All one has to do is go from one Star Wars social media group to the next to see the multitude of heated debates raging about Rian Johnson’s second film in the trilogy, The Last Jedi. Some of Johnson’s story choices have left many fans excited and others ready to pull out their lightsabers and hunt down the director.
One of the major conversations currently going on centers around the changes made to Luke Skywalker. If you haven’t seen the film yet, stop reading now! Johnson decided to deliver a very different, unexpected take on the Jedi. In the film, Luke has shut himself off from the Force (honestly, the reasoning is somewhat convoluted) and he couldn’t be the least bit interested in helping the resistance. This version left a bad taste in some of the fans’ mouths. Now, it would seem Mark Hamill feels the same way as he discussed the film in a recent interview.
“I said to Rian, ‘Jedi don’t give up.’ I mean, even if he had a problem, he would maybe take a year to try and regroup. But if he made a mistake, he would try and right that wrong. So, right there we had a fundamental difference, but it’s not my story anymore. It’s somebody else’s story, and Rian needed me to be a certain way to make the ending effective. That’s the crux of my problem. Luke would never say that.”
Mark Hamill added that this newer take on Luke is really for a whole new generation of Star Wars fans.
“I’m sorry. Well, in this version, see I’m talking about the George Lucas Star Wars. This is the next generation of Star Wars, so I almost had to think of Luke as another character. Maybe he’s Jake Skywalker. He’s not my Luke Skywalker, but I had to do what Rian wanted me to do because it serves the story well.”
While it’s clear that Mark Hamill would have been really interested in George Lucas’ take, he also admits that this version of Luke serves the trilogy well and defends Johnson… slightly.
“I still haven’t accepted it completely. But it’s only a movie. I hope people like it. I hope they don’t get upset, and I came to really believe that Rian was the exact man that they need for this job.”
It’s easy to see why Mark Hamill would have wanted to see a different Luke. Johnson’s take does not differ that much from the direction Zack Snyder took Superman in.
Here is the synopsis for The Last Jedi:
“In Lucasfilm’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the Skywalker saga continues as the heroes of The Force Awakens join the galactic legends in an epic adventure that unlocks age-old mysteries of the Force and shocking revelations of the past.”
Written and directed by Rian Johnson, the film stars 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 and Benicio del Toro.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is in theaters now.
Source: Jar Jar Abrams
