It’s incredible to see just how divisive Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker became after its release.
Even a month after it hit the silver screen, the sequel is continuing to generate intense debate amongst fans, just as its predecessor The Last Jedi had.
But now, the movie is notable for another reason – it has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating out of the entire series.
You heard that right. You see, until recently, The Rise of Skywalker had a rating of 58%. This, at the very least, placed it ahead of Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace, in the eyes of film critics. But now, the rating has lowered even further.
As of the time of writing, The Rise of Skywalker has the Rotten Tomatoes rating of 52%. This places it underneath Phantom Menace‘s 53%, officially making the worst-reviewed Star Wars film.
The consensus remains, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker suffers from a frustrating lack of imagination, but concludes this beloved saga with fan-focused devotion.”
Yet, the audience score lies at a relatively respectable 86% on the website. This perhaps implies that, despite the intense debate in the fandom, the audience generally approves of the J.J. Abrams-helmed sequel.
When compared to the previous film, The Last Jedi, things are entirely different. Here, the critics gave the movie 91%, with the consensus being, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi honors the saga’s rich legacy while adding some surprising twists — and delivering all the emotion-rich action fans could hope for.”
Meanwhile, the audience score is much lower than that for The Rise of Skywalker. Currently, it sits at a less-than-stellar 43%. So, while critics loved TLJ, audiences didn’t. And while critics rolled their eyes at TROS, audiences really dug it.
And yes, the Star Wars: Holiday Special does have a 29% on the Tomatometer…but the jury is out as to whether you consider it a real part of the franchise.
