Critics see dark and light sides of ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’

When George Lucas introduced “Star Wars” to the world 42 years ago, no one knew what a cultural force it would become. Now the epic space opera is coming to a close.

Or at least what’s become known as “The Skywalker Saga” is coming to a close. Lucas is no longer the supreme leader of the galaxy far, far away. Disney is now in charge, and surely it will continue creating new “Star Wars” stories.

But the final film of the final trilogy is out in theaters. J.J. Abrams helms “The Rise of Skywalker,” his second time in the director’s chair for the franchise. (His first was “The Force Awakens” in 2015.) Critics aren’t overly impressed with how Abrams brought the story to a close.

Katie Walsh of Tribune News Service writes, “Abrams hits the gas on this space race right away and never pauses to let a single emotion land because the characters are too busy scrambling around the galaxy looking for thingamajigs and each other. The pace and volume of the plot is punishing and numbing.”

She also was frustrated by the fact that “Abrams has rendered death optional.”

“It’s not just characters who are reanimated like zombies, stripping all meaning from their deaths, but most ghoulishly actors. It’s not the first time the ‘Star Wars’ team has digitally Frankensteined a deceased actor out of pixel dust and unused footage, but this time it feels like it’s gone too far with the late Carrie Fisher re-created for a full supporting performance as Gen. Leia Organa,” she wrote.

In his four-star review for the Seattle Times, Soren Andersen had a different take on the fact that the dead live on in the “Star Wars” universe.

“Throughout the saga, the memory of characters no longer among the living – Luke, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo – live on in the surviving characters. They inspire. They instruct. They point the way to the future,” he wrote.

“They offer hope,” Andersen continued. “They’re the reason ‘Star Wars’ resonates so strongly among millions of fans worldwide. It’s that hope for the future.”

In the New York Times, A.O. Scott made the argument that individually, none of the “Star Wars” films are that great, calling a ranking of all the films “a nine-way tie for fourth place.”

“ ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ – Episode IX, in case you’ve lost count – is one of the best. Also one of the worst. Perfectly middling. It all amounts to the same thing,” he wrote.

Many critics complained about the overstuffed plot. Among them was Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, but he also thought the story was a lot of fun.

“The impossible job of being all things to all ‘Star’-gazers leaves Abrams … straining to cram in everything,” Travers wrote. “The result is often chaos, but it’s also a euphoric blast of pulse-quickening adventure laced with humor and heart. Sure, you’ll nitpick the thing to death with your friends. But that’s the point. When it comes to ‘Stars Wars’ fandom, the infighting is as crucial as the love.”

Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter had similar feelings about the plot, comparing the storyline to a pinball machine. But he and others also lauded the filmmaking.

“It almost goes without saying that, from a physical production point of view, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ is stupendous, enough reason by itself to see and even enjoy the film. Clearly no expense has been spared in making almost every scene spectacular,” McCarthy wrote.