Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Space opera sorta, finally ends

The new Star Wars film looks very Star Wars-ey on the big screen, but something's missing. Let's call it fun.

The original trilogy was full of swashbuckling space battles and adventures that, while often dire, always had a sense of humor (albeit often dark) and popcorn action that captured the imagination of more than one generation.

This latest trilogy has shown very little of that. We dive right into a bleak universe where the bad guys, led by Adam Driver's Kylo Ren, goes about destroying planets of good guys, while the resistance, led by Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia, scrambles to battle back against the onslaught of stormtroopers.

Along the way, we meet Rey, who seems to have the power of the Force in her, but no idea of her past.

The Rise of Skywalker allows Rey to explore that past and that puts her on a collision course with a character long considered dead. It's not a spoiler alert to reveal Luke Skywalker and Dad Vader didn't completely put down the Emperor in "Return of the Jedi," all those years ago.

Director J.J. Abrams is back at the helm of this Star Wars event, and he's doing his best to wrap all of this up while providing fan service for more than 40 years of phasers and lightsabers. And while there are several "Wow" moments, a lot of it feels like a too-serious slog to the grand finale.

We know where it's all going because we've seen it all before. Only the last time it seemed a lot more fun.