When I was little, my stepfather introduced me to the “Star Wars” films. Since then, I have watched every “Star Wars” movie and have made my own thoughts on each one. So, with “Star Wars VIII” being as bad as it was, I had low to zero expectations for “Star Wars IX” to even be close to decent. 

As always, the zero to little expectations paid off in both good and bad ways. 

The bad starts with Rey being a Palpatine. The whole saga improvised that Rey was a nobody from a nothing family with no connections to Jedi or Sith, so why was it necessary to make her a Palpatine? 

Possibly, it was to make the fact that Emperor Palpatine lived through the fall and explosion in “Star Wars VI” and that there always has to be an ultimate conflict in the “Star Wars” universe. It could also be that since there was a Skywalker family line, a Palpatine must rise in the process.

Throughout the whole series, the inconsistency of Rey’s training correlated to her abilities. Throughout the whole new trilogy, Rey struggled in her training, but when it came down to fighting Kylo, Ren or others, she was able to quickly adapt and perform at a higher level.

The good thing is that there were moments in the movie that “Star Wars” fans would enjoy. The return of Lando, the force ghosts of past Jedi being able to communicate with Rey at the end and the fact that Kylo, Ren and Leia become force ghosts were all good things throughout the movie.

One of the more important saves of the movie is the Chewbacca situation. If you’ve seen the movie, you know that in one scene it is believed that Chewbacca died during his capture from an aircraft exploding. At the theatres, I believed that it was true and started to get bitter that the beloved character was killed off-screen. 

The save was in the next scene when Chewbacca was shown alive and “Star Wars” fans, including myself, were relieved.

Whether you like, dislike or feel neutral about the movie, we can all agree that this last movie makes a strong argument for why this trilogy is the worst of the three. Even the hated prequels with “Attack of the Clones” has a better story and plot than any of this trilogy.

The big reason is the switch to it being a Disney-owned property. Disney tried to revive “Star Wars,” but instead of catering to the fans and the story, they decided to make multiple movies for profit purposes. For Disney, it’s a smart business move, but as a fan you’re going to get sick of seeing the franchise decline more and more. 

The end to a movie franchise that gave us the force, Jedi and Sith is over. The movie franchise to me will always be one of my favorites, despite this horrendous last trilogy.

Blake Faith is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-2812 or at bmfaith@eiu.edu.