I’m seeing it this evening, but like most things, I’ve read just about every spoiler already. Unfortunately this means I’m going in with fairly low expectations. If anything, I’m really going because it will likely be the last of these cultural events for a while. Marvel will take a bit to ramp up again after Endgame, and there won’t be any Star Wars for at least a couple of year, right? Disney and Pixar movies can be big, but even Frozen II isn’t as big of an event despite making a bunch of money.

I wonder what’s next? The Avatar squeals? That’s all I can really think of. Does anyone know of anything else BIG that will generate the buzz that Star Wars or the Avengers did over the part several years?

Anyway, thanks for starting the topic. Creating a designated spoiler zone helps everyone talk more freely. I’ll certainly be back tonight or tomorrow to share my thoughts! :)

Quick Vers.

I did not read anything online. I went in Clean, sans what little knowledge could be gained from the non-spoiler reviews.

I LOVED the START.

I Enjoyed the middle.

And most of my "grievances" came at the very end.

This movies cadence is quick. GO Go GO. I do not fault it for this, as all their time they had was burned.

Nor do I fault them with what they did with Princess Leia Organa. Carrie Fisher is dead, may she be resting well. So with this in mind, I think with what they used, what they had, was well enough mended together.

That said, this is a spoiler thing, so I'm going to straight say it: The emperor can flat out EMP nuke with his fingertips, but a simple lightsaber can stop it? Whaaa? As I said, most of my "grievances" came at the very end.

Yet with all of it said an done, this "Sequel" has done something that the other two just did not do... I actually had fun. We finally got a Starwars Film from Disney. (I haven't seen the other non "Skywalker" flims.)

More later. But Hey... here, I'll give you a hint.

I wish... I wish we had started where we ended. Oh well. I guess that's just not how things work, yes? ;)

Look, TLJ has some serious missteps. It went on diversions that muddled the story and accomplished less than nothing. It has some terrible pacing with the slow motion space chase. But, it has a point and a purpose that it was driving for. It continued and strengthened and did an excellent job portraying the connection and tension between Kylo and Rey. It made me like grumpy Luke by having Yoda teach him a final lesson.

Rise of Skywalker did so many things wrong that I'm not even going to try and detail them all tonight. I gotta get to sleep sometime. But, I think its worst sins were:

1. It felt almost completely disconnected from TFA and TLJ. It either undid or ignored almost everything from the previous film.
2. It fell back on a villain from the past instead of having a villain of its own. (Though, this is a huge problem with the entire trilogy...)
3. I felt the final act was boring as hell. The fleet battle was anemic and the civilian fleet arriving was nonsensical given the heavy maneuvering military vessels had to do to reach the destination.
4. I felt like Kylo Ren should have been the final villain. I loved the moment where Rey literally and figuratively shut the door on him at the end of The Last Jedi. Only to have him redeemed here. I did not like the redemption at all. Felt it was completely unearned.
5. I was extremely disappointed in that final scene. Ok, fine, Rey returned to the Skywalker home. That has some meaning, I guess.. But... what about her? Does she have any plans or hopes or goals? What about the Jedi? Is she going to rebuild the order? Like it was? Like a more balanced order as Luke hinted at in TLJ? Just having her stand there staring into the sunset was such an empty beat and a huge disservice to her character.

This is the most negative I've bene about a movie since I saw the live action Ghost in the Shell. It felt almost worthless to me. I think it was a very disappointing end to the trilogy.

Did I like anything? Sure. Two things:

1. I thought showing that an unplanned hyperspace jump with the light speed skipping of the Falcon was fun.
2. I enjoyed the force teleportation that kept happening between Rey and Kylo. The passing of the lightsaber was clever... shame the enemies were nameless nobodies that weren't even a threat.

Anyway, much more from me later this weekend. I'd like to really dig down into things. Consider this just a very quick overview of my thoughts and reasonings... Ultimately, though, I wish Star Wars had maintained the focus on character and hard choice conflict that we got a glimpse of in The Last Jedi...

Its the 18th of December, 2019. The reviews are out. 5X% when tallied among the professional critics of movies and cinema.

Disney finally killed it, quotes our very own. I reading & watching all shades of these reviews, both good and bad, and knowing something so hyperbole may very well be true. A smattering of these reviews are absolutely BRUTAL, often mentioning recurring themes in a plot-stuffed “goodbye” so quick in its tempo, that it's laborious to get through.

I feel nothing, and in fact I expected as much. I knew this was going to happen, and in some capacity you probably did too. There may be differences, in fact its safe to say there are, on that why, but... it doesn't matter anymore. Be you in agreement or not.

All of this isn't even a little surprising. Proposing & Producing a trilogy without a trilogy written, then giving it to three different writers and allowing them to do whatever they wanted was at default not going to end well. At least that’s what I recollect being “the plan” from published sources. For the sake of being through and double checking, I did try to look and find that almost decade old morsel, but I could not seem to find it. I did find that George always had a plan of sorts, if abit rough around the edges. I also found that these morsels were eventually incorporated in a scattered fashion throughout the released Disney Star Wars films to date. I also found this source here on a starwars focused forum about The Development of the Sequel Trilogy which may bare more fruit if you can bare the at least 100 pages of posts. One post quoted here I think made a good summarizeable point.

They were under a time crunch that Marvel didn't have. Disney announced a release date at the same time they released that they were buying LFL.

Shareholder happiness > Proper development time

But I could not seem to find the original published official response to “Here is how we plan to make the next three movies in the SKYWALKER Saga” in the time I gave myself to do it. Kinda meta, actually. I did learn thought that apparently part of the deal from Lucas giving Starwars to Disney was requiring Kathleen Kennedy to be at the helm of it. So I guess all that means we can blame Lucas for the Sequels too. :P

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So... Now then... where was I? Right! (Everything is on Fire. This is fine.)

With these reviews in the pocket, I walked into the theater clean. Not just of any ambitions, but of any so called leaks either. After all, that's why I had yet again fought so hard to see this as early as possible, as soon as I could. I was finishing what I started, but in a state I could have perhaps never expected. I’m not just CLEAN my friends, I don’t care. The fact that this was a so called end to a trilogy was, and frankly is, totally utterly irrelevant. There is no trilogy. This is a Standalone Star Wars Film in a bubble. Ray? Flinn? …uh… whatever the other names are. Whatever. Doesn’t matter.

It’s a-bunch-of-freek’n-misfits-trying-to-scrounge-up-something-of-a-resistance-. . . bad-men-with-big-ships-THE-MOVIE, I guess. Cool.

Why? You know why, both long term and immediate. It’s the Shakespearean 800 Pound Gorilla Shit fight. The mono-optic toddler crying in the airplane that some how got its piss covered hands on the cockpit controls. Such a moment of circumstance is so important. If its temper tantrum, its RIDICULOUSLY smug sense of fuck you I do what I want, its utter blindness of actions having consequences was made during lift off or landing, then at least the damage could have been mitigated. Shoot! It might have even worked out thanks to the magic of 40 years of thematic resonance built into the SKYWALKER auto plot for the SKYWALKER Saga. Yet this toddler made this play while in the air, and now not only are we so off course in any capacity to an over arching (a three movie built) plot, character development or relationships, of even having a proper solid villain – WITH A PLAN – WITH A PLAN, that as we crashed and burned in this sea of errors spewing from our exhaust port, surviving it at all was the greatest success one could even possibly hope for. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker just didn’t have enough time to unfuck what they had to follow. It’s just all irrelevant.

HA! I get the joke now. 7 8 9. Man, can we just call this a Cannibal Trilogy and call it a day? Shit. Maybe… maybe this is why planning is important? Nahh. No one could have known! It’s not like a billion blillon dollar company could actually learn from history right?! Would actually CARE about the quality they keep? The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001 – 2003) is just as good as The Hobbit *ahem* Trilogy (2012 – 2014) right!?

As long as it makes actual Dump Trucks made out of actual money, with money in them.

So with no beginning, no end, and my seat simply being a window for me to just peak my head through the portal of another world... What did this ol’ Starwars Fan see?

This movie is the closest I expect to see the “Legends” Expanded Universe on the big screen any time soon. There were some SOLID actual STAR WARS motifs in this film, and I’m not talking about that fan-bait member-berry nonsense. I wonder if I can list this out from memory with only one initial viewing under my belt. I’m going to do.

• A Sith fighting for an item of power, which I thought a Holocron at the time, leading to dark corners of the galaxy, the Unknown reaches of Space, to a Sith World, drenched in the Dark Side of the force. This is how the sequels should have started, but alas, this is the necessary end of a limping dog.
  
• An honest to goodness resistance moment, which to me felt very 1940 Paris to me, in a way. No corner is safe, and any safety is made through friends or old-foes who each only want to survive.
  
• Old relics etched with forbidden inscriptions, leading to whatever may lead. And hey, everything is more fun when old dark languages are involved right?

(And that is just what I recollect at the moment.)

It’s an old Galaxy. A long time ago. Far far away. It’s like Europe or Britannia or 'MURICA building over some Indian Burial Ground something. The present bumping into the past, all mixed together into some kind of galactic stew.

And EVERYONE, big, small, main, secondary, tertiary... has a name and a history. THIS is STARWARS.

Then with all this you place on top the quintessential cherry above it all... personal conflict. Not just personal conflict, but personal conflict made more obvious, more potent, more real to the viewer thanks to The Force. A light that only story can see, can speak of. Speak words into things that are hard to say but we ALL know. With the choice made with Rey, the personal conflict within, what can I do but lament of what this could have been… I wish could have been… explored more. I say again, these elements within Star Wars IX: Rise of Skywalker is how the sequels should have started. I wish I wish I wish that instead of jacking our chain with an abundance of mystery boxes unsolved, we could have started off running.

Alas these choices made to what could have been.

---------

I've had a theory (and yeah I know, ignore the joke of hope). My theory, coming into this…

(which is basically saying this is how I would have written it in since it could have been, I suppose, anything)

...was that Rey was an old Palpatine experiment. A clone made to be powerful in the force (high Midi-chlorian count). Dropped off on different worlds and forced to endure a Darwinian existence that Sith just go bananas for, before being eventually collected for… something? Not only would it explain everything in accordance to the rules built within the first six of the SKYWALKER saga, but it would jive with this as well.

Her parents then could be nobody, and anybody. She would have to rely on her self and be her own parent. It all works. That was my theory, for whatever good it could have done.

So I must then say I did not even consider the possibility for what they wrote it to be, to which I must enact Space Godwin's law. Imagine your last name was Hitler (or Schicklegruber or Hiedler). Holy shit. That’s one ‘ell of a conflict. It’s the sins of our fathers angle, which is always Juicy. So when your grandfather happens to be a undead evil space wizard, WELL! I wish we had more time. THAT’S INTERESTING! I would have LOVED to seen that explored more! That is some SPECTACULAR conflict. Not just in Who am I? But in finding out and going – Oh shit, now I know. I don’t like this. What does this mean!?? Am I evil? Do I have a choice? Its the sins of our blood and it’s BLOODY FANTASTIC!

What frek’n waste.

There just was no more time left.

There just was no more time left.

There just was no more time left.

And you know why.

Of time, let us move on to speak of pace. This is a Movie in a hurry. And yes in many ways it’s bad – but you already knew that. The sliver lining though is that this movie abhors nonsense (which may have a touch of irony thanks to all the plot holes). It’s straight to the point, as it expositions its self of what it does not have time to show. I found the movie to be very matter of fact with what it had to work with, and this approach helped blunt some of the shortcomings with an appearance of self awareness. I mean, at least Chewie finally got a medal by not dieing and stuff... I guess.

It's 50/50. Your mood in the moment may effect enjoyment more then others. Just hold on tight, and try not to hit your head.

Oh and get this, it’s actually funny every now and again. It actually got the occasional chuckle out of me, which is surprising since timing trends to be rather important for that humor thing. That was a nice plus. Oh! And CP3-0 was relevant to the plot. That was nice. I liked that.

And I uh… I had fun. I tell ya I had no expectation of that. Left the theater with an overall smile, had a burger and a shake. It was good ev’in.

In conclusion, with what they had to work with, they did a good enough job. The end. Whatever.

But wait... what about what they didn't get right. What didn't you like? TO which I rebut... Why? It's done. It doesn't matter. Palpy got some and had a kid and a kid? Sure. He can flat out EMP nuke with his fingertips, but a simple lightsaber can stop it? Whaaa? SUCK the frek'n life force out of folks and... whatever. SHRUG. Whatever. The Knights of Ren are... there? Eh. Whatever. ... It doesn't matter. No more than The Last Airbender does for the Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I had fun. I did not leave the theater indifferent, or befuddled. With what I've received what more can I ask for. More time? Ha! I made me laugh.

For these sequels, well, it was over before it even begin.

I just finished watching. It was a fun watch! It was a wild ride from start to finish. I think it's a decent Star Wars movie. It was also the absolute dumbest Star Wars movie by a long shot.

Palpatine is still a terrifying bad guy, and he's great. It's also completely stupid that he's back at all.

It feels almost downright spiteful in it's treatment of The Last Jedi, and it completely panders to the stupidest complaints about both it and The Force Awakens. You don't think Rey trained enough to be as good as she is? Here's an extended training sequence at the start of the movie! Are you mad about Luke in The Last Jedi? He admits he was wrong and stupid! You hate that Luke Force-projected instead of raising his X-Wing out of the ocean and fighting for real? Guess what Rey flies away in! Are you still pissed that Chewie didn't get that medal at the end of Return of the Jedi? Well he's got one now! Mad about the lightspeed attack Holdo did? Well now it's named the Holdo Maneuver, and, guess what, it's one-in-a-million and we can't do it anymore (except oddly, at the very end where we see a shot of a Star Destroyer above a planet and it looks like it was split in half by the exact same thing).

Kylo's redemption didn't work for me. They've spent the whole of this trilogy showing that he's still split, that killing Han is tearing him apart, and it's still just not a convincing turn. I think the chemistry between Rey and Kylo is one of the best things about the new trilogy, and the the Force connection stuff and the teleportation/projection was really cool. Just wish they would have done something more interesting there.

I'm totally here for the continued adventures of Finn, Poe, and Chewie in the Falcon. Give me that series.

A lot of the action didn't work for me. The aerial battle at the end was fine, but the "land" assault on the Star Destroyer felt really lacking. The chase on the sand planet in the middle of the movie felt like it had no stakes whatsoever.

Rey and Kylo Force fighting over the transport ship was cool, though. I know it's sort of a double-edged knife here because it can get silly, but I really enjoyed just how powerful they made the Force feel in this movie. They do some pretty wild stuff.

The Knights of Ren are silly and pointless. They do nothing for the entire movie except stand around a look menacing (ostensibly, anyway--they actually looked like bad cosplayers). Every scene they were in would have been better if they were just Death Troopers.

What the hell did Finn want to tell Rey? They kept bringing it up and then never actually answered it. Was he going to tell her that he's Force-sensitive?

How the hell does Rey still have Anakin's lightsaber? Didn't Rey and Kylo destroy it? It's a shame, too, given that constructing a lightsaber is an important part of Jedi training, and they made such a big deal of her training. The lightsaber she actually makes and has at the very end of the movie is so damn cool, too!

How the hell is Luke's X-wing still a complete X-wing? The door of Luke's hut was literally one of the S-foils. I don't actually care about that, but it's just something I noticed.

Keri Russell's character looked dumb as hell. Straight up looked like a fucking Power Ranger.

I'm really disappointed at the lack of the Ghost in the final battle. After seeing it in the first trailer, I was hoping it'd get a cool scene, and it doesn't do anything. I wasn't holding out a whole lot of hope of actually seeing Hera on screen, but I was expecting to see the Ghost do something, otherwise why show it in the trailer at all.

Hearing Ahsoka was cool! I thought I heard Kanan in there, too, but I couldn't tell.

Overall, it's a fun movie that feels like a completely contrived response to the stupidest complaints about the previous two films. It's a disappointing follow-up to The Last Jedi. The Last Jedi left the universe in a place where they story could have gone literally anywhere, and they went right back to well-tread ground, and had to hand wave a bunch of bullshit to get there.

I enjoyed it but I left the theater without any feeling. Wasn't excited, wasn't disappointed, I just....was. Maybe it met my expectations perfectly?

My biggest takeaway from the entire 9 episode saga is that the most important characters of the franchise are actually Chewy and the Millennium Falcon. They always go on the toughest missions then get back just in time to bail everyone else out.

I saw this yesterday. There's so much to unpack and talk about here I don't really actually know where to start with this one, so if this jumps from place to place and isn't super structured then I'm sorry.

What's this movie about? A simple question that should have a simple answer. But I don't think it has a simple, much less a good answer in this movie. The first thing (other than the frantic almost not existent pacing) that I noticed was the absolute lack of any sort of setups and motivations behind every character. Why not go one by one?

In the last film Poe was humbled. His cocksure attitude was not an asset but a liability, and got him and his friends into deeper trouble as the film went on. By the end that ego and bravado gave way to trust. Trust in his commanders. Trust in his friends. Trust in what's bigger than himself. He learned about the true nature of leadership. And yet, from the very start of TROS he reverts to the cocky arrogant prick he once was. After he landed my first thought was "why is everyone being a dick to each other?". Poe suddenly has beef with Rey for some reason. He yells at her for damaging BB8. He tells her she should be out fighting instead of training. But it's bullshit because: 1. It doesn't really come from anywhere, and 2. As a character conflict it is literally dropped and doesn't effect anything in the film.

It would be one thing if we clearly see him in a situation where Rey refuses to come with, and there be a dramatic loss he suffers where he is sure Rey could have helped. We need scenes to see the resentment fostering at him having to do all the heavy lifting when she can force lift rocks. We need that gulf to widen during the course of the film, so Rey's friends plausibly push her away creating an isolation Kylo could exploit. But… nothing. It doesn't matter and is forgotten about. Much like everything in this movie.

Poe merely ferries characters from Mcguffan to Mcguffan, before finally being promoted to General when Leia dies. Does he take this opportunity to put into effect what he's learned about leadership? To inspire? To make the hard choices? No of course not. He just… gives up. Literally. No rousing speech, no appeal to hope. Just… hey guys sorry but we are fucked. Lando shows up and oh look at that the tide has turned. Not only does this not make any sense for Poe's character, but it's outrageous. At the end of Last Jedi, nobody came when they sent out the distress call. So what happened? What did Lando say to everyone to convince them to come this time?! Just hand waved when it could have been a rousing emotional moment. Forget Lando. Poe should have been the one to go out and rally everyone together, having grown into a true leader and uniting everyone. And we should have seen that. But nope. Out of nowhere.

What about Finn? He goes from caring about nothing but himself and Rey to becoming a part of the rebellion. "I'm rebel scum!" he shouted triumphantly in defiance to Phasma, and by the end ready to give his life to save everyone else instead of run. So where does that go here? Oh wait, he just kind of is in this movie always shouting "Rey!" and not doing anything. No hard choices to make for the cause. And when did he and Poe start going at it? It makes no fucking sense. They are on each other for no real reason that I could tell. What did Finn have to tell Rey? Why constantly bring it up when there's nothing to do with it? Why pair Finn with a character you introduce late who is 'just like him'? Why not pair him with Rose? As someone else rightfully pointed out, you learn things from people who are not like you. There's no drama and catharsis in just being like "Oh hey, you were taken as a kid too? Wow cool. Let's go fight together!".

Hux. Why is he helping them? "I don't care if you win, I just want Kylo to lose". Ug. We need to see this discontent grow. Like every other character in this film we're simply told what they feel but we are never shown why. I kind of get it, as Kylo is being a petulant brat at the end of TLJ, but they simply needed to butt heads more for this to make and sense or track. He was perfectly fine with blowing up planets and crushing the rebellion before. We need to see him change his mind. Did you know a scene was cut out where Hux has at it with Kylo in the opening? He yells at him for chasing ghosts. Not much but it'd have been something.

What does Rey want? Why is she training to be a Jedi? She wants to find her place in the world? Discover who she is? Then why does she get that easy answer? You're a Palpatine. You and Kylo have a dyad. Here's where you are meant to be. It's much more interesting for her to forge her own identify. Realize that family isn't just blood but a bond of friendship blah blah oh well I guess the force doesn't belong to everyone and it's just about lineage and dynasty.

We never get any of the necessary emotional stuff with the characters, and instead are forced along at a manic pace from scene to scene, battle to battle, relevant motivations only shouted in passing as it's all a blur. Take away all the fetch quests and spend that screen time on the character work. It won't be boring if you create the emotional conflicts to drive the rest of the story. Create a character for a momentary conflict, meet her for 5 minutes, then have her conveniently give you the thing you need to keep the story going. No history or actual change, but the illusion of such. Why does C3P0s sacrifice ring hollow? I want to look at my friends one last time he says. Really? Your friends? What exactly have you all done together to make you want to call them your friends?!

None of it worked. The score from the original is played at an emotional moment, and you feel feelings by proxy. The action scenes were the epitome of chaos cinema. Did they forget to watch this on a big screen? The camera shaking, the movement, it's all incomprehensible. Every moment rendered an assault of sound and image such that I was pummeled into excitement. The final battle had no climatic buildup. Remember the Death Star in a new hope? How one by one the pilots we got to know are slowly picked off, as the chances for success get slimmer and slimmer until all seems lost. Did you ever feel anything even close to that? Never since transformers has so much action been so phenomenally uninteresting.

It's all texture. All nostalgia. It's the smooth talking con man who gets you to believe only for you to be left holding nothing. It's all sad and cynical. What is it about?

Ug.

Ultimately, this is a big miss for me. Here are my thoughts:

Brett’s Spoiler Review

Between all the TLJ retcons and character inconsistencies, this movie just fell flat. I didn’t feel anything. And that was a bummer.

Didn't love it. Didn't think it was great (although it had some great scenes). Didn't feel emotionally connected to it, but I think The Last Jedi killed the last vestige of affection I had for this trilogy.

At least Luke seemed himself again. I think J.J. Abrams did as well as he could have given the junk pile that Rian Johnson left him. A better director/writer could have done better, but it met my low expectations.

Perhaps a useless exercise, but I can't help but wonder what could have been. I think a few small changes could have really elevated the film for me, as a conclusion.

The first and most important is one that could not have been possible with the unfortunate death of Carrie Fisher. The Han moment should have been Leia. Han felt out of place to me (despite how much I loved to see him again). This film should have been about Ben and Leia, the inverse reflection of Luke and Anakin. I think it was pretty widely know that this was supposed to be Leia's movie, and unfortunately that didn't happen, and it couldn't, given the circumstances. I've no doubt they did what they could with what they had. You can maybe read the scene with Han as still being Leia's doing, somehow. She was clearly doing something, her body stuck around until Ben died.

The other thing would have been giving the Emperor more time, somehow. I haven't worked out how to do this, the movie is already blistering fast, I'm not sure how you smash anything else into it. But, as it stands, you're just told the Emperor is back, and you either have to buy that or the movie mostly just feels completely ridiculous. Leading me in would have helped, I think. It mostly still worked for me, but that's based solely on the presence of the Emperor and how sinister and terrifying he is. Some clearer motivation for Kylo to accept him (beyond, hey, here's a bunch of Star Destroyers if you do what I want). Although, at a certain point, it doesn't matter how they set it up, bringing Palpatine back is silly and ridiculous, so maybe just revealing that in the opening crawl and making the audience buy it before the movie even starts was the only way to do it.

There are a few things I would have taken to the extreme, too. It's already a movie that has a lot of fan service, there is one moment I'd have loved to see that cranked to eleven, and that's the Jedi past moment. Hearing all those voices was extremely cool and satisfying, and it really worked for me. But why not go that extra step? Seeing Rey surrounded by dozens of Force ghost Jedi would have made that scene. It would be extremely difficult to do it while not feeling and looking ridiculous, but if it was done right, I'd have loved it.

The key difference between Abrams and Johnson’s films, then, is an understanding of the Jedi. For Johnson, a Jedi is a hero and everyone has the potential to be heroic – it does not erase their flaws; in fact, overcoming the binary thinking of good and evil and embracing one’s flaws is crucial to a hero’s journey. To Abrams, it’s about power, and men understand power very differently: It’s inherited; it’s handed from one man to another without hesitation; it’s a right, not a privilege. They will commit countless atrocities and acts of oppression and subjugation to keep others – the marginalized – from wrestling it away. Take, for instance, Finn: The Rise of Skywalker suggests (and John Boyega and Abrams both confirm) that Finn is Force-sensitive, despite the fact that he is not related to any Sith or Jedi. Rey, on the other hand – the trilogy’s hero, who happens to be a woman – cannot possibly have power unless she inherited it from some crusty old white guy. The man needs no qualification to obtain power, but the woman does. It’s pretty insulting.

https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/12/30/knives-out-has-something-important-to-say-about-the-rise-of-skywalker