When the reviews for The Last Jedi came out they were amazing. It got a 91% from critics for being different and taking risks. But the audience score on the other hand sat at 43%. And that was also due to those differences. Fans felt like they weren’t being seen and that Rian Johnson had taken too many creative liberties with the story. There was a great divide of people who liked it and people who absolutely hated it. With most people being in the latter camp.
Now with The Rise of Skywalker we are seeing a completely different side of the coin. With mostly negative reviews it now sits with an audience score of 86%. You have to realize though that those that are reviewing it did buy preview day tickets because this is something that they really love and needed to see to the end. So these are mixed with fans of Last Jedi along with those that didn’t like it.
This could mean that J.J. decided to retroactively fix everything fans thought that Rian Johnson broke. I did see it in theaters but for the sake of keeping spoilers out of this I will keep it objective. Rise of Skywalker has so far been a massive success with people who have seen it(not critics). It feels like you are finished and it ends in a way that won’t leave you depressed when you leave the theater. Which is actually pretty perfect for ending a 42 year old saga.
There are moments when you will rally, cry, and let out all the feels that you have been holding for however long you have loved this franchise. This movie lets you walk away feeling complete. Kind of how you feel after you grieve for a loss, only you don’t have to dwell on it because nothing went wrong. That’s not to say nothing goes wrong in Rise of Skywalker because throughout the movie plenty of things do(in the plot not the quality of the movie itself).
All I can say is that if you’re morbidly curious and you don’t want to read or hear spoilers you should definitely see it for yourself. Let yourself be the judge and don’t let negative reviews sway you. Part of the thing about critics is that it’s their job to pick apart a movie, and it’s your job as the audience to enjoy it. So let yourself enjoy it if you want to. This movie is proving to divide the fans from the critics and hopefully as fans we can all reconnect over this and mend the bridge that was The Last Jedi.
