The final episode in the Skywalker Saga opens this week and the Rotten Tomatoes review score for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker is not good. As it stands, the JJ Abrams-directed movie is rotten on 55 per cent positive reviews. This score makes it the second-worst review score for a live-action Star Wars movie bar The Phantom Menace.
Of course, the last Star Wars film, The Last Jedi, received a controversial reception – splitting the fans.
Interestingly, The Last Jedi has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 91 per cent, making it one of the best-reviewed Star Wars movies.
However, the fan audience score is rotten at 43 per cent. It’ll be fascinating to see whether these reactions reverse with The Rise of Skywalker.
In the meantime, here are some of the most brutal reviews of Episode IX, some from critics who really loved the subversive The Last Jedi.
READ MORE: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker: Mark Hamill makes HUGE revelation
Flickering Myth
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker represents the plummeting of Disney’s artistic integrity.
BBC.com
All The Rise of Skywalker does is wrap up everything a second time, answering the same questions and revisiting the same themes.
Time Out
The Rise of Skywalker marks the return of a plodding dullness, the kind that George Lucas himself peddled with his second trilogy, laden with pointless plot curlicues, witless imperial intrigue and boring heroism.
CinemaBlend
JJ Abrams decided to play revisionist with Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, and in doing so created a mess.
According to some critics’ reactions from the world premiere in Los Angeles on Monday, The Rise of Skywalker doesn’t honour the decisions made by Rian Johnson in The Last Jedi.
This may be why the critics were so split on this movie, but, of course, not everyone hated it.
Express.co.uk gave The Rise of Skywalker four stars, saying the “nostalgia-filled fun…does not disappoint.”
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker will be released in UK cinemas tomorrow.