• Inside Entertainment,  Media Rants

    Embracing the Mess

    An interesting criticism of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) is that it’s ‘fan service’. I wasn’t aware that fans desired plot holes, shallow characterisations, contrived narrative, an incomprehensible edit, and the return of a villain long dead. They were never on my wish list. I don’t think they were on anybody’s. The Rise of Skywalker isn’t fan service. It’s damage control. It’s Disney backtracking from what they’ve given us and trying to find the Star Wars in their Star Wars. And they accomplish that in the tiniest and briefest ways. The Rise of Skywalker puts the trio of main characters in an adventure together. It gives Rey an…