Star Wars: 4 best and worst moments from The Rise of Skywalker

Best: Rey staring down Kylo Ren’s ship with a lightsaber

One of the most amazing action sequences in the movie came on Pasaana. As Rey and company are preparing to leave, she senses that Kylo Ren is near. Rather than notifying her friends, Rey takes off on her own to stand against him alone.

A single person with a lightsaber, Rey stands her ground as Kylo Ren comes into view while speeding towards her in his ship. Rey doesn’t even flinch. Instead, she waits for Ren to get close enough before flipping into the air and cutting an entire side wing off with one perfectly-placed lightsaber slash.

It was nothing short of epic. The confrontation heats up from there, with Rey desperately using the force to keep a transport from leaving that she believes holds Chewbacca. Try as she might, the moment is turned on its head when she loses control and accidentally uses force lightning which destroys the transport, seemingly killing Chewbacca.

Worst: Reviving Chewbacca minutes later

Except she didn’t kill Chewbacca, which was honestly one of the most frustrating story moments in the entire movie to me. Don’t get me wrong. I love Chewbacca, but he doesn’t need to be there forever.

Rey’s loss of control destroying the transport and potentially killing Chewbacca brought me to tears the first time I saw the movie. It was one of the most powerful moments in the entire film, and a turning point for Rey’s character as she became increasingly fearful of the darkness and power inside of her.

Unfortunately, just minutes later it’s revealed Chewbacca wasn’t even on that transport and is alive and well. It cheapened the moment and was completely unnecessary to the plot. Sure, Chewie’s involvement in the rest of the film wasn’t bad, but we didn’t need him.