The force was not strong with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as reviews flooded for the saga's buzzy finale.
While some hailed director J.J. Abrams' final Star Wars outing as a satisfying bookend to a series more than 40 years in the making, many dismissed it as a disappointing retread too desperate to appease the franchise's notoriously finicky fans to add any real value. Or, as The Times' Justin Chang put it, "another endless replay of 'The Skywalking Dead.'"
