Los Angeles (AFP)

"The Ascension of Skywalker" is supposed to end the planetary saga started by Star Wars 42 years ago but for many American critics, the film missed its target as surely as a Stormtrooper misses a Wookiee in a corridor.

The feature film, which was released in France but does not come out until Friday in the United States, where it has so far only been screened during rare previews, garnered 57% positive reviews on Wednesday morning. English-speaking site Rotten Tomatoes. It was the lowest score for a "Star Wars" film in live action since "The Phantom Menace" in 1999.

Many criticize the director JJ Abrams for having played the card of ease, preferring to brush the fans of Star Wars in the direction of the hair rather than to propose an original outcome for these three trilogies.

For the Los Angeles Times, "The Ascension of Skywalker" is thus a "spectacular renunciation" peppered with "free twists and flashy".

"The film is so careful not to get angry that it ends up looking more like a work written by fans than the creation of cinema professionals," deplores the magazine Time.

As for the Hollywood Reporter, he criticizes the film for wanting to always do too much, an accumulation of "sometimes questionable ingredients" which leaves the viewer on the verge of indigestion.

For more than one specialist, "The Ascension of Skywalker" suffers from the comparison with the previous episode, "The Last Jedi" released in late 2017, considered much more daring. This film, which called into question certain fundamentals of the Star Wars saga, had won criticism but had been very badly received by diehard fans.

The new Star Wars is however far from having displeased everyone. The specialist magazine Variety called it an "emotionally well-crafted" episode, "the most elegant and rewarding" since "The Empire strikes back" in 1980. As for the British newspaper Telegraph, he considers that the film "gives to our heroes the flamboyant and poignant ending they deserve. "

For the Guardian, the film fulfills the contract by "making everyone happy as long as logic is not given too much importance".

Positive reviews by journalists are a "plus" but the "real test" will come from the first fans to see the film, tempers Paul Dergarabedian, expert at marketing company Comscore, for whom "long-term performance will depend on the mouth- of-mouth. "

Experts predict a burgeoning start to "The Ascension of Skywalker", with $ 200-225 million in revenue expected this weekend in the United States and Canada alone.

The film was released on screens in many countries on Wednesday, such as France, Germany and China.

© 2019 AFP