In many ways, Rise of Skywalker is a response to fan criticism of The Last Jedi, a movie that suggested a powerful young Jedi can come from anywhere; that Luke Skywalker himself failed to prevent his nephew from following in the footsteps of Darth Vader; and that the Jedi might not actually be the wisest folks in the galaxy. A subset of Star Wars fans, seemingly triggered by the idea that the franchise could be more progressive and inclusive, reacted with the racism and misogyny we've often seen with online discourse in the post-Gamergate era.

It's one thing to make a fan-friendly Star Wars movie -- it's another to have one that responds to the worst elements of the fandom. Without spoiling much, I can say that Rise of the Skywalker retroactively "fixes" many of the decisions director Rian Johnson made with that film, no matter how interesting they were. Worst of all, very little about what changes in the film feels organic. The trailers already revealed that Emperor Palpatine is back, somehow surviving being thrown into the Death Star's reactor by Darth Vader. So instead of facing new challenges, our heroes are dealing with a vestige of the original trilogy, who once again has his manipulative fingers in every part of the story.