‘Screaming, standing up, crying’
Star Wars cast shares its own reaction to The Last Jedi
Even before the embargo was lifted on reviews of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the early reports on Twitter suggested fans were going to be in for a surprise and should avoid spoilers at all costs.
The movie clocks in at an epic two-and-a-half hours. Mark Hamill, a.k.a. Luke Skywalker, has compared it to The Godfather and presumably not just because of its length. Starry-eyed viewers who took in the film at its Los Angeles premiere last Saturday were initially barred from writing formal reviews, but their immediate and emotional response on Twitter was telling:
The Last Jedi was “badass,” “emotionally powerful,” “jaw dropping,” and contained “so so so much emotional payoff decades in the making.”
“#TheLastJedi will shatter you — and then make you whole again,” tweeted Anthony Breznican, who covers Star Wars for Entertainment Weekly.
But a week before Saturday’s premiere, director Rian Johnson seemed to be assuring a gathering of journalists and bloggers in L.A. that his vision does not, in fact, stray all that far from those who came before him in the Star Wars franchise.
“It’s the second movie in the trilogy and I think we’ve been trained to expect it will be a little darker, and obviously it looks a little darker,” Johnson said. “The thing is, though, for me, I loved the tone of the original films and also (the tone) J.J. (Abrams) captured in The Force Awakens of fun. To me, it’s a Star Wars movie.
“First and foremost, we were trying to make it feel like a Star Wars movie. That means you have the intensity and you’ve got the opera, but it also means it makes you come out of the theatre wanting to run in your backyard, grab your spaceship toys and make them fly around.”
This balance between darkness and light, tragic family saga and goofy space adventure, has always been a key ingredient to the appeal of the Star Wars franchise.
But long before anyone had seen The Last Jedi, there was speculation about how closely it would resemble 1980’s the Empire Strikes Back, the middle chapter of the original trilogy and arguably the most beloved and darkest of the Star Wars films. It had one of the most famous twists in cinematic history, revealing for the first time the family secret that Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker and villain Darth Vader were one in the same. It was full of desperation and character revelations and ended with nearly all our heroes in a state of despair or unrest (or frozen in carbonite).
While none of the cast of The Last Jedi were talking specific plot points in Los Angeles, more than one used the term “intimate” to describe how Johnson’s script explores its characters and how this leads to some very dark places.
“I think the reason (Star Wars) has resonated with us so deeply is that it’s a foundation story of good against evil, and where that balance is,” said Gwendoline Christie, who plays the First Order’s fearsome stormtrooper commander Capt. Phasma. “But there is something about this film, and I think it’s because the world we live in is a changing and evolving place, that it retains the simplicity of those elements but it really resonates with what it is to follow your own human, dark, narcissistic tendencies and where that will take you.”
In The Last Jedi, scavengerturned-Resistance-heroine Rey (Daisy Ridley) meets up with an exiled Luke Skywalker, presumably to begin her training with the Force. Former First Order stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) has recovered from injuries sustained in 2015’s The Force Awakens and teams up with a star-struck mechanic named Rose (Kelly Marie Tran) to infiltrate the First Order. He was injured by Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), who was revealed to be the son of Leia and Han Solo in The Force Awakens and is now being mentored in the dark side of the Force by Supreme Leader Snoke, the shadowy leader of the First Order played by Andy Serkis. Laura Dern portrays Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo, a high-ranking officer in the Resistance, and Oscar Isaac returns as heroic Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. The late Carrie Fisher, in her final performance, returns as Princess Leia, now a general in the Resistance.
So, as with most Star Wars films, there are many characters to develop, lots of relationships to examine and plenty of action surrounding the theme of good vs. evil.
“What Rian has done so incredibly well is he has challenged deeply every single character, including the droids,” said Isaac. “It’s the biggest challenges they’ve ever faced, and that’s how you’re able to get to learn about them on all sides of the spectrum, from light to dark.”
When the embargo was lifted Tuesday, the early reviews were mostly positive and many were positively gushing. Most point out the balance Johnson has achieved between dizzying spectacle and emotional depth, which the cast also noticed while filming.
“Oscar and I were always talking about how stunned we were that we were in such a massive environment and (felt) like we were making an indie movie,” said Dern. “Rian was always encouraging us to try things and explore character and this duality of the light and the dark within characters, which the movie speaks to so beautifully.
“It’s not just that there’s alternative universes, but that it lies within, which seems to be the place where George Lucas started the mythology.”
That said, an early screening specifically for the cast had them buying into the sheer spectacle, as well.
“A group of us sitting together watching it for the first time was amazing, because it was like we were with 3,000 people,” Dern said. “We were screaming, standing up, crying.”