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https://hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/daniel-craig-cillian-murphy-damien-chazelle-prison-drama-1236222985/
I completely understand Daniel pivoting away from playing a Bond like character but selfishly,
I'd love to see Daniel get back to something like this. I always believe he shines most as an actor when he's not playing a camp larger than life character (with no disrespect), but rather a more grounded and serious character.
I always remember seeing him in Lara Croft and Layer Cake and thinking he was the coolest guy in the world. I'd like to see him do something like that, while he's still young enough to do it.
And please don't do an accent Dan 😅
At some point, they'll stop offering him leading roles.
Hopefully Johnson is allowed nowhere near Star Wars, or anything else, again.
Why?
I'm agnostic when it comes to Star Wars. I watched them as a kid, then watched them again, and some of the new ones, with my kids.
Saying that, the hate for one film does seem a little over the top. I remember thinking at least Johnson tried to inject some new energy into the brand...But, in the end, it was as enjoyable, or not, as any Star Wars I've seen.
But to then say Johnson shouldn't be "allowed" near Star Wars, or anything else, I find to be confusing.
You may not like his films, and fair enough, but he is an accomplished writer and director. To say he shouldn't be "allowed" to continue with his successful career is a silly statement, no?
Oh I'm not much of a Star Wars fan either - pretty sure I’ve never watched any of them more than three times, and many only once - but I thought Last Jedi was better than Force Awakens in many ways. From what I understand people weren’t happy with what they did with Luke (not sure if it’s just a case of uppity fans not wanting their childhood heroes to change or be different in any way, but I though the story in itself was fine). If anything I think it’s the third film that makes the strange creative choices by backtracking on Last Jedi.
Anyway, Johnson’s a pretty good director. Brick is an impressive low budget film, and I enjoyed Looper and Knives Out.
Yes, I think fanboys really got wound up by Luke's depiction...
Agree on Johnson, that's why I found it absurd that one would say he "shouldn't be allowed" to do another SW film, or anything else. Like, wow...Just wow. Not sure in what place a statement like that is born from, but it's tinged with a little arrogance and a dash of anger, I'd think...
Cool…
Never got the sense Johnson dislikes Star Wars (call me crazy but I’m of the opinion if he’s making a Star Wars film he must like it to some extent even if the direction might not be your cup of tea). I thought Last Jedi had some interesting plot points that they should have embraced in the third (ie. Ray being from a poor, random family rather than being shoehorned as a Skywalker, and Ren basically becoming the main, sole villain even if he still had his change of heart).
Yes, the fanboy’s answer to films they don’t like: the director doesn’t like the material.
But fanboys think they’re entitled to giving a personality assessment about someone they don’t know, nor will they ever meet, based off of a two hour film that they didn’t like.
How about: instead of making these sweeping statements, just accept you don’t like a film. It didn’t mean the director didn’t like the series or the material; it didn’t mean that the producers were going out of their way to insult you. They just made a flick that didn’t do it for you. Maybe you’ll like the next one in the series 🤷♂️?
Could be the way you interpreted it?
I saw the same film you did. I didn’t think it was mean-spirited at all. I just thought Johnson tried to put an alternative spin on this mythology without rocking the boat (in other words, to me, he should have leaned more into what he wanted to say).
This film really did feel like just another chapter in the SW saga. Nothing too dark or daring. Just inoffensively middle of the road with a depiction of Luke that I wasn’t expecting.
Well, It's Hollywood.
;)
Wasn't that for when Man of Steel 2 was rumoured to be happening?
“Maybe he just wanted to be the smartest guy in town”…what do you mean? And what gave you this impression?
“…there’s something cruel about that”… how would trying to be the smartest guy in town also make someone and the way they directed a film, “cruel”?
If you can answer my questions without moving any goalposts, I’m intrigued and want to discover what you’re trying to say…
There is no sincerity. It's a self-parody but not in a loving way. there is something mean-spirited.
I'm not a SW fan, but I didn't like Last Jedi. My take on it is that it decided that everything that was more dramatically interesting for the characters to go through should happen, but never considered what the audience wanted for a moment. You like Finn, Rey and Poe? Guess what: Poe is now a dick, Finn is getting sidelined and here instead is Rose, who's boring. Here's Holdo: she's boring too, and pompous as well. You're welcome. Poe being a dick and being taught a lesson is an interesting source of drama, but who really wanted to see that? In films like these we want to actually like the characters. You wanted to see how they defeat the grand evil Snoke? Guess what, he's dead. The mystery about Rey's parents? Well the most dramatically interesting thing for the character of Rey to go through is that she discovers she was waiting for nothing and they were nobodies: and that is a good moment of drama for her. But it leaves the audience kind of adrift, they don't know what they're watching anymore. Is there a mystery then? What's the point? What's even left to do in the next film? And of course then there's Luke: yes, he gave us the most dramatically interesting place to take Luke, but much like Indy in Dial of Destiny, the audience just plain don't want to see that. Look at Top Gun Maverick: Cruise was adamant that he didn't want Maverick to not be Maverick at the start of that film because it's not what the audience wants. It's not about fanboys as such, it's about meeting expectations of a popcorn movie and what everyone wants.
And I'm not saying you have to do everything the audience wants, because if you go too far the other way you end up with Rise of Skywalker, and that's obviously pretty uninteresting too because there's no surprises and you're not being challenged at all. But it's a balancing act and you've got to be aware of both sides of the scale. (And honestly, I'd still take RoS over TLJ: it's kind of bland, but it's at least a SW film giving me SW stuff and isn't boring).
Opening the film by having Luke chuck the lightsaber away in a moment played as a joke: it undercuts the grand cliffhanger of the previous film in such way that actually feels quite annoying and insulting- it says to the audience ‘I’m not going to give you what you want and your disappointment amuses me’. And sometimes you have to give them what they want. Sometimes you can confound expectations and that can be exciting, but in a film like that you have to pick your moments.
imagine if Return of the Jedi had opened on that wonderful shot ESB had ended on, of our heroes solemnly looking out to space as Lando leaves in the Falcon to search for Han. But now Luke drops his trousers. Or Lando comes over the radio "Only kidding, I ain't going nowhere, I hated that guy!", and they all laugh. Y'know, you're taking a moment the audience wanted and appreciated the grandeur of, but kicking it out from under them and kind of laughing at them. And that's not to say Luke couldn't have turned the saber down: he could have dropped it to the ground, the music swelling, drama building in that moment. But playing it like a Marvel gag beat.. it's crashing the tone and just the direction inviting hostility from the audience from the off. I feel like the film is resenting me watching it. Honestly, I get what Deke means about it being mean-spirited.
I don't find anything mean spirited about Last Jedi though. And it's possible for a director to do something slightly different because they like the material they're working with.
I do feel like that opening lightsaber gag is a bit of a microcosm of the film though: the audience don't want a gag which undercuts this grand, sweeping moment they've been waiting two years to see. I honestly found it a bit of a slap in the face, tonally.
I genuinely find Johnson a bit baffling: I think his recent murder mystery stuff is great and genuinely funny, but all of the jokes in LTJ feel forced and stiff compared to Force Awakens. Like that answering machine joke LTJ opens with: it’s just the same joke from the beginning of Force Awakens, where Poe pretends he can’t understand Ren through his mask, but made bigger until it loses all subtlety and doesn’t work and played without the charm. It’s weird: if you played me those two scenes and asked which Rian Johnson directed, I’d say the first.
Appreciate the answer @DEKE_RIVERS .
I don’t know how you can assume that Johnson had this idea in his head that he was going to “fix Star Wars” unless he told you that that was his intent. If he didn’t tell you, and I’m assuming he didn’t, then that’s what you’re reading into this film. Nothing more. Nothing less. And certainly not based in any factual, objective evidence.
This is what makes fan-boys so frustrating to read, at times; when there’s this assumption that they know what was on person X’s mind when they shot a film. What their intent was. That person X purposely did this, or director Y didn’t even like the material he was hired to shoot. It’s easy to fire off what we all believe to be the case, with not a whit of evidence
There’s an added layer of insult to others, when these fan boys think they, and they alone, know what the secret ingredients to their favourite series are.
I didn’t see a mean-spirited film, personally, but that’s how you interpreted it… That’s how you see this movie, and that’s fair. Film, art, it’s all subjective.
But I do appreciate the answer.
I get that, but in some ways it's meant to be. Luke being revealed as a hermit who has no interest in getting involved is a slap in the face for Rey. The story's about him finding his way again and learning from his failures through her involvement (which is a spin on that classic hero's journey mould you get in Star Wars). So I think it works when thinking about the film as a whole.
It's really not a perfect film and I have my issues with it, but I can definitely see what it was going for. I get the sense Star Wars viewers, much like Bond fans, can have very fixed expectations about what they want from these film, and when these expectations are played with I think there's sometimes a reaction of... anger I guess? Like, how could they not show us Luke as the b*dass Jedi we think of him as? (Although that has his caveats going from the original trilogy). As if the director is laughing at the audience almost for having these expectations. I don't think it's quite like that though. But maybe I'm way off...
I think too much criticism of Last Jedi is dismissed as being swept up in all the fanboy rage or people who got upset because there was an Asian woman in it. I didn't like it, not because of those things, but because it was pretty dull and charmless compared to the one before it, and it did some things to frustrate me as a viewer. It had some interesting story ideas, but presented in a way I didn't find likeable.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind him turning it down. That can still be a big moment: he drops it to the floor, big dramatic glare, distraught Rey etc. But it's directed as a gag, he tosses it over his shoulder like it's a chicken bone. It breaks the tone of the piece.
I'm all for jokes in Star Wars, I think the movies need gags, but in the right time and place. There wasn't a whoopee cushion on the Emperor's throne.
I mean, it's the only one of the new trilogy films I saw more than once. The first was pretty dull in my opinion, and the third was a bizarre mess.
I think by the end of the movie you get those more 'sincere' moments of Star Wars pathos. But I like the fact that that moment is played as a gag. Again, for Rey it's a slap in the face finally finding this almost mythic figure and realising he's now a grumpy, disillusioned old recluse.