Star Wars director JJ Abrams has surprise response to negative Rise of Skywalker reviews: 'They're right'

'We knew any decision we made would please someone and infuriate someone else'

JJ Abrams has made a surprising response to the negative reviews of his new Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker.

Since the film’s release earlier this week, the film has divided critics and audiences, with some highlighting the film’s sense of adventure and others criticising it for its moments of fan-service.

Consequently, the film has a score of 57 per cent on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes – one of the lowest for any film in the long-running Star Wars franchise.

Instead of ignoring the mixed reception, Abrams – appearing on a Vanity Fair panel to promote the new film – acknowledged it, telling the audience: “I’d say that [the reviews] are right – the people who love [the film] more than anything are also right.

“I was asked: ‘How did you go about pleasing everyone?’ I was like, ‘what?’ Not to say that should be what anyone tries to do anyway, but how would one even go about it? Especially with Star Wars.”

He continued: “I don’t need to tell anyone here, we live in a moment where everything immediately seems to default to outrage. And there’s a kind of MO of 'it's either exactly as I see it or you’re my enemy.'”

Abrams revealed that he knew before making the film that there would be many decisions that alienated some members of the fandom.

“We knew starting this any decision we made – a design decision, a musical decision, a narrative decision – would please someone and infuriate someone else,” he said, adding: “And they’re all right.”

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is in cinemas now – find a list of every unexpected cameo in the film here.

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Meanwhile, director Rian Johnson has been defending himself from criticism of The Last Jedi on Twitter.