Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review – 6 Times I Cried Hysterically #TheRiseOfSkywalker

I wasn’t going to write a review of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker because I just wanted to go and enjoy the show without having to go back to my house and work for two hours…but I can’t avoid this. I have so much to say and my husband just isn’t into this sort of thing.

And so, I turn to the Internet to release all the things that are inside of me and to express all the words that I need to say about the final Star Wars movie and the way they wrapped the saga that we’ve all grown up with. 

This entire post is a SPOILER. 

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review – 6 Times I Cried Hysterically

I was born in 1977, just like Star Wars. While I was never a FAN OF ALL FANS like some are online, I do hold an affection for the series because the people within those frames were very much a part of my life growing up.

I’ve seen the first three movies about a thousand times. As a child, Luke and Wookie and Leia were my friends. I wasn’t a Barbie girl – I was more of a  “battling stormtroopers and evildoers” kinda girl.

My cousin and I would head out to the backyard and he would create these elaborate scenarios that I would follow. He would make all the super cool galactical sounds with his mouth and I would just say “pew pew” because that’s all I could do – but it worked and it was amazing.  I truly have such fond memories of those days. 

At night, our grandparents would play poker until 2AM and we would fly off into space on an adventure. Sometimes it was Spaceballs – not going to lie. But most times, it was the real thing. So, I needed to see how it all ended. I needed to know how this storybook closed. Maybe I am a true fan after all. 

Adam Driver Made Me Cry About 50 Times

Earlier in the day, I started to watch Adam Driver’s movie Marriage on Netflix and literally had to turn it off because it was hitting too close to home for me. Not that I’m getting a divorce, but I saw how simple it was to snowball into something unkind so quickly. 

He was subtle and magical. I believed every word and I had never really seen him in anything other than Star Wars. So, I was entranced by his performance.

So much, in fact, that I had to turn it off. I was sobbing. I leaned on my husband and I told him that I hoped that never happened to us. As a child of divorce, maybe I knew how possible it all was. 

And so, walking into Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, I had a different perspective of Adam than in recent years. I know what you are thinking –> He showed us so much more in The Last Jedi than fighting – this is true. 

In the last movie, he did show us that there was good in him and that he had depth and that there was a chance for him… and I believed it all. The Last Jedi gave Adam some room to show his abilities for sure. But not enough. 

I knew, in this final Star Wars film,  that we would finally crack open Kylo Ren and I walked in really looking forward to it after the morning I had with Marriage and ScarJo. I prayed that our villain would die a Jedi. And now… I’m crying again – but we will get to that in a minute. 

Overall – My Thoughts On Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

I heard some buzz that some avid Star Wars fans were NOT happy with this film and I was debating writing this because I work with Disney A LOT but I had to include this fact because WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE? ARE THEY CRAZY? 

This movie is everything that it should have been and I am a pretty miserable person who always finds something wrong with ALL THE THINGS. Like I am never happy when I order food – that’s me.

I walked in waiting to be like, “it was OKKKKKKKKKKKK” and instead, I SKIPPED OUT OF THE THEATRE talking to strangers and hugging people. 

I loved it. My Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker review is simple – it was a love story. It was a love story between Ben and Rey. It was a love story between the cast and fans. It was a love story between the old cast and the new. It was a gift – right around the holidays, too. 

My Only Problem

I do have one slight issue – what the hell did Finn want to tell Rey the entire movie? That he loved her? DId I miss that part? HALP! 

The 6 Times I Cried So Hard During Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Let’s play – can Vera get through writing this section without having a mental breakdown. This should be fun. OK! There were so many AMAZING PARTS of this movie that literally brought me to sobbing tears. I was not OK. I had to write them down to let the universe know what a great job the cast and crew did. 

1. When Kylo Ren and Han Solo were talking and Kylo says, “Dad” and then Han says “I KNOW” and it felt just like the “I love you // I know” scene. It felt like they put in a nod to the older scene with Carrie Fisher, but Carrie was no longer with us. For a moment, I felt like it would have been Leia and Han reenacting that scene together – but maybe saying it the other way around. But they couldn’t do it, because she was gone. And so, they used Kylo to do it and here we go.  I am BAWLING AGAIN!!!!! I could not handle that. 
2. When Rey gave her lifeforce to Kylo Ren because she couldn’t kill him after she realized that his attention wavered from the battle once his mother died. And the fact that she died in order to protect Rey! The whole entire circle was just too much to handle. Leia dies to reach out to her son one more time. Her son loves his mother so much that he loses focus. Rey feels it too and instinctually takes advantage but doesn’t want to win because she loves him.  And then she HEALS BEN! Sobbing. SOBBING. 
3. When Chewie throws himself on the floor after he hears that Leia dies. I thought that maybe – in a way – people were actually mourning her real loss in those moments and allowing themselves to grieve for real on camera. That made me sad. The entire time, everyone had to pretend she was still alive and then FINALLY – they could admit she was actually gone. I’m sort of an empath. So, things like this really affect me. 
4. When C3P0 said that he wanted to look at his friends one more time – I know he is a robot, but I thought it was sad because it was the last movie and those words really rang true.I just thought about the actor saying those words for real. He just wanted to look out – one more time –  as the character he loved so very much. WAHHHHHHH. 
5. OF COURSE, when Ben climbed up out of the barrels of HELL, lifted up a dead Rey, sacrificed his life for her, THEY KISSED FINALLY OMG and then he DIED A JEDI. DEAD. OMG ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I WAS HYPERVENTILATING.  I was rolling around the floor like a burrito on fire. I was not ok. I was NOT OK. When he disappeared… I think I stopped breathing. I am crying so hard again. Right now – a mess. 
6. And last but not least – the FINAL scene – when everyone was hugging at the end – and freaking Finn’s vein was popping out of his forehead because he was legit crying since the actual movies were over. Murdered me. On-camera they were hugging because they won the war but in actuality, they were hugging because it was their last scene together…. I was FREAKING BAWLING. BAWLING. 

So, there you have it. All the reasons why I need therapy. All the reasons why you can’t take me to the movies. All the reasons why I am unstable – because I take the movies way too seriously. 

One More Note About Ben And Rey

The Ben and Rey kiss was absolutely perfect. I wish they could have ended up together in some way. But war is not easy and their lives were not meant to be simple. But I will say, it was a gift to see Kylo healed and released from his family’s burden. Even if it was just a moment – he lived a free man and he lived a man who was loved by his woman. 

Take My Hand Vs. Stop Holding My Hand

I need to make one more note about hands and these movies. When Rogue One came out, I wrote this post about a quote that Rey kept saying over and over again in the movie – Stop Holding my Hand!  Read it if you have a second. 

When we first met Rey, everyone was trying to help her and she was determined to show that she didn’t need any help. But the people who were trying to help her were all forcefully doing it. They were grabbing her hands. They were trying to protect her because they didn’t believe she could protect herself. 

With Ben, he desperately wanted her hand – he kept asking for it. He wanted her by his side, but he wanted it on her terms.

Ben never took Rey’s hand by force. He always asked for it and continued to patiently wait for it. He would have waited all of eternity because that’s how much he loved her and believed in her and her power. That was the difference in the men in Rey’s life. Belief. 

And ultimately – that determined who she loved. She loved who believed in her. Find a Ben. 

My Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Review is simple – go and see it. And you need to see it in the theatre because it is so well done. And then you need to read these things:

• Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser Family Vacation – Everything You Need To Know
• 9 Things To Expect During Star Wars Day At Sea
• I Need People Who Understand That Blue Milk Matters
• Rise Of The Resistance Is Going To Blow Your Freaking Mind