Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker reviews have been quite negative, and the reason for that varies – but in general, a majority of movie critics are disappointed in how overstuffed the final installment is as well as how it ignores what came before. J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the final installment in Disney and Lucasfilm’s Star Wars sequel trilogy, which began with Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015 and was followed-up by Rian Johnson’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017.
But beyond concluding a new trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker carries with it the burden of wrapping up the Skywalker saga – a story arc that launched with George Lucas’ original Star Wars film all the way back in 1977. Eight episodes later and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker sees the story culminate with the Resistance making a last-ditch attempt at defeating the First Order and taking on Emperor Palpatine, who has come back after seemingly being killed in Return of the Jedi.
Going into Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars fans were hyped up for the final episode, but those who were disappointed with Star Wars: The Last Jedi perhaps were feeling something different in the leadup to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s release. Regardless of where people found themselves before, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s reviews have been surprisingly negative, and here’s why:
Jake Coyle – Associated Press:
Not much has caused a disturbance in the “Star Wars” galaxy quite like Rian Johnson’s “The Last Jedi,” an erratic but electric movie that, regardless of how you felt about it, was something worth arguing about. The same can’t be said for J. J. Abrams’ “Rise of Skywalker,” a scattershot, impatiently paced, fan-servicing finale that repurposes so much of what came before that it feels as though someone searching for the hyperspace button accidentally pressed the spin cycle instead.
Michael O’Sullivan – Washington Post:
…the new movie, while fast-paced, eventful, occasionally even surprising, also panders wildly, closing out this last chapter of the nine films that have come to be known as the Skywalker Saga with a story that delivers to the faithful exactly the movie they wanted. On the one hand, that’s a good thing. On the other, it may not be the closure this epic, now 42 years in the making, deserves.
A.A. Dowd – A.V. Club:
By the end, everyone has fallen into their proper place in the grand mythology, like the holo-chess pieces on the Millennium Falcon. What’s the point in introducing so many interesting new characters and then pushing them through the blueprints of old adventures? It leaves you pining for a Star Wars movie that charts its own path, until you remember such a movie exists already, and it’s being all but retconned before your eyes. Save the sympathy for that billion-dollar blockbuster.
Brian Truitt – USA Today:
But after paying homage to everything that came before, this “Star Wars” ending is a too-safe landing of a massive pop-culture starship, and a spectacular finale that misses a chance to forge something special.
Eric Kohn – IndieWire:
In fact, produced in the age of internet-based fandom that reduces every cultural achievement to memes and conspiracy theories, “Rise of Skywalker” isn’t even a movie in the traditional sense so much as the blockbuster version of a Jedi mind trick — a hodgepodge of cameos and callbacks, snazzy lightsaber brawls and shrieking TIE fighters — all glued together by John Williams’ exuberant score and calibrated to create the perception of the ultimate gratifying finale. But it’s more the idea of that thing than the thing itself, zipping along with enjoyable bits and pieces but reducing the big picture to an amalgam of half-hearted ideas.
Overall, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘s negative reviews are pointing to an uninspiring, rushed story that aims at course-correcting Star Wars: The Last Jedi instead of giving viewers a proper conclusion to a nine-episode saga. While Star Wars: The Last Jedi challenged Star Wars fans, it seems like, according to the negative reviews, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker tries to provide fan service above all else. Furthermore, common complaints amongst the negative reviews suggest that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker doubled-down on nostalgia and repeating the original trilogy, namely Return of the Jedi. But despite the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker negative reviews, there are some critics who found things to like in the final sequel:
Peter Bradshaw – The Guardian:
Of course, just as with The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens, very familiar tropes and plotlines are being revived, and maybe the distinctive theme of this trilogy is this fan-fiction-style tribute to the first films. But, however preposterous, The Rise of Skywalker is socked over with such energy, such euphoric certainty. And it’s such fun: full of the rackety exuberance of the now forgotten Saturday morning movie serials that were an influence on George Lucas. Comedy was, incidentally, the keynote of Ron Howard’s excellent and very underrated non-canonical Solo: A Star Wars Story. It’s right now for the saga to end, or at any rate to lie fallow, and to leave us with such an exhilarating flourish.
Peter Travers – Rolling Stone:
All that’s left is the rush to judgment on whether director and co-writer J.J. Abrams made sure Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is everything you want and need it to be. Short answer: Of course it isn’t. The impossible job of being all things to all Star-gazers leaves Abrams, who kicked off the third trilogy with The Force Awakens in 2015, straining to cram in everything. The result is often chaos, but it’s also a euphoric blast of pulse-quickening adventure, laced with humor and heart.
Richard Roeper – Chicago Sun-Times:
“The Rise of Skywalker” rarely comes close to touching greatness, but it’s a solid, visually dazzling and warmhearted victory for the Force of quality filmmaking.
Brian Lowry – CNN:
Faced with that task — and clearly mindful of the enormity of it — Abrams has made a “Star Wars” movie aimed at the people who love it best. “The Rise of Skywalker” isn’t perfect, but seen that way, it more than rises to the occasion.
With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker being the concluding chapter in the Skywalker saga, it attempts to satisfy three generations of fans. In doing so, it loses its footing and direction in the story, according to the negative reviews. Perhaps the audience score will be different, but no matter what the reviews were going to say, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was undoubtedly primed to be a divisive film. All Star Wars movies are, after all.
