Mark Hamill is back at it again, talking about what he doesn’t really enjoy about “Star Wars.” We’ve heard him talk ad nauseam about his dislike for Rian Johnson’s treatment of Luke Skywalker (multiple times). He’s gone on record talking about how George Lucas would have done things differently. And now, he’s worried that Disney is making too many of these films and needs to slow down.
Wait. For real? He said that? Something we agree on! Preach Mark!
“I will say they should pace themselves, because you don’t want to over-saturate it. I said to Disney, ‘Really? Five months after we come out comes [‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’]? Can’t you at least wait until Christmas?’ But they’ve got things booked – they’re doing Marvel and their own movies, so that’s beyond my [purview.],” the actor said in an interview with Cinema Blend.
Even though we disagree about his thoughts on Luke’s characterization in ‘The Last Jedi,’ this is something Hamill and I wholeheartedly agree on! We, as a movie-going society, have gone from one “Star Wars” film every few years (or longer), to now having a new one yearly. Every. Single. Year. However, before fans get up in arms and claim that Disney is just doing what they do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s a big difference.
First, the ‘Episodes’ are coming every other year. They should be events. Marvel Studios does an ‘Avengers’ film every three years. It’s just enough time to miss them. Honestly, it would be better, perhaps, if Marvel Studios waited four years. But there’s definitely going to be less excitement from fans as more of these films come out and the novelty wears off.
And secondly, the ‘Stories’ films that come out every other year are just addendums to the ‘Episodes.’ There’s not enough separating those films (granted ‘Solo’ could be different, but we’ve all seen the trailer and know it’s not going to be vastly different) from the ‘Episodes,’ in regards to tone and style. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” could very well just be called “Star Wars: Episode 1a.” At least with the Marvel films, while there are characters that crossover, the style of each film and tone is very different. Look at “Ant-Man” versus “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” or “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Black Panther.”
Hamill spoke a little about that “sameness” of the “Star Wars” films when he was asked about the standalone ‘Stories.’ Cinema Blend asked the actor if he thinks there should be boundaries to the types of stories being told in those films.
“Well, there shouldn’t be [a limit to the storytelling], as it’s a canvas that’s so infinite. With the standalone films they can all have their own identity. ‘Rogue One’ can be gritty, and like a war film… I’m assuming, I don’t know, but I would assume that ‘Solo’ will be more comedic-ly oriented because he’s a rogue, a scoundrel, and a gambler, and a womanizer and all those things… So there’s infinite possibilities,” said the actor.
As mentioned above, for as much as the press was touting ‘Rogue One’ to be a “war film,” it definitely wasn’t “Apocalypse Now” or “Saving Private Ryan.” It was still the same ‘Star Wars’ film, with a new cast. And sorry, but in the footage seen from ‘Solo,’ it doesn’t look to be much different. Hell, if rumors are to be believed, Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired for deviating too much from the formula.
Now, the question remains, “What’s Mark Hamill going to do once he’s done gabbing about ‘The Last Jedi?’” Eventually, he’ll have to move on, right?