Reviews forStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the final installment of the “Skywalker Saga,” dropped today, and they were…not kind. Granted, director/co-writerJ.J. Abramshad a tall order in crafting a film that would not only conclude this new trilogy that began withThe Force Awakens, but also serve as a conclusion to the films from the original trilogyandthe prequel trilogy. That’s a lotta stuff, and provides a number of options for ways in which you could go. I haven’t seenRise of Skywalkeryet, but it sounds like Abrams chose “all of the ways.”
But theRise of SkywalkerRotten Tomatoes score of 52%(ouch) got us thinking—how does it compare to the Rotten Tomatoes scores of the otherStar Warsmovies?Allof them? Now, Rotten Tomatoes is not the ultimate arbiter of quality, and its system is inherently flawed. An RT score doesn’t take into account passion, only “like/dislike,” so a film with a score of 99% may only have a ton of “liked it” reviews, while a film with a score of, say, 91% may have significantly more “this is a masterpiece” reviews, but the level of “like” isn’t reflected in that score.
At best, Rotten Tomatoes is a bit of a roadmap that provides a broad overview of the response to a film, so in that regard it’s interesting to look back and see how critics reviewed all the previousStar Warsmovies.
So below, we’ve ranked theStar Warsmovies according to Rotten Tomatoes scores.Rise of Skywalkeris in dead last.The Last Jedi, meanwhile, continues to age like a fine wine and I highly suggest anyone who liked or disliked that movie to rewatch it again in the context ofRise of Skywalker. Just as a piece of filmmaking, it isastoundinglygood.
So without further ado, here’s how theStar Warsmovies stack up according to critics.
10. The Rise of Skywalker – 52%
11. The Phantom Menace – 53%
9. Attack of the Clones – 65%
8. Solo: A Star Wars Story – 70%
7. Revenge of the Sith – 80%
6. Return of the Jedi – 82%
5. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 83%
4. The Last Jedi – 91%
3. The Force Awakens – 93%
2. A New Hope – 93%
