The long-awaited “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” finally arrived in theatres, and reviews have been decidedly mixed.
With a score of just 57 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes (along with a far-higher 86-per-cent audience score), critics have slammed the film as “cynical and pandering,” the cinematic equivalent of a fading band performing a greatest-hits show “designed to give the fans what they want and nothing else at all,” and a “soullessly uniform spectacle.”
In a post-screening interview on Friday, director J.J. Abrams (who also helmed 2015’s “The Force Awakens”) addressed the criticism being levelled at the film.
According to Abrams, those who criticized the film are correct — but so are those who enjoyed it.
“No, I would say that they’re right,” Abrams said of the film’s critics. “[But] the people who love it more than anything are also right. I was asked … ‘So how do you go about pleasing everyone?’ I was like: ‘What…?’ Not to say that that’s what anyone should try to do anyway, but how would one go about it? Especially with ‘Star Wars’?“
Abrams went on to discuss the often polarizing nature of modern fandom. “I don’t need to tell anybody here, we live in a moment where everything immediately seems to default to outrage,” he added. “There’s an M.O. where ‘it’s either exactly as I see it or you’re my enemy’ … It’s a crazy thing that there’s such a norm that seems to be devoid of nuance and compassion — and this is not about Star Wars, this is about everything … we knew every decision we made would please someone and infuriate someone else.”
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However, Abrams admitted that he knew what he was getting himself into when taking on a “Star Wars” project, given the intense devotion of the franchise’s fans.
“We knew starting this that any decision we made — a design decision, a musical decision, a narrative decision — would please someone and infuriate someone else,” Abrams said. “And they’re all right.”
“Star Wars: The Last Skywalker” is in theatres now.
