Three days ago, we brought you the news that Star Wars: The Last Jedi floored critics with its spectacular visuals and heartfelt story.
In fact, in his own review, Matt Donato of WGTC heaped praise on The Last Jedi for its bold storytelling. And he wasn’t the only one. As the online consensus began to take shape, Rian Johnson’s sequel was officially certified ‘fresh’ over on Rotten Tomatoes, who later confirmed The Last Jedi to be the highest-rated Star Wars movie ever made (after Empire Strikes Back) at 93 percent. But for RT users, it’s a completely different story.
After more than 60,000 ratings, The Last Jedi‘s ‘audience score’ is hovering precariously at 60 percent, and that number continues to plummet with each passing hour. To put things into perspective, both The Force Awakens and Rogue One sustained solid scores at 89 percent and 87 percent, respectively, making this a rather strange anomaly. Could it be that Star Wars fans are divided over the Rian Johnson follow-up? Let’s unpack what we already know. And don’t worry, no spoilers!
First up, as this is December 15th, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is just now beginning to roll out across North America. An opening weekend in excess of $200 million is already on the cards, no thanks to the sequel’s strong Thursday, but with so many fans flocking to a film that is, at times, fairly divisive – take it from us, there are a few surprises woven into The Last Jedi‘s script – some online debate is practically par of the course. And it seems a vocal minority of the Star Wars community has taken issue with the sequel’s risk-taking.
It’s a little rich, really, considering The Force Awakens was criticized for playing things safe – the trench run, the spherical superweapon – back in 2015. However that may be, we can’t imagine a scenario in which a skewed online poll negatively affects The Last Jedi‘s box office performance.