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From the first second of the traditional title scrawl, The Rise of Skywalker is in fast-forward mode. The big return of Emperor Palpatine? Done in the title scrawl. No setup or introduction. One or two words about cloning, technology, and the Sith being powerful, and voila. This rush to get through the worldbuilding remains consistent until the final confrontation. The material and story choices themselves are not necessarily bad, but they get moved through so quickly there is no time to emotionally process them.

The story clearly wants to get to the last third of the film and for good reason, it is easily the strongest part of the movie. Ignoring if you agree with all of the force power and story changes up until this point, J.J. Abrams puts on a show. A nostalgia powered space battle combined with the end of Rey and Kylo’s journey proves the franchise can still produce those epic moments. Unfortunately, this climax does not have the same level of emotional investment as other iconic scenes, due to the previously mentioned pacing issues.

Moreover, The Last Jedi is clearly already seen as the new black sheep of the franchise. If The Last Jedi properly set up The Rise of Skywalker, then the pacing of the story arc could have worked. Even if J.J.’s claim that Emperor Palpatine was always planned is true, Abrams obviously did not plan for director Rian Johnson to go as far off the rails as he did. The trilogy lacks a consistent vision and suffers for it.

Visually, The Rise of Skywalker produces some spectacular moments. A lightsaber battle over the water and a scene in the final battle stand out. John Williams’ composition remains a standout for the Star Wars franchise and hits all of the right nostalgic notes when J.J. Abrams demands it. Adam Driver even gives his best and most compelling performance as Kylo Ren this time around. However, all of this is in the background of the pacing issues. Without proper pacing, decisions do not have weight and characters do not resonate.

If you love Star Wars you already plan on watching The Rise of Skywalker. But the question is, how good of a film is it? In that regard, from a pure filmmaking perspective, not a very good one. For the most devout fans, it will give you one last rush of nostalgia before the saga finds itself on the shelf. For everyone else, it will rush through the majority of the actual movie while profusely apologizing for its predecessor (which sits at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes as of 12/28/2019). Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker tries to juggle too much and drops the ball. Watch for the closure, but do not expect any force miracles.

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Dragon Ball Super: Broly presents the new canonical version of Broly’s origin. No longer does he rage after Kakarot as revenge for having to listen to his cries as an infant. Now we watch as King Vegeta ships him off to an uninhabited planet; partially out of fear and partially out of jealousy. There, him and his father train and survive, biding their time until they have an opportunity to extract their revenge.

A long story short, Goku and Vegeta fight Broly for roughly 45 minutes. Perhaps not surprisingly the movie also yada yada’s over the foundational details of the story. It assumes you have at least a passing familiarity with characters and story arcs, with several opening moments (Bardok’s last stand for one) not making much sense otherwise. Even with all of these assumptions, what you really want to see does not start until over halfway through the movie. When the singular fight does finally makes its appearance, the film rushes through it. The second half of the movie feels as if someone pressed the fast forward button. If Nagamine had just fully committed to trimming the fat in the beginning, it could have given the showcase fight more room to breathe.

More room to breathe means more time for one of the flashiest fights in all of Super. For a series much maligned for its weightless and sanitized combat, Dragon Ball Super: Broly invokes the feeling of classic Z climaxes. With humor reminiscent of the original Dragon Ball, DBS: Broly touches all the right nostalgic notes. However, the incredibly generic side character designs will often remind you what series the film belongs to.

Watching Goku and Vegeta pull up in their streetwear inspired coats invokes a fan’s deepest childhood memories of the series. As the three warriors begin to trade blows a smile creeps onto the face. The grandiose soundtrack remix announces the fighters and genuine wonderment takes over. Then the CGI hits. Those ships in the opening scenes were not outliers. They were not done just to save money to do the real fight justice. No, rather the whole film abuses CGI animation. The stylish hand drawn frames randomly drop out in favor of abhorrent 3D models. The designs are not well done either. They look as if someone tried to sneak in a melted action figure and try their hand at stop motion. This drastic change in style occurs frequently throughout the second half and looks worse every time.

Trumping Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan should not have taken a herculean effort. Yet, Dragon Ball Super: Broly managed to fall short. Even with the best choreographed fight in all of Super done to electrifying remixes of classic songs, it could not stay away from the CGI temptation. Unfortunately, the CGI interruptions in the climatic fight are so dreadful that Dragon Ball Super: Broly cannot be taken seriously. Replacing the charm of the original with cheap and clunky effects erases any ground gained by reimagining the legendary Saiyan’s origin.

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