Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker – an Epileptic perspective

by | Jan 12, 2020 | Movies | 0 comments

Minor spoilers ahead.

I really enjoyed the original three Stay Wars films, but I wouldn’t really call myself a fan, though my husband is. Once I saw the prequels, my interest petered out. I had some hope with the new trilogy though, and thoroughly enjoyed the first two. So when news came out that there was a seizure warning for Rise of Skywalker, I was seriously disappointed. My husband was excited to see the film asap so as to avoid spoilers, so I gave him permission to grab a friend and watch it without me.

But my husband loves me and knew I wanted to see it, so he waited until it got the local drive-in theater, figuring there was more ambient light, so I might be okay. (Side note: Strobe lights won’t trigger an immediate seizure. First I’ll get fuzzy eyesight, then a headache, then feel dizzy. If I’m dumb enough to keep watching, I’ll leave to an aura. I haven’t watched past an aura, but I’m confident I’d have a seizure if I didn’t remove myself from the situation.) So the drive-in seemed like a good plan. After all, if it got too bad, I could just hide under a blanket. 

So the two of us headed off to the movies. After the previews, the flashing started … and didn’t stop for several minutes. I missed the entire intro of the movie.
That’s not a huge deal, but it put me at a disadvantage as the movie continued; it seemed like I missed some critical plot points.

Turns out I didn’t miss much because what I missed was not explained. It was a word sort of Deus ex machina, though it happened at the beginning and worked for evil, not good. I mean, bringing a bad guy back is one thing, but not explaining how is something else. *cough*poorwriting*cough*

There were numerous other issues with the film, but I think it boils down to lack of heart and lack of cohesion with the prior films.
I’d love to say that the ending tied up loose ends and it was a triumph of a film, but I didn’t get to see the end. The last fifteen minutes or so were, again, filled with flashing lights. Since it was the final battle, there was hardly any dialogue. My husband tried to explain what was happening, but everything he said just made me ask, “Why?” – Turns out that was a common question for people without epilepsy issues.
All in all, as an epileptic, I was disappointed I couldn’t see either the beginning or the end of the movie, but there wasn’t much to the middle, and apparently the bookends didn’t fare any better. I think Hercules best sums up my feelings. 
P.S. That kiss? – Wtf, man? They were like siblings. Again, barf.

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