Critics pile on The Rise of Skywalker for being “soulless,” too safe

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens tomorrow, and it has a world of expectations on its shoulders. The last movie, The Last Jedi, badly divided the fandom — you can still hear the echoes of those arguments today. Can J.J. Abrams, called in to replace Colin Trevorrow, heal the rift with a movie that pays homage to the series’ storied past while also forging its own path and wrapping up a saga 42 years in the making?

If you ask the critics, mostly…no. Although this could well change as more reviews come in, at the moment the Tomatometer for The Rise of Skywalker sits in the 50-60% range, the lowest of any movie save 1999’s The Phantom Menace:

So what are critics upset about? A lot of it seems to come down what they perceive as the movie’s reluctance to break any new ground. “The Rise of Skywalker gives people what they go to Star Wars for, but that’s all it does—and worse, all it sets out to do,” writes Slate’s Sam Adams. “It’s frenzied, briefly infuriating, and eventually, grudgingly, satisfying, but it’s like being force-fed fandom: Your belly is filled, but there’s no pleasure in the meal.”

"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."

Adams is far from the only critic to note how Rise operates in the shadow of Last Jedi, a movie many fans definitely did hate, although a lot of people loved it, too. “By the end, everyone has fallen into their proper place in the grand mythology, like the holo-chess pieces on the Millennium Falcon,” writes A.A. Dowd of The A.V. Club. “What’s the point in introducing so many interesting new characters and then pushing them through the blueprints of old adventures? It leaves you pining for a Star Wars movie that charts its own path, until you remember such a movie exists already, and it’s being all but retconned before your eyes. Save the sympathy for that billion-dollar blockbuster.”

Jake Coyle of the The Associated Press made much the same point. “Not much has caused a disturbance in the Star Wars galaxy quite like Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi, an erratic but electric movie that, regardless of how you felt about it, was something worth arguing about,” he wrote. “The same can’t be said for J. J. Abrams’ Rise of Skywalker, a scattershot, impatiently paced, fan-servicing finale that repurposes so much of what came before that it feels as though someone searching for the hyperspace button accidentally pressed the spin cycle instead.”

"[F]or a movie predicated on satisfying fans, The Rise of Skywalker is a distinctly unsatisfying conclusion to what had been an imperfect but mostly good few films."

One more Last Jedi comparison, from Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com: “[Rise of Skywalker is] not unlike a rollercoaster ride in that it has just enough thrills to satisfy fans, but you can also see exactly where the ride begins and ends before you strap in. Real movie magic comes with surprises and risk-taking, and those are undeniably absent here—I believe for the reason that people thought there was too much of both in the last film.”

That’s a note critics hit a lot: that the movie is too safe. “ slick delivery of a sterling, shiny example of what Martin Scorsese would call ‘not cinema’ feels momentarily satisfying but ultimately unfulfilling,” writes TheWrap’s Alonso Duralde. “It’s a somewhat soulless delivery system of catharsis, but Disney and Abrams are banking on the delivery itself to be enough.”

Maybe the most negative review I read came from Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly, who criticized Abrams’ abilities as a storyteller. “There’s always been a secret cynicism underpinning Abrams’ ‘Star’ blockbusters, which adrenalize the pop-est culture of his youth and avoid anything requiring originality or imagination,” he wrote. “Now he’s left grasping for source material he hasn’t already replicated.”

"Rise of the Skywalker isn’t an ending, a sequel, a reboot, or a remix. It’s a zombie."

Oh dear.

Okay, that’s enough negativity for now. Obviously, critics did like things about the movie. Even the ones who didn’t enjoy the it from a big picture point of view acknowledge that it’s well-made, and that it more-or-less delivers the thrills and chills people want from a Star Wars movie. Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal called Rise “a vast, convoluted, sometimes cluttered, intermittently thrilling and thoroughly entertaining production that brings the Skywalker Saga to a heroic close.”

Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian, who gave Rise a 5/5 star review, also had some backhanded compliments to pay it:

"All the toys go back where they are supposed to go at the end. The movie snaps together like a jigsaw puzzle, a series of concluding beats that seem inevitable and perfect, and designed to please all parties, so long as you don’t dwell on the logic too much."

Richard Roper of The Chicago Sun-Times was also critical but on the whole quite positive:

"There are a few moments when it feels as if this movie is trying to satisfy every Star Wars fanatic in the world — but that would be beyond the scope of even the most impressive Jedi mind trick. The Rise of Skywalker rarely comes close to touching greatness, but it’s a solid, visually dazzling and warmhearted victory for the Force of quality filmmaking."

Okay, if we can go back to negativity for a moment, another thing critics complained about was the movie’s pacing. “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the most convoluted of all the Star Wars movies,” wrote Uproxx’s Mike Ryan. “It feels like three full movies worth of plot crammed into one film. The stories in the other Star Wars movies, even the Prequels, have a way of bringing a viewer into that world. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker never lets us in.”

Jim Vejvoda of IGN had similar complaints:

"The Rise of Skywalker labors incredibly hard to check all the boxes and fulfill its narrative obligations to the preceding entries, so much so that you can practically hear the gears of the creative machinery groaning under the strain like the Millennium Falcon trying to make the jump to hyperspace. It ultimately makes the film a clunky and convoluted conclusion to this beloved saga, entertaining and endearing as it may be."

I think we should also consider that Abrams had to write a movie that would not only please fans put off by The Last Jedi, but he had to do it after one of his principal actors — Carrie Fisher — died before photography on The Rise of Skywalker really got underway. There were a lot of challenges in making this movie, and while it probably won’t please everybody, it does sound like there’s good stuff in there. Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post say that the movie “anders 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.”

Let’s end with some mostly positive reviews, like this one from Soren Anderson of The Seattle Times, who singled out the conflict between Rey and Kylo Ren as a highlight:

"It’s an epic struggle, which animates this final chapter in the Star Wars series. And epic it indeed is, full of magnificent set pieces — sprawling space battles and incandescent lightsaber duels — gripping performances and a number of truly stunning surprises."

Mike LaSalle of The San Francisco Chronicle was also pretty high on the movie. “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker does the most important thing, the one thing it absolutely had to do. It ends well,” he wrote.

"The third installment of the new trilogy, which began with The Force Awakens and continued with The Last Jedi, brings a feeling of completion, a warm sense of liking the characters, and a connection with Star Wars past — both with the history of the series and the history of our watching the series."

And of course, what the critics think doesn’t really matter. It’s fans who will determine where The Rise of Skywalker falls within the Star Wars canon. And they’ll be able to decide for themselves soon enough!

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