It would be an understatement of epic proportions to say that the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy proved to be more than a little divisive, although The Force Awakens largely scored passing marks from the fanbase for delivering a rousing return to a galaxy far, far away, even if it stuck a little too closely to the plot and story beats first seen in A New Hope.
Meanwhile, many diehards were calling Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi the single worst thing to ever happen to the franchise, but it received almost universal critical acclaim. In fact, it holds the second highest rating out of all the movies on Metacritic as well as earning a Rotten Tomatoes score of 90%, although users have put it at a much lower 43%.
And finally, critics and longtime fans were in agreement that The Rise of Skywalker marked a disappointing conclusion to the Skywalker Saga, doubling down on nostalgia and references to the back catalogue while failing to deliver a narrative befitting of what was one of the most hotly anticipated blockbusters in history.
The Star Wars comic books are now getting in on the act, too, with the fifth issue of Doctor Aphra featuring a not so thinly veiled dig at how the Sequel Trilogy ended, which you can see below.
The fact that Star Wars is making fun of itself in such a self-referential fashion tells you all you need to know about how much the Sequel Trilogy split opinion straight down the middle, and no matter what you think of the movies, it can’t be denied that J.J. Abrams definitely failed to stick the landing when it came to The Rise of Skywalker.
