So I got to see an advanced screening of The Last Jedi last night at the famous El Capitan Theatre, a historical grand movie house on Hollywood Blvd. And what’s better, the audience was packed with fans that have been sitting watching Star Wars movies for the last 24 hours, as this was the grand finally to a movie marathon of starting with episode 1 the night before. This may be the perfect way to see this film.
Also, because it was a special event, there was a red carpet for fans to walk down entering the theater, they closed Hollywood Blvd for the event and the red carpet had a bunch of cars by Nissan, modded out to replicate some of the starships in the movie. My favorite thing is they had a 20 foot ATM6, thats the new kind of AT-AT in this film, at the end of the red carpet, just an awesome installation and really gets you ready to see the movie. Also, Storm troopers were walking around, taking pictures with folks.
To introduce the film, the director Rian Johnson and producer came out after an elaborate laser light show and a special video clip from Mark Hamill… It was quite an event.
So how was the movie you wonder? It was pretty damn good! The director, Rian Johnson, said while introducing the film, “You will be surprised!” And, I was… many times actually. I loved the tone of the movie, Star Wars has become something of institutional juggernaut and the fact that it can “not take itself too seriously” in this movie was great. There was a lot of humor throughout the movie that made me feel like the director was influenced by anime. I’m thinking about it now and I’m still thinking about some moments that I can’t believe are in the movie.
Really great action both in space battles and light Saber battles. And great explanation of the lore of it all, great background story for Kylo Ren and Rey… as well as great story lines for the classic characters, Luke and Leia.
Can I say how wonderful it was to see Luke Skywalker on screen again?!?! I grew up with him as one as my favorite heros and to see him on-screen again was beyond anything I can describe. Then there’s just the fact of seeing Mark up there, someone who I’ve worked with several times now and who played my father in Avatar the Last Airbender, as many of you know. Just cool to see him back up there on the big screen being the hero I’ve aspired to my whole life.
I actually got to see him when he got back from shooting this film and of course I wanted to hear stories all about it and there wasn’t much he could reveal, but he did tell me, “You know Dante, I realized, I’m the same age now as Alec (Guinness) was when we did the first one.” I was in awe… the perfection of Star Wars, in front and behind the camera. The cycle of Luke to Obi Wan…
And the “feels” this movie offers! I mean soooo many “feels” !!!! Another thing that made me think of anime and the love triangles… no spoilers… but we have to talk about this later you guys.
It’s such a good time, the saga continues… sometimes being in the Entertainment industry so long, you can get jaded by all this being just business and money and selling toys and franchises… but sometimes we can just drop all that and I can just be a 10 year old kid watching Star Wars.
Enjoy you guys!
Dante Basco: My take on life... 