Innovation, imagination, humor – three things you won’t find in great abundance within Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
At least, that’s according to the first wave of reviews that have swept Rotten Tomatoes (read our own thoughts here), all of which have amounted to a measly Tomatometer Score of just 58 percent at the time of writing. For the sake of perspective, only The Phantom Menace has scored below 60 percent across all mainline Star Wars films. Even the decidedly average Solo scored 70 percent on the review aggregator.
To date, 189 reviews have been counted by Rotten Tomatoes for The Rise of Skywalker, 79 of which are ‘rotten’, with the rest (110) being rated as ‘fresh.’ The official consensus from RT reads as so: “[Episode IX] suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination, but concludes this beloved saga with fan-focused devotion.”
And let’s just say Star Wars fans have posted some interesting reactions online:
The internet when they see a Rotten Tomatoes score that isn’t above a 70% pic.twitter.com/7J30hC2JNK
— Noah (@NTNN_7) December 18, 2019
I don’t care how many rotten tomatoes are thrown at it, I didn’t watch 10 movies over the course of 40+ years just to bail out now. I still plan on seeing it! #TheRiseOfSkywalker pic.twitter.com/W5dByb6b2A
— Scott (@DodSquatch) December 18, 2019
Me after checking out the #StarWarsRiseofSkywalker Rotten Tomatoes Score pic.twitter.com/9w6KkO6XcH
— Sanskar (@_sSkaR) December 18, 2019
Rotten tomatoes pic.twitter.com/dNDmHXennt
— Ivan (@estuary013) December 18, 2019
The Last Jedi: 91% on Rotten Tomatoes
The fans: *incoherent screaming*
The Rise of Skywalker: 56% on Rotten Tomatoes
The fans: *incoherent screaming*
It's almost like no hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans
— Michael Martin Garrett (@MichaelMGarrett) December 18, 2019
Keep in mind that this figure (i.e. 58 percent) only represents the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator; whether the Audience Score will fall within a similar ballpark will be revealed over the course of the weekend. Viewers will naturally draw comparisons between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, given the former blockbuster received near-unanimous praise among critics (91 percent RT score), only to divide fans across the globe, resulting in an Audience Score of just 43 percent. Ouch.
Will the opposite be true of Episode IX? Which is to say that the Audience Score may well be higher than the critical consensus. We’ll find out very soon indeed.
George Lucas returning to earth to check the Rotten Tomatoes score pic.twitter.com/B6sOo1hohe
— Screen Slate (@ScreenSlate) December 18, 2019
The Fact that Rotten Tomatoes is hating on the new star wars is actually giving me hope that it will be good lol #RiseOfSkwalker pic.twitter.com/MC4F2kr6b8
— EMGG | Renegade (@iiiRenegade) December 18, 2019
JJ when he sees the #RiseofSkywalker rotten tomatoes score pic.twitter.com/mvWvD2q6x5
— The Mighty Thor (@PennStateThor) December 18, 2019
rise of skywalker reviewing so low is genuinely surprising. jj abrams has always made terrible movies but it is left to people on the tl to say so. curious what changed. into darkness got 84% on rotten tomatoes!!!! everyone hates that piece of shit!!!!
— spacenoid jackson (@headfallsoff) December 18, 2019
rian johnson checking rotten tomatoes rn pic.twitter.com/YpmntGVE4o
— trey!!! (@treyoncinema) December 18, 2019
We’ll be able to see for ourselves once Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker makes its way into theaters all across the globe this coming weekend. Box office analysts predict a suitably huge three-day opening in the States ($200M), but the question remains: will Episode IX‘s lifetime tally suffer as a result of these polarizing reviews? Time will tell.
