s supposed to be a master strategist
Bringing Emperor Palpatine back at all, especially at the last minute, was already a questionable idea. This becomes immediately apparent inThe Rise of Skywalker’s opening crawl, which reveals that he sent out a threatening message to the galaxy that the audience doesn’t get to hear (except in theStar Warscrossover withFortnite).It makes no sense for Palpatine to give the heroes a heads-upwhen he has the element of surprise.
If Palpatine had stayed quiet, he could have just launched the Final Order fleet and easily taken control of the galaxy. General Hux may still have leaked the information to the Resistance, but they would have had a harder time rallying a fleet if Palpatine hadn’t threatened the whole galaxy.Starting the movie this way makes Palpatine look like an incompetent villain, which the rest of the movie reinforces.
14Transferring A Message By Cable
There are more efficient ways to pass information
In classicStar Warsfashion, the heroes receive vital information that could turn the tide against the First Order. Unlike previousStar Warsmovies, Boolio transfers the message to R2-D2 by cable, which takes time and gives First Order TIE fighters a chance to catch up with theMillennium Falcon.This is a major technological downgrade from simply putting the information on a datacardlike inA New Hope.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Storyalso had a scene where it took time and effort to transfer the Death Star plans, but that was because the files were large. Boolio only refers to his information as a message and subsequent scenes never imply that he passed schematics or anything else that would require using a cable. It feels like the scene was only done this way to add extra tensioneven though it didn’t make any sense.
13Lightspeed Skipping
Apparently there is such a thing as luck
Poe Dameron uses lightspeed skipping to escape from the First Order TIE fighters, allowing him to make several quick hyperspace jumps. On the one hand, it does make sense that the Resistance would need to develop new, risky maneuvers because of the First Order’s hyperspace tracking technology fromStar Wars: The Last Jedi. On the other hand,Poe had to be extremely lucky to pull this off without getting his crew killed.
It’s also implied that this isn’t a new technique and that Poe learned it when he was a spice runner. However, fellow former spice runnerHan Solo said in the firstStar Warsmovie that lightspeed calculations needed to be precise because there was too great a risk of crashing into something. If the man who never wants to know the odds says it’s too dangerous, then lightspeed skipping shouldn’t be this easy.
12"Somehow Palpatine Returned"
With little to no explanation
The only thing worse than bringing Palpatine back at the last minute is doing so with little to no explanation, topped off with the now infamous yet hilarious line"Somehow Palpatine returned.“If the writers wanted to bring back a dead character and make him the true mastermind behind the events of the sequel trilogy, they needed a good explanation. Sadly, the most we get is"Dark science. Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew.”
Even this one line makes no sense, as there’s no way the Sith are the only ones who know about dark science and cloning.The Rise of Skywalkernovelization by Rae Carson contains more details about how Palpatine cheated death, butviewers shouldn’t have to turn tobooks for information that should have been in the movie. It’s also a missed opportunity to expand Palpatine’s talk of achieving immortality inStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
11Replacing General Hux With Allegiant General Pryde
An unnecessary last-minute replacement
Richard E. Grant’s performance as Allegiant General Pryde was admittedly a highlight ofThe Rise of Skywalker, but his character is ultimately unnecessary.General Hux was presented as the leader of the First Order armies, only to be pushed to the background in favor of a new generalthat had to be established in an already bloated film. Just becauseThe Last Jediturned Hux into a joke didn’t meanThe Rise of Skywalkerhad to double down.
Hux could easily have switched places with Pryde, and making him Palpatine’s servant would have made more sense. Hux’s father, Commandant Brendol Hux, served Palpatine during the reign of the Empire and was a founding member of the First Order. This would give new context to Hux telling Finn that he needed Kylo Ren to lose and possibly explain some of his questionable choices inThe Last Jedi.
10Pasaana Should Have Been Jakku
Yet another desert planet
The planet Jakku received criticism whenThe Force Awakenscame out for being an unnecessary clone of Tatooine, and Abrams made the same mistake inThe Rise of Skywalker. The heroes travel to Pasaana, another desert planet, to find vital information for locating Exegol. However, sinceOchi of Bestoon knew Rey was on Jakku anyway, adding Pasaana was unnecessary.
The film could have revealed that Luke Skywalker and Lando Calrissian chased Ochi to Jakku but lost him in the sinking fields, the same ones Rey warned BB-8 to avoid inThe Force Awakens.If Lor San Tekka was with them, this would explain why he was hiding on Jakku, and Luke would give him a map to where he was going. If Pasaana really had to be another planet, then at least make it something besides another desert.
9"They Fly Now?"
Jetpacks have always existed in Star Wars
As the heroes flee the First Order on Pasaana, they are shocked to see the stormtroopers using jetpacks, comically shouting “They fly now!” This shouldn’t be confusing for Finn, as the Republic clone troopers andImperial stormtroopers had jetpack variants, so why would it be different for the First Order?Even if they had never seen a flying First Order stormtrooper, jetpacks aren’t unheard of inStar Wars.
8So Many Powerful Moments Are Undercut
Sometimes in the same scene
Amidst the overstuffed plot and fast pacing,The Rise of Skywalkerhas powerful emotional moments, but most of them are ruined in later scenes. One of the most glaring is Chewbacca’s “death,” whereRey seemingly kills an iconicStar Warscharacter, only to reveal five minutes later that he survived. C-3PO also sacrifices his memories to complete their mission, but R2-D2 restores them before the third act.
The Rise of Skywalkeralso has too much comedy that often undercuts what should be serious moments.
Even the most devastating moment in the movie is undercut when Rey dies but is immediately revived by Ben Solo. While this leads to a happy moment where they share a kiss, the scene turns tragic again with Ben’s sudden death. IfThe Rise of Skywalkerdidn’t want to commit to these emotional moments, thenthe plot should have been simplified by cutting them out.
7Poe Was A Spice Runner Before He Joined The Resistance
Contradicting the movies and books
The Rise of Skywalkerfinally revealed something about Poe’s backstory, but in doing so, it created a continuity error.TheStar Warsbooks established that Poe was a member of the New Republic navybefore Leia recruited him into the Resistance.The Last Jedireflects this by having Poe identify himself to the First Order as"Commander Poe Dameron of the Republic fleet."
9 Ways Rise Of Skywalker Changed Star Wars Canon Forever
As the final Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker did a lot of things - and it actually changed the entire saga in many ways!
Unfortunately,The Rise of Skywalkercontradicted this by revealing that Poe was a spice runner before he left to join the Resistance.Star Wars: Poe Dameron - Free Fallby Alex Segura attempted to reconcile Poe’s conflicting backstory with mixed results, but this shouldn’t have needed fixing. Even if Poe being a spice runner wasn’t an error,it feels redundant for the movie to copy and paste Han Solo’s backstory onto Poe.
6The Blade Points To The Right Spot On The Death Star Ruins
Convenient yet highly improbable
When the heroes arrive in the Endor system, they discover that aligning the dagger with the Death Star ruins points to the Wayfinder’s location.The fact that so much of the Death Star survived the explosion inReturn of the Jediand landed somewhere besides Endor is already hard to believe, but even more confusing is how the blade alignment could still be accurate. Fragile ruins sitting in an ocean should have moved, collapsed, or been eroded by now.
Even if the ruins have remained intact, why would Palpatine or his servants create this clue in the first place? Why risk such a valuable artifact being destroyed if the structure caved in or allow someone not loyal to the Sith to find it?This may be the most ridiculous part of the entire movie, which is saying something considering the things that happen later.
