The critics have spoken. The fans have responded. And now, it’s time for the director of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker to finally weigh in on the whirlwind of reactions that are, as of now, determining the fate of his movie.
The last episode in the Skywalker Saga opened to mixed critical reception, with most of the reviews calling out the story’s shameless inclination towards nostalgic elements and fan-service moments that don’t push the franchise forward in any meaningful way. Despite this, many fans are enjoying The Rise of Skywalker and the audience score is much higher than that of the critics, which is ironically the exact opposite of what happened with The Last Jedi when it premiered.
With the picture currently holding an aggregated score of 54 on Metacritic (based on 59 reviews) and a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (based on 349 reviews), many people are wondering how all of this is sitting with director J.J. Abrams, who, in fairness, had an unimaginably difficult time bringing the saga to a satisfying conclusion.
Appearing in a panel to promote the new movie, the director had some interesting things to say about the negative reactions, stating:
“I’d say that they’re right. The people who love it more than anything are also right. I was asked… ‘How did you go about pleasing everyone?’ I was like, what? Not to say that should be what anyone tries to do anyway, but how would one even go about it? Especially with Star Wars. I don’t need to tell anyone here, we live in a moment where everything immediately seems to default to outrage. And there’s a kind of M.O. of it’s either exactly as I see it or you’re my enemy.”
The filmmaker also said that he understands why some people might feel angry about their choices in this last film, adding:
“It’s a crazy thing that there is such a norm that seems to be devoid of nuance — it’s not about Star Wars, it’s about everything — and compassion and acceptance… It’s a crazy moment, so we knew starting this any decision we made, a design decision, a musical decision, a narrative decision would please someone and infuriate someone else. And they’re all right.”
Well, it’s safe to say that none of us would want to be in his shoes. And while it’s too early to decide if Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is really a failure, if the movie continues to fall short at box office, Disney will have a difficult time keeping the spark of a galaxy far, far away alive for the future.
