The Rise of Skywalker: Star Wars fan service, recycled plots, and nostalgia are strong with this one

Spoiler Alert: I’ve just watched The Rise of Skywalker at a theater in France, where new movies are released a day early. What follows is a spoiler-filled review. If you don’t want to know what happens, avert your eyes and come back after you’ve seen the film.

When I was a kid in 1977, my parents bought me a Star Wars picture book that was published before the movie was released. It included photos from now famous deleted scenes, and an ending that was unambiguous: The good guys won and the evil empire was defeated for good.