‘The Rise of Skywalker’: Fewer ‘Star Wars’ Fans Will Hate the Movie As Time Goes On, People Predict

The Rise of Skywalker was supposed to be the thrilling finale of the Skywalker saga in the Star Wars universe. Although the franchise has now grown to envelope more than the main canon, 

Episode IX was supposed to a close to the original story that debuted with George Lucas’s first Star Wars film. Once the movie dropped, however, the mood changed quickly.

‘Star Wars’ vs. its fans

If there’s one thing that Star Wars fans are known for outside of their religious devotion to the galaxy far, far away, it’s their complicated relationship with many of the films.

While the original trilogy is, in the eyes of many Star Wars fans, immune to criticism, the rest of the films since then have had a mixed reaction among its biggest fans. 

Starting with the originals’ remasters and leading into the prequel trilogy, fans did not like what Lucas and company did with the film.

The remasters got rid of the same practical effects that earned the original so much acclaim, while the prequels inundated the fans with information that they did not need while losing some of the magic that made Star Wars unique. 

When Disney acquired the Star Wars rights, many hoped to correct the magic that made the originals so famous. While the first two films were polarizing thanks to dueling factions who wanted more of the same and something entirely different, they were, for the most part, crowd-pleasing films.

For The Rise of Skywalker, however, something didn’t click on a much larger level.

Fans vs. ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ 

The Rise of Skywalker was initially supposed to be Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow’s journey into the Star Wars universe. However, early on in pre-production, Trevorrow was let go and J.J. Abrams, who brought in the revival with The Force Awakens, came in to put a cherry on top of the franchise.

After many saw The Last Jedi as a response to Abram’s weaker points in his first movie, many saw his return as a way to correct those. 

The result was a movie that was, in the eyes of many, a hodgepodge mix of Star Wars references wrapped up in a nonsensical plot that relied on twists that did not worth given the first two movies.

A twist bringing back Emperor Palpatine after he presumably died in Return of the Jedi best encapsulated this. While many saw The Last Jedi as a refreshing break of air into the franchise, many saw Abrams’ return as a giant step backward from Rian Johnson’s film. 

When it was released, the fanfare was surprisingly muted. However, as time passed, some fans have looked back at Episode IX and begun to reevaluate their initial thoughts. 

‘The Rise of Skywalker’ might age well over time

Kicking off a Reddit thread about the controversial ninth chapter in the Skywalker saga, u/MicroMacroMax spoke about their disdain for the movie on initial review. However, after reexploring the film at home, they had a change of heart. 

“I rewatched the movie today and for reasons I can’t really explain, I genuinely loved it. I didn’t just think it was fun to watch, I genuinely loved it as a movie. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a mess of a movie with a lot of flaws, but today when I watched it for some reason I just kind of forgot about all of them. I don’t know why exactly but I did, and it all just sort of clicked for me. I love The Rise of Skywalker! I’m so happy that I can finally say that with complete honesty!”

Several others chimed in with similar thoughts. User u/NoddingMithrandir had a similar reaction comparing it to the similarly reviled Avengers: Age of Ultron. 

“I expect that the more time goes on, the more I’ll like it and appreciate it. I had similar feelings walking out of RoS as I did Age of Ultron, but I rewatched Age of Ultron recently and had a really good time. Hoping the same thing happens to me with Rise.”

While some disagreed, many pointed out that the lack of anticipation and acceptance for what it is made them ease up on the criticisms.

While some of them remained, some appreciated the strangeness that Abrams put into the final chapter while keeping true to the original. Whatever the case may be, The Rise of Skywalker could get a second wind as those same people who hated it on release look back at it.

With any luck, maybe time will make it a better film than anyone could have imagined leading up to it.