Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) was directed and co-written by J. J. Abrams.  Chris Terrio (Argo 2012) assisted with the screenplay.  Lucasfilm and Bad Robot Productions were the producers.  Walt Disney distributed the final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.  The film was released in 2019 and grossed over one billion dollars.  The plot resumes one year after the conclusion of The Last Jedi.

A broadcast of Emperor Sheev Palpatine’s voice coats the galaxy.  Supreme Leader Kylo Ren leads an assault to acquire Darth Vader’s Sith wayfinder.  He finds it and deploys it inside his TIE whisper.  It leads him to the Sith world of Exegol.  Ren moves through the dark base and finds a decrepit Darth Sidious.  The dark lord offers the boy a fleet of Xyston-class Star Destroyers and command of the Final Order.  The price is to kill Rey.  Kylo accepts and uncovers her real identity.

Finn, Chewbacca and Poe Dameron meet with an informant who reveals that there is a spy within the First Order.  He gives them a message for Leia.  TIE fighters arrive and the chat is cut short.  Everyone jumps into the Millennium Falcon and escapes through sheer wit.  The boys return to the Resistance base in the jungle on Ajan Kloss.  They talk to Rey and head to the briefing room.  Poe says The Final Order is preparing to attack the free worlds within sixteen hours.  Rey decides to head to the Forbidden Desert of Pasaana to find the last Sith wayfinder.  The gang wants to join.  She says no.  Finn gives a speech.  She says yes.

Knights of Ren

Kylo witnesses the repair of his helmet surrounded by his Knights of Ren.  The Supreme Council meets and discusses the spy in their ranks.  The Supreme Leader commands the group to prepare for battle and leaves to find Rey.   The gang arrives in Pasaana during a festival.  A child hands Rey a necklace.  The Jedi talks to Kylo through their Force-bond.  He snatches her necklace and uses it to discover their location.  Lando Calrissian helps them escape and gives them a clue to the second and final Sith wayfinder. 

The good guys follow the tip and sink in quicksand.  They land in an immense underground fissure.  A massive serpent attacks them.  Rey calms it down and heals it with the force.  They find a dagger with an inscription written in Sith.  C-3PO is unable to translate it due to programming restrictions.  Rey senses Ren.  He arrives.  She awaits.  They fight.  Chewbacca is captured.  Rey destroys a transport with Force lightning.  It appears the Wookie is dead.  Rey is sad.  The dagger is lost.  C-3PO has the message stored in his memory. 

Everyone goes to Kijimi to perform a memory bypass on the droid and uncover the translation.  The procedure is completed.  The words are revealed.  The wayfinder is located on a moon of Endor inside the ruins of the Death Star.  C-3PO loses his memory.  Poe’s friend Zorii Bliss exposes his nefarious past and loans him her First Order Captain’s Medallion.  Rey senses Chewie.  They use the medallion to board the Star Destroyer that is holding him.  A skirmish erupts and the Wookie is saved with the help of General Hux.  Big Hux is the spy.  Rey finds the blade.  The spy is executed.

Sith Wayfinder

The Millennium Falcon is flown to the ocean moon of Kef Bir.  The plane lands.  The dagger is used to visually uncover the resting place of the wayfinder.  Rey leaves to grab it.  Kylo Ren appears.  The two fight on the wreckage.  Waves splash.  Rey jumps.  Ren gets wet and is about to win.  Leia dies and calls out to her son Ben.  Ren freezes after hearing his birth name.  The pause allows Rey to deliver the winning blow.  The fight concludes.  It was a good fight.  She heals Ben and escapes on his ship.  The rise of Skywalker.

Kylo talks to the memory of his father Han Solo.  The kind words defrost his soul.  He tosses his lightsaber into the ocean and is reborn as Ben Solo.  Palpatine senses the betrayal and death of Leia.  He sends one of the Xyston-class Star Destroyers to obliterate Kijimi.  The planet is demolished.  Rey lands on Anch-To and talks to Luke’s spirit.  He hands her Leia’s lightsaber and she grabs Ren’s wayfinder.  She leaves on Luke’s X-wing fighter for Exegol.  R2-D2 receives her coordinates.  Rey lands.  The Resistance follows and launchs an assault on the Sith fleet.  She provokes Palpatine.

The battle darkens.  Ben appears on Exegol.  The Knights of Ren surround him.  They fight.  Ben wins and joins Rey.  Palpatine drains their power with the Force and revives.  The Sith Lord attacks the Resistance with Force lightning and subdues Ben.  Rey communicates with the ghosts of the Jedi and finds the strength to stand up.  Palpatine redirects his lightning.  She blocks it with Leia and Luke’s lightsabers and uses it to kill her attacker.  Rey dies after Palpatine.  Ben uses the Force to save Rey.  They kiss and he dies.  The Resistance defeats the First Order.  A celebration begins.  Rey visits Tatooine.  She sees the spirits of Luke and Leia and tells a passerby her name is Rey Skywalker.   The Rise of Skywalker ends.