The Force awakens – again
Adam Smith finds out why ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ is a must-see
(8) STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI. Directed by: Rian Johnson. Starring: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro.
THIS Christmas there’s more than just presents to get excited about. The new Star Wars movie The Last Jedi hit cinemas around the globe this week and, like its predecessor The Force Awakens, “LJ” is bound to shatter movie house records.
Here’s a little orientation before you book your tickets.
Remind us what ‘The Force Awakens’ was like.
“Brightly drawn, occasionally surprising and an endless pleasure to spend time with,” said The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin. To jog your memory, Finn (Peckham-born John Boyega) is a wisecracking, appealingly uncertain action hero with the slight complication that he’s a former stormtrooper.
Meanwhile Rey (fellow Brit Daisy Ridley) donned Luke Skywalker’s mantle as an ordinary kid from a backwater planet being pitched headlong into the struggle for the future of the galaxy.
And the plot, in a nutshell?
Well, it’s 30 years after the Death Star went kaboom. Things haven’t ended happily ever after. A shady outfit called The First Order has risen from the ashes of the old Empire. Newcomers Finn and Rey discovered a droid with a secret (sound familiar?), namely a map to last-Jedi-standing Luke Skywalker’s location. By the end of The Force Awakens, our heroes have triumphed over the First Order’s machinations but not without tragic losses, and Rey had finally discovered Luke, who’d grown a beard, but then hasn’t everyone these days?
Who’s the bad guy?
Kylo Ren is played with succulent menace by Adam Driver. He instantly achieved infamy when he murdered Han Solo. I blame the parents.
Who were the parents?
Han Solo and Princess Leia. Really! Didn’t see that coming.
Yes indeed. Apparently at some point between the original trilogy and The Force Awakens the famously spiky duo found themselves blessed with little Kylo. Ren was trained in the ways of the Jedi by Uncle Luke Skywalker, but went off the rails. But Star Wars has always kept it in the family. Chewbacca’s lineage is so far unclear, though it may have involved an Afghan rug at some point.
And cute robots? Those are the droids I’m looking for.
Then you’re in luck. Not only do the legendary R2-D2 and C-3PO return with the rest of the gang, there’s BB-8, who’s a bit like a basketball and a tennis ball held together by magic, but who can deliver nuanced, moving beeps and squawks. And if it’s cute that floats your boat, you’re going to love the Porgs.
What are Porgs?
They’re little space bird things inspired by the real-life puffins on Skellig Michael, which doubles for Luke Skywalker’s remote home.
Who’s behind the camera this time round?
That would be Rian Johnson. He was an inspired choice, an indie director with a handful of well-received films behind him including Brick (2005) and time travel movie Looper (2012). Disney is obviously impressed with their new boy wonder’s work on The Last Jedi. They’ve given him a whole new Star Wars trilogy to work on.
What can we expect from the new film?
The plot remains a tightly guarded secret. All we really know is that it will begin right after the events at the end of The Force Awakens with Rey having finally met Luke. “The galaxy has been thrown into chaos, and The First Order is going to jump on that,” says Rian Johnson.
Do I need to have seen the previous film?
No. First Order: bad. New Republic: good. Lightsabers: still cool. That’s all you really need to know.