‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’: First Reactions Are In, And They’re Mostly Good

The ninth “Star Wars” movie is “horrifying, hopeful, violent, lowkey horny, and full of the right kind of fan service.”

Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker Promo
YouTube/Star Wars

Reactions to Star Wars movies will never be less than sharply divided; we’re talking about a notoriously cranky fandom with roots stretching back more than 40 years. Since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is the 9th and final movie in the series that launched with A New Hope in 1977, there’s no way everyone will be happy with it.

But early reactions posted on social media following the Los Angeles premiere indicate most of them thought it was a damn near perfect ending to the epic franchise.

Here are some of the positive tweets, which do indeed promise one hell of a ride.

Nerdist creative director Dan Casey was blown away, saying it was “horrifying, hopeful, violent, lowkey horny, and full of the right kind of fan service.”

Author and Mashable writer Chris Taylor needed time to process.

Entertainment journalist Maude Garrett was blown away.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was into it.

Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz is also still wrapping his head around it.

Of course, we said above that the reactions have mostly been good. 

Unfortunately, there have been serious complaints, some—but not all—from professional critics. In fact, the movie’s current Rotten Tomatoes ranking might make you think it’s a piece of crap. Here’s a selection of the haterade for comparison.

https://twitter.com/alissamarie/status/1207209677051875328https://twitter.com/RogueCheddar/status/1207209404694589443https://twitter.com/RogueCheddar/status/1207035986204491776

Ouch.

The Rotten Tomatoes critic score sitting in the 50-60 range is not good, however the positive comments have been very positive and Rotten Tomatoes is not always a true indicator of a movie’s quality. It’s difficult to determine where everyone is coming from, too—if you come to the movie sight unseen you might loathe it. If you’ve been eagerly standing in line on opening day for every single Star Wars movie for 42 years, it might hit enough old sweet spots to work for you.

Decide for yourself when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters everywhere on December 20.

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