Rian Johnson Schools 'Last Jedi' Detractors on the Ways of the Force

Johnson just got squidbrain 'Star Wars' fans all the way the f*ck outta here.

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rian johnson

I, for one, loved what director Rian Johnson did with Last Jedi. So did nearly everyone else. Still, a faction of very vocal detractors have taken issue with both the film's tone, and its most surprising moments. Just earlier this week, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Johnson's pal and the star of Looper and Brick, stepped in to defend the direction Johnson took Luke Skywalker in. When detractors began picking at another problem—Force Ghosts, in this case—Johnson himself took the wheel.

Armed only with emoji, a classic Homer Simpson GIF, and photos of selected passages from The Jedi Path, Johnson (hopefully) settled this debate for good in a series of tweets Friday afternoon. Specifically, Johnson put a finger on a passage noting that a Jedi has the ability, once such capabilities are perfected, to "create a short-lived duplicate of himself or herself or an external object that is visually indistinguishable from the real item." No outright spoilers here, but that passage's importance should be quite clear for anyone who's seen Last Jedi.

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At a press junket in Los Angeles ahead of Last Jedi's release in December Johnson subtly prepared fans for the film's bold change in tone. "It's the second movie in the trilogy, and I think we've been trained to expect it'll be a little darker," Johnson said. "Obviously, it looks a little darker." Still, Johnson added, he and his crew made a point to keep the Star Wars spirit of wanting to "grab your spaceship toys and make them fly around" intact. "We go to some intense places in the movie, but I hope it's also fun and funny," he said.

Next for the Star Wars universe is the long-awaited trailer for Solo: A Star Wars Story, starring starring Donald Glover as Lando Calrissian and Alden Ehrenreich as the titular smuggler. All signs point to fans finally getting a proper look at the second standalone Star Wars entry when Black Panther hits theaters next month.

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