Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker isn't the worst movie ever but it does feel like the creators behind it decided to backpedal away from the more interesting ideas seen in The Last Jedi to deliver a more standard Star Wars experience for the fans. One of the film's biggest reveals essentially retcons one of the major messages from Rian Johnson's controversial Star Wars film, though co-writer Chris Terrio denies this idea completely.
During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Terrio claimed that major twist from The Rise of Skywalker, Rey being a Palpatine, does not negate The Last Jedi's message of anyone having the potential of becoming force-sensitive or a hero. It's hard to believe this since the film literally goes out of its way to make Rey more special than she has to be but we'll give Terrio the benefit of the doubt.
New year, new me, and all that jazz. Anyway, here's Terrio's defense:
Rey descending from a Palpatine doesn't negate the idea that kids with brooms, Finn and any other number of people in the galaxy can be strong with the Force. It just so happens that this young girl that we found in Episode VII, which really has the structure of a fairytale, is royalty of the Dark Side. What we discover in this movie, and hopefully in retrospect, is that she's essentially a princess who's being raised as an orphan.
Personally, I disagree with what Terrio has to say here since it's abundantly clear that Disney decided to backtrack some of the tremendous progress made in The Last Jedi, giving fans a safe movie that lives up to things that they like. Good for them but it made The Rise of Skywalker that much weaker.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is now showing in theaters.
Read:Star Wars Writer Chris Terrio Denies Rise of Skywalker Retconning The Last Jedi