The Rise of Skywalkerreviews are in and they’re divisive, to say the least. The review embargo has lifted as of today and the critics have been allowed to share their opinions on Lucasfilm and Disney’s latestStar Warsentry. While the first reactions were allowed to hit social media on Monday night after the premiere, they were limited to posts and quick takes on the final installment in the Skywalker Saga. Now, more in-depth reviews have hit popular critical site Rotten Tomatoes, and it is sitting at a rotten score of 57% with critics. That low score can’t be blamed on trolls this time around.
Rotten Tomatoes changed their way of doing things earlier this year when they decided to stop allowing user reviews before the movie hit theaters. Additionally, users have to be registered to post reviews in an effort to stop trolling, which hurtThe Last JediandSolo, amongst others, on the site. Trolls would go through and review-bomb the movies, strictly because they hate Disney and Lucasfilm. While these changes are for the greater good, they do prove thatThe Rise of Skywalkerisn’t doing so hot with official registered critics.
As of this writing, there are 151 registered reviews on Rotten Tomatoes forThe Rise of Skywalker. The movie currently has an approval rating of 57%, which isn’t exactly considered to be Fresh by any means. One of the things that all of the reviews seem to have in common is a criticism of the amount of fan service crammed into the movie. One reviewer says thatThe Star Wars sequel panders wildlyand concludes the sequel trilogy “with a story that delivers to the faithful exactly the movie they wanted,” which isn’t exactly what everybody was hoping for. Ultimately, the review went on to say that much of the sacrifice seemed like a “cop-out.”
There are a lot of critics who seemed to have really enjoyedThe Rise of Skywalker. The words, “heartwarming” and “emotional,” can be found in more than one reviewpraising J.J. Abramsfor bringing the story down for a smooth ending. Even in the negative reviews, the performances from Daisy Ridley and Adam Driver are widely praised for keeping the movie afloat. However, it all seems to come back to fan service, which critics either love or hate. Justin Chang from The Los Angeles Times had this to say about the movie.
“IfThe Rise of Skywalkerserves any purpose, it’s as a snapshot of whatDisney, a First Order unto itself in the quest for global entertainment domination, thinks of the audience’s intelligence. It isn’t a flattering picture.”
Scott Mendelsohn from Forbes was also brutally honest in his review ofThe Rise of Skywalker. According to Mendelsohn, it is a “bad movie and a miserable finale that serves no purpose other than to reassureadult fans of the original Star Warsthat they are still the ‘chosen ones’ of the pop culture galaxy.” That review is not alone. A quick glance through many of the official reviews for the threequel come up with the same conclusion: that the movie is a disjointed mess that doesn’t really makes sense.
While even the positive reviews admit thatThe Rise of Skywalkerhas its faults, they do, for the most part, say that the good outweighs the bad. In the end, we’re looking at a movie that may go down in history as being more divisive thanThe Last Jedi, which is something that not a lot of people saw coming, includingStar Warsfans. Of course, all of these scores will change once the audience reviews go up tomorrow evening. you’re able to head over toRotten Tomatoesto check out someStar Wars 9reviews.
