On Dec. 20, 2019, the newest Star Wars movie, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, was released. The students of Mt Hebron have a wide variety of opinions about the newest Star Wars movie.

“I liked the scenes where Rey and Palpatine fought with lightsabers,” said senior Zain Mughal.

This film also underwent a change in directors. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was directed by JJ Abrams instead of Rian Johnson, due to fan backlash about the direction Johnson took with The Last Jedi. 

Some of the students like Abrams more than Johnson.

“The most recent trilogy was the best one because it’s the best they could’ve done since Rian Johnson messed up Rey’s storyline.” said senior Julien Steckler.

Sophomore Isabella Maheu said, “The Rise of Skywalker wasn’t too great, but at least it was better than The Last Jedi. The plot was a little bit more intriguing, there weren’t as many plot holes, and overall some of the characters had a better story arc. Minus Finn, who I wish they would have done more with, like make him force sensitive.”

However, not all criticism is so lighthearted. Many fans were upset with the new Star Wars trilogy. Of these complaints, three prominent ones were: some of the characters were ruined, powers were added to Star Wars machinery that were inconsistent with the other movies, and plot holes grew between this movie and the previous ones.

Because The Rise of Skywalker was the last movie in the most recent Star Wars trilogy, fans were really hoping that everything they disliked, and what they thought was missing in the other movies, would be made up for in Rise of Skywalker. 

Students at Mt. Hebron were born after the release of the original trilogies, yet the movies are ingrained into today’s youth culture because of the continuation of production of the Star Wars movies. 

The Rise of Skywalker may have been under fire by long-term and short-term fans, but it left an undeniable impact on the trilogy and the franchise as a whole.