‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ reviews: What did critics think?

The Skywalker saga has come to an end. 

42 years after A New Hope hit cinemas, the final episode of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, The Rise of Skywalker, will release in a matter of days, and spoiler-free reviews of it are rolling out. 

Mashable’s own Chris Taylor has dubbed director J.J. Abrams’ film as “an explosive, action-packed visual feast that starts in the thick of things and doesn’t let go.” But he also noted the film will be quite polarising for hardcore fans and general audiences alike, saying, “Some ‘shippers will be frustrated as hell; others happy as clams.”

For more spoiler-free goodness on what to expect, read on: 

So, there’s a lot to take in, plot-wise. At lightspeed.

Chris Taylor, Mashable

[Abrams and Terrio] race through a dizzying number of visual and emotional beats at breakneck speed, barely fleshing any of them out. There are just a shade too many characters overall, and the most well-drawn, compelling ones, ironically, are the ones newly introduced in this film. 

The Rise of Skywalker does remember to slow down every so often to let us and the characters take a well-earned break, but such breathers are fewer and further between than in any Star Wars films past. I had a recurring sense that I was involuntarily watching the movie the way I listen to podcasts: on 1.25x speed. 

Tasha Robinson, Polygon

The nonstop pace is an advantage in some ways for The Rise of Skywalker. It makes the film feel like a sped-up victory tour around the Star Wars galaxy, as the protagonists hop rapidly from one planet and conflict to the next, meeting new allies and worrying over past foes. The gasping pace doesn’t leave much time for contemplating plot holes, or noticing that the stakes feel lighter than ever, even though in theory, entire planets are on the line. It also doesn’t leave time for further character development, any form of nuance, or even a moment’s reflection on the passing of an age. 

Jake Coyle, Associated Press

The movie can’t sit still. Everyone’s yelling and most of the bits of humor along the way are too blandly inserted. (C-3PO, at least, is in fine form.) Part of the rush, it seems, is to dismantle some of Johnson’s groundwork and refocus the spine of the story on Rey’s destiny and her complicated relationship with Ren. 

Esther Zuckerman, Thrillist

There is little triumph in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Instead, the movie plays out like a confusing sequel to a film that doesn’t exist. The bones of what made the new era of the saga exciting — the talented, appealing actors, the charming practical effects and creatures — are still there, but it’s all mired in a plot that’s as sludgy as planet Dagobah.

The Force is strong with Daisy Ridley’s and Adam Driver’s performances

Owen Gleiberman, Variety

The Rise of Skywalker also features what is far and away Daisy Ridley’s most accomplished performance as Rey … Ridley wears Rey’s mission with furious charisma, bringing a possessed quality to the character, never more so than when she learns who she is. What makes her performance so much more than “diversity” casting is that The Rise of Skywalker pointedly completes the Star Wars saga as a myth embracing the rise of women.

A.O. Scott, The New York Times

The bond between Rey and Kylo felt both politically dangerous and sexually provocative, while Rey’s obscure origins suggested that the rebels might finally come to represent something more genuinely democratic than the enlightened wing of the galactic ruling class.

Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

The only actor in the final series who needs no wishing-on has been Adam Driver. He is its true star. As Kylo Ren, the dark prince, he is so sumptuously troubled, so multidimensionally moody, so craggily crypto-Shakespearean that we believe everything — even, in this new, last film, a moral journey so complex and counterintuitive that it out-switchbacks everyone.

There’s plenty of fan service, for better or worse

Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair

The Rise of Skywalker, feels like such a desperate scramble to win back fans’ affection, to re-create that probably uncapturable sense of awe conjured up by the original series. The movie never rests, relentlessly ardent in its grasping for mythos.

Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

The Rise of Skywalker falls somewhere between an overstuffed fan-service finale and a yawnfest. If The Force Awakens kicked off a new cycle in the franchise and The Last Jedi set it up to push beyond its familiar patterns, The Rise of Skywalker for the most part runs screaming in the other direction.

Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

As much as Abrams knows to deliver what the fans want, he’s careful to add quieter moments into the mix too.

It’s here where The Rise of Skywalker shines with emotional beats that fans won’t forget, as well as crowd-pleasing payoffs that have been decades in the making. It’s fan service, but done in service of the plot and not just thrown in for the sake of it.

Darren Franich, Entertainment Weekly

The final act aims for tearjerkery with sincere appreciations of franchise lore. Don’t buy it. 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. Now he’s left grasping for source material he hasn’t already replicated — and one late montage even copies a sequence added into Return of the Jedi’s 1997 Special Edition. 

Carrie Fisher’s appearance could have been better handled

Adi Robertson, The Verge

Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), who could be the heart of the film, is ill-served by the snippets of footage that could be shot before Fisher’s death — consisting almost entirely of vague, contextless platitudes.

Darren Franich, Entertainment Weekly

I don’t really know how Fisher’s appearance was created. It looks like a very high-tech combination of unused footage, digital effects, and terrible writing. Her presence plus the Emperor’s shadowy appearance multiplied by other ghosts from the past equals yet another Disney-branded Star Wars looking ever backward, never forward.

Newbies rule

Brian Tuitt, USA Today

Rise of Skywalker expands its gloriously large galaxy with three fantastic debuts. Masked thief Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell) is a reminder of Poe’s shady past, and Russell and Isaac’s chemistry pops, even with one of them in a helmet. Little alien handyman Babu Frick is about to steal some of Baby Yoda’s adorable thunder. And horse-riding, arrow-shooting warrior Jannah (Naomi Ackie) shares common ground with Finn. Yet the audience gets barely enough of them to whet the appetite before the hyper, constantly shifting plot moves elsewhere.

Germain Lussier, Gizmodo

Zorii Bliss (Keri Russell) and Jannah (Naomi Ackie) are both welcome, excellent additions and deserve way, way more screen time than they get. The same can be said for the super cute Babu Frik, who all but steals the movie, and new droid D-O, who is there only to cover a specific plot point but is adorable nonetheless.

It’s an ending, but is it?

Steve Rose, Guardian

The big questions get answered, but cannot be discussed further, for the time being. Let’s just say some old Star Wars traditions die hard. As do old Star Wars characters. There are so many returning old faces in this movie, you start to wonder if anyone ever actually dies and stays dead in this far-away galaxy. 

Helen O’Hara, Empire

Maybe it won’t matter to fans. There are effective emotional punches before the end, as we say a final goodbye to Carrie Fisher and her generation of stars and as Kylo and Rey face their demons. Arguably the story more or less ends up in the right place, despite the threads left hanging.