Anna Daniels
So what exactly happened in The Rise of Skywalker that drew such ire from critics?
To start, Abrams’ overeagerness to please might have turned off filmgoers due to the movie’s sheer amount of fan service. Some critics, including The Washington Post‘s Michael O’Sullivan, pointed to this as the main issue of the film. O’Sullivan wrote that The Rose of Skywalker “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.
Slate‘s Sam Adams felt similarly, writing, “Rather than making a movie some people might love, Abrams tried to make a movie no one would hate, and as a result, you don’t feel much of anything at all.” TIME Magazine‘s Stephanie Zacharek was more blunt, saying, “In its anxiety not to offend, it comes off more like fanfiction than the creation of actual professional filmmakers. A bot would be able to pull off a more surprising movie.”
It’s disappointing that even an act of fan service wasn’t enough to win over critics, many of whom grew up with the Star Wars films, but The Rise of Skywalker‘s worst sin was definitely Abrams’ attempted erasure of the eighth episode in the saga, writer-director Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi. After directing The Force Awakens in 2015, Abrams stepped away from the series for one film, and upon returning, he seemed determined to scrub any trace of Johnson’s narrative threads from his final film. Critics noticed this as well; Joshua Rothkopf at Time Out wrote, “It feels like a massive retrenchment — privately, a rebellion seems to have been fought and lost — and only the most loyal fans will be happy about it.”
Ultimately, in the wake of The Rise of Skywalker‘s release, it’s for the best that Abrams can be realistic about the middling results. Between his attempts to walk back most of The Last Jedi as well as the film’s clear desperation to be liked, it might be best for Abrams to learn from his Star Wars sins. And he may already have, as he’s said he isn’t returning to the galaxy far, far away any time soon — possibly ever.
Written by: Looper
