Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - fantastic emotional rollercoaster

Just got back from seeing the final Star Wars film in the saga I grew up with since 1977...man...it made me feel my feelings in a public place.  I was wiping away tears at the end...what can I say, I love Star Wars.

I was very satisfied with this end installment - though, I'm prob one of the few who have loved every episode of this sequel trilogy (loved Rogue One and Solo too!).  All of the performances were top-notch with great moments of humor, sadness, and inspiration (even though there was some clunky dialogue - hey, it's Star Wars!).

The Force Awakens refreshingly brought back the fun and feel of the Original Trilogy; The Last Jedi followed it up with an enriching "thinking-man's" Star Wars which, apparently, was too much of a challenge for lesser minds with loud voices to handle; and now, The Rise of Skywalker, though dumbing things back down a bit, finished everything off with a fantastic emotional rollercoaster ride that never let up for a second.  Whew!  Good stuff!

With that said, let's get into some spoiler-ific details - continue on at your own risk...

Let's just start from the beginning (come on ol' memory, don't let me down!)...

The first few notes of the classic theme sounded a bit different to me when they blared out of the speakers - either they added in a few extra notes, or the sound system had a hiccup - whatevs - that all was forgotten the moment the opening crawl started.  What a fun opening crawl this was to read!
"The dead speak!" are the first words in this crawl, and it then goes on to read like a classic swashbuckling serial episode as has always been intended with these films.

The opening sequence with Kylo Ren acquiring the Sith "wayfinder"(?) - which reminded me of a type of holocron from the non-movie materials (that I personally have never counted as real Star Wars - that's just me) - then heading to Palpitine's evil lair was such a cool kickoff.  The Emperor's milky white eyes were more terrifying than his normally burning evil eyes.  Also, Snoke's origins were resolved in this opening sequence.

After that, the pedal hits the metal, with scenes involving Rey's training with her new Jedi Master (rock on, Leia!); and Poe, Finn, Chewie, et al, doing some Hyperspace skipping.

Like I just mentioned, from this point on, it's a whirlwind so I just gotta share some bits and pieces that grabbed me emotionally.

There's a part early on where I thought Chewie had been killed - I was like, dammit, don't you dare take down Chewie - especially so early in the movie.  But, alas, all was well.

I was real excited to see the old Death Star remains - I had been intrigued by seeing this in the sequel trilogy since seeing the early artwork for it in the Art of The Force Awakens book.  Throne room was great; old stormtrooper helmets strewn about; "evil Rey" makes her appearance here.
The duel out among the ocean waves between Rey and Kylo was great - but it was the duel's ending, and subsequent scenes that were really great.  Rey stabbing, and then healing, Kylo - intercut with Leia's death was quite something.  Even more so afterwards, when Han "appears" (remember the opening crawl - "The dead speak!") and talks with Kylo - or should I say from this point on - Ben - and you see him come back to the Light.  Having lost both my parents in recent years, these indirect and direct scenes with Ben and his parents (Han and Leia of course) got me pretty good - good thing I had some clean napkins nearby.

The scene where Hux revealed himself as "the spy" was a bit corny - but, with that, you still kinda felt bad for him when he got blasted by General Pryde.

The scenes where Rey is back on "Porg Island" - ha - were both great and made me grumble.  The part that made me grumble was the potshot taken at The Last Jedi involving the scene where Luke threw his saber over his shoulder - now, Luke's ghost tells Rey the importance of a Jedi respectfully handling their lightsaber (c'mon now, was that really necessary?).  Other than that, it was a great scene culminating in Luke raising his X-wing out of the water for Rey, ala Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back.

There's also a great flashback scene where Rey learns of Leia's lightsaber.  Two figures are training together and the visors reveal a young Luke (Mark Hamill) and Leia (Carrie Fisher).  Really cool.

The moment in the final space battle, when the vast armada led by Lando Calrissian (great to see him again!), arrives to save the day - with John Williams' classic Star Wars theme blaring through the speakers - put a big ol' lump in my throat!  Oh, also, I was very excited to spot the silver-haired Wedge cameo (glad you came back, Mr. Denis Lawson!)

The final showdown between Rey and Palpatine, which eventually included Ben, was fantastic!  Not gonna lie though, finding out Rey was Palpatine's granddaughter, got me a little confused on the whole lineage thing - were Rey's parents just her adoptive parents? - if not, that means Palpatine killed one of his kids (since both her parents are shown being killed to protect her from the Emperor).  Like I said, I got a little lost in that, but no matter.
Anyway, after Palpatine sucks just about all of the lifeforce from Rey and Ben to bring him back to his old self (the Emperor is basically Count Dracula - a nod to Lucas' love of Hammer Horror (Cushing and Lee anyone?) - and I gotta say Mr. Lucas, I have that same love), Rey saves the day using the Light Side Force of all the Jedi who came before her to defeat the Dark Side Force of all the previous Sith in the Emperor.  The Sith really hit the fan, right?...aha-ha-ha...aha...ha...ahem...
Then, like Luke in The Last Jedi, Rey uses up all her power to save the day and dies.  Oh, but wait...
Ben then comes back from the cliff he was sent over earlier, and uses the last of his power to resurrect Rey.  They share a passionate kiss (again, the lineage has me confused, so they're not related...I hope?) and then Ben dies and disappears like a true Jedi, as does Leia, where her body had been lying in state - it was like she waited for him so they could go to the other side together.  Again, having lost my mom a couple years ago, this scene hit me.

Following a Return of the Jedi-esque celebration (complete with a now gray-furred Wicket the ewok!), the movie ends with an Epilogue of sorts, that, once again, had me feeling my feelings...
Rey and BB-8 return to the Lars homestead where she, and we as Star Wars fans, get to take one last look around.  She then buries Luke and Leia's sabers in the sand outside the home (and I believe ignited her own with a yellow blade) and the ghosts of Luke and Leia appear, smiling at her.  She tells an old lady her name is Rey Skywalker and the movie, and 42-year saga, ends with her and BB-8 looking at the twin sunset of Tatooine like Luke (and Anakin in the prequels) did all those years ago. 

Man, I had to wipe my eyes when this one was over.  Star Wars has meant a great deal to me ever since it awestruck my 3-year old eyes and ears in 1977.  At times in my life, Star Wars was the one and only thing that could put a smile on my face and get me out of some dark places.
Now, it's complete.  The 9-episode saga that George Lucas had talked about all those years ago, is actually complete.  I feel a little down, yet happy and fortunate, that I got to see this entire saga.
I need to go stare at the sunset while listening to some John Williams. 

My personal ranking of the Star Wars films
1. Star Wars (1977) - greatest movie ever made...'77 original that is (SE is a hellish abomination) 
2. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - poetry in motion
3.  Rogue One (2016) - gets even better with every viewing

4.  The Last Jedi (2017) - love this movie; the layers; made aspects of the Prequels make more sense
5.  Return of the Jedi (1983) - epic space battle; Luke/Vader/Emperor - wow! (SE changes are horrible)
6.  The Force Awakens (2015) - transported me back to the OT feels

7.  The Rise of Skywalker (2019) - what a great end for the Saga; whole lotta heart
8.  Solo (2018) - fun movie, but would be even better as a tv series
9.  Revenge of the Sith (2005) - loved the Prequel novelisations...film, so-so
10.  Attack of the Clones (2002) - loved the Prequel novelisations...film, so-so
11.  The Phantom Menace (1999) - loved the Prequel novelisations...film, so-so