The Director and the Jedi

Misleading title. I was hoping for two hours of uncut footage of Mark Hamil and Rian Johnson yelling at each other about what Luke Skywalker's character should be, but it was just a normal behind the scenes documentary. It was well made but it didn't offer any insight into the creative differences between Hamil and Johnson that we didn't already know. You can probably skip this one and just watch the YouTube compilation of all the times Mark Hamil tried to warn us about The Last Jedi. It's a lot shorter and much more entertaining.

Movies are a miracle. How any one of them gets made, especially one as giant and as good as The Last Jedi, is unbelievable. Rian Johnson is a gem.

In terms of a behind the scenes look at a Star Wars film, I feel this documentary is definitely worth a watch for how they did all of the sets and effects alone. It was a monumental task to design 200+ sets with such a small turn around for some. If you're at all interested in the technical side of filmmaking, or are just a big fan of practical effects, then this documentary will be well worth your time.

The sheer scale of it all really amazes me. Moments and effects I thought for sure had to be CG just based on their complexity had been hand crafted all along, just going to show how much effort the team was willing to put it.

One thing I do wish had been explored more was the writing. It's no secret by now that Mark Hamill and Rian Johnson really disagreed on how Luke was going to be portrayed in the movie, but at the end of the day the doc really only covers the broad strokes and leaves a lot to be inferred.

And on the subject of things I wished we'd seen more of, Carrie Fisher was without a doubt the biggest missed opportunity in the whole thing. I understand that during the filming of this they still expected her to be around for one more movie and her sudden death wasn't something anyone could have accounted for, but given everything I really wish we'd just gotten more moments with her on set, or more interview clips in the end. What's there is still really good, but I'd just been hoping she'd be more of a central focus.

That having been said, Mark and Rian were clearly going to be the main event all along, and even despite my earlier gripe I feel the doc managed to give both of them their due. From all the fun moments with Hamill on set, to the amount of work Rian put in with the actors, you really get to see both shine when they're in their element.

If The Last Jedi left a bad taste in your mouth, I don't think there's much here you're going to enjoy, but to anyone else I'd reccommend watching this.

This doc, to me, was nothing short of fantastic. Rarely do we get to see the ins and outs of the process quite like this. My appreciation for this film and those who made it possible have only been deepened by it. If you, like myself, enjoyed The Last Jedi, I'm certain you will be pleased with this documentary. If you, like many others, were less than impressed by the film, I would still recommend watching it. It may not change your opinion on The Last Jedi, but it will hopefully give a much better understanding behind the passion and dedication that made it all possible.

I'm a big film buff, and I always watch the BTS features, an hour and a half long documentary was amazing, and it showed all element of creating the film, not just the stunts of action scenes, creating what can only be called one of the best BTS looks into any movie.