Star Wars: The Last Jedi is finally, finally here on Thursday, but some lucky people got to see its world premiere over the weekend, so we can live vicariously through them, for now. Details are light at this point, which is a good thing, but the early impressions are in, and they’re about as positive as you’d expect.
It’s hard to discern from these reactions whether the movie actually lives up to “the best Star Wars movie since Empire,” although depending on who you ask, that might just mean it has to be better than Return of the Jedi or The Force Awakens. (Apologies to the “prequels weren’t actually that bad” crowd.) But there are other non-plot details to be gleaned from the buzz we’ve seen so far, which are guaranteed to stoke the fires of your rampant speculation.
Beyond all the general gushing about the movie being great, here are a few interesting tidbits:
It’s not all that much like The Empire Strikes Back.
Don’t worry. Despite a few surface similarities, #TheLastJedi has a radically different structure from The Empire Strikes Back – and every other Star Wars movie.
— Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) December 10, 2017
Both being the second installments in a trilogy and (so far, anyway) seeming to carry a darker tone than their predecessors (not to mention our hero having tracked down a lone, aging Jedi for training) have drawn surface-level comparisons between Last Jedi and Empire, but that’s apparently about as far as the comparison goes. It definitely sounds like this movie is … not going to go how you think.
I can’t believe The Last Jedi exists. @rianjohnson is a madman and I love him for it. He takes Star Wars to the edge and throws it over. What a crazy, awesome movie. We’ll be talking about this one for a long, long time.
— Germain Lussier (@GermainLussier) December 10, 2017
It also sounds like the 2.5-hour runtime is going to afford us a broader view of the Star Wars universe and what it’s like to live there (with enough wit to balance out all that extra weight):
#StarWars: The Last Jedi is so beautifully human, populist, funny, and surprising. I cried when one POC heroine got her moment because films like these leave their mark on entire generations — and representation matters
— jen yamato (@jenyamato) December 10, 2017
#TheLastJedi is going to spark much more debate amongst fandom than TFA. It’s good! But there’s a bit more fat than we’re used to in non-prequel Star Wars films.
— Da7e Galactic Historian Gonzales (@Da7e) December 10, 2017
It will also, in a way I have to believe is partially related to that, as well as to Luke’s sentiment that the Jedi must end, likely change the way we think about Star Wars:
I would say that #TheLastJedi’s biggest accomplishment is the way that it completely and totally dissects and pulls apart long held beliefs that we have never really questioned about the #StarWars universe
— Conner Schwerdtfeger (@ConnerWS) December 10, 2017
Most importantly, it sounds like the characters we love are going to really get their due:
I have a one-word review of #TheLastJedi that I believe I’m allowed to share: LUUUUUUUUKE.
— Joanna Robinson (@jowrotethis) December 10, 2017
The Last Jedi is incredible. Character at the forefront, amazing action and so so so much emotional payoff decades in the making. I will be watching this one a lot. pic.twitter.com/KVOjLhwk27
— Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) December 10, 2017
#TheLastJedi is incredibly satisfying and hands down Mark Hamill’s best performance as Luke Skywalker
— Aaron Couch (@AaronCouch) December 10, 2017
You may not always feel how you want to feel, but the feelings will be genuine and deep, and I am grateful for them. Especially when it comes to @carrieffisher. #TheLastJedi pic.twitter.com/gw2ntT3ATp
— Anthony Breznican (@Breznican) December 10, 2017
But perhaps even more pressing for fans right now was another through-line in the impressions: You’re going to want to avoid spoilers as much as possible for this one. Good luck out there on the internet this week. May the Force be with you.
(image: Disney/Lucasfilm)
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