The Force Awakens and
The Last Jedi are two very different films. The first is a pure distillation of quintessential
Star Wars themes and motifs, its narrative filled with echoes of the original fairy tale told sublimely, albeit with small moments of bittersweet reflectiveness.
The latter film took that last point and ran with it, rejecting mystery boxes and the road we thought we were going down, to deliver a more unique, unexpected and arguably more complex experience. Both films aren't without their detractors,
The Last Jedi more so if the last couple of months on the internet have shown us anything.
This disparity is perhaps unsurprising, given that JJ Abrams and Rian Johnson are two very different filmmakers, with one often relishing in the magic of the past and the latter, deconstructing and examining that. This is readily apparent in their final films, but what of them on set?
While the home release of
The Last Jedi will see an exhaustive documentary about the making of the film titled
The Director and the Jedi there were very little behind-the-scenes footage on
The Force Awakens that would give us an indication of JJ's approach to directing a property so incredibly dear to his heart.
Speaking to
ScreenRant Chris Corbould, who is a
Practical Special Effects Supervisor on both the films was asked about the difference between working with RIan and JJ.
"Both JJ and Rian had their own style on each film. JJ is a livewire of a guy - million miles an hour, you know? All ideas stream out of his head every minute of the day. Spontaneity is a big part of working with JJ. I think that reflected in Force Awakens. Rian is a slightly different character. He is very quiet, he's a sweet man. He's methodical, he wrote the script and we pretty much shot the script - which is pretty uncommon these days. So very different styles and I think that reflected in the separate films. But both great to work with - amazing times"
The off-the-cuff dynamic style is what we have come to expect of Abrams, and it was no secret that things were in flux throughout production (to the unthinkable point that Poe wasn't supposed to survive the crash on Jakku) and it's interesting to hear that they shot
The Last Jedi's script as it was, especially considering that there appear to have been more deleted scenes from that film than the more spontaneous
The Force Awakens.
It's something of a shame that Episode IX won't also have a unique approach and attitude, as JJ Abrams is set to be the only other person besides franchise creator George Lucas to helm multiple
Star Wars films.
What do you think? Whose approach to Star Wars did you prefer? Which directors other filmography do you prefer? And are you happy that JJ is returning or would you rather someone else? Leave your thoughts below.