Daisy Ridley wows at Star Wars: The Last Jedi UK premiere 

The Force arrived in London on Tuesday night at the out-of-this world UK premiere of hotly anticipated film Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Lead stars Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill made a dazzling entrance into the London premiere at the Royal Albert Hall, looking truly out-of-this-world as they posed up in front of a army of fearsome Stormtroopers.

Daisy, 25, who plays Jedi Padawan Rey, went to the Dark Side with her outfit, showing off her lithe figure in a black vinyl one-shoulder dress with an elegant neck tie detail as she posed for the cameras.

 

Lure of the Dark Side! Lead stars Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill made a dazzling entrance into the London Star Wars: The Last Jedi premiere, looking truly out-of-this-world as they posed up in front of a army of fearsome Stormtroopers

The elegant dress cinched in at the waist to show off Daisy’s taut midriff before flaring out into an elegant flared skirt.

She added height to her look with perspex heels.

Her ombre locks were styled into an elegant updo with curly bronze strands framing her face.

Daisy opted for metallic silver eyeshadow, fluttery lashes and liner while her pout was slicked with a fuschia lipstick. 

Imperial March: The fearsome Stormtroopers traded the Galactic Empire for The Royal Albert Hall at the premiere

Imperial March: The fearsome Stormtroopers traded the Galactic Empire for The Royal Albert Hall at the premiere

Dazzling: Daisy looked stunning with her ombre locks styled into a chic updo with curly strands framing her face 

Dazzling: Daisy looked stunning with her ombre locks styled into a chic updo with curly strands framing her face 

Legend! Daisy looked over the moon to be in the presence of Luke Skywalker himself as she gleefully pointed at him

Legend! Daisy looked over the moon to be in the presence of Luke Skywalker himself as she gleefully pointed at him

Here he is! John Boyega, 25, who plays Resistance Fighter Finn, looked dapper in a velvet blazer and bow tie

Here he is! John Boyega, 25, who plays Resistance Fighter Finn, looked dapper in a velvet blazer and bow tie

Proud: John looked over the moon as he celebrated his achievement with members of his family on the red carpet including sisters Blessing (third left) and Grace (end right) and parents Abigail and Samson (1st and 2nd left)

Proud: John looked over the moon as he celebrated his achievement with members of his family on the red carpet including sisters Blessing (third left) and Grace (end right) and parents Abigail and Samson (1st and 2nd left)

Don't do it John! John was all smiles as he posed up with a pair of evil Stormtroopers at the premiere

Don’t do it John! John was all smiles as he posed up with a pair of evil Stormtroopers at the premiere

Intimidated? John looked slightly scared as he struck a dapper pose next to a strapping Stormtrooper

Intimidated? John looked slightly scared as he struck a dapper pose next to a strapping Stormtrooper

Emotional: John looked overwhelmed as he gave the thumbs up on the red carpet surrounded by Stormtroopers

Emotional: John looked overwhelmed as he gave the thumbs up on the red carpet surrounded by Stormtroopers

Give me five: John held out his hands to his little nephew who seemed more interested in the big screen 

Give me five: John held out his hands to his little nephew who seemed more interested in the big screen 

Space heroes: Mark Hamill, 66, who plays Jedi Luke Skywalker, looked dapper in a suit and bow tie as he took in the awe-inspiring moment with his leading lady

No fear: Despite the army of evil Stormtroopers behind them, Daisy and Mark were full of joy at the screening

No fear: Despite the army of evil Stormtroopers behind them, Daisy and Mark were full of joy at the screening

Spotlight: Daisy looked fierce as she struck a powerful pose in front of the wave of Stormtrooopers

Spotlight: Daisy looked fierce as she struck a powerful pose in front of the wave of Stormtrooopers

Playful: Daisy playfully mugged for the camera with Mark as the pair soaked up the atmosphere 

Playful: Daisy playfully mugged for the camera with Mark as the pair soaked up the atmosphere 

Feel the Force! Daisy radiated chic in her couture gown as she posed up in front of the Stormtroopers 

Feel the Force! Daisy radiated chic in her couture gown as she posed up in front of the Stormtroopers 

Leading lights: Daisy and Mark were in great spirits as they celebrated the upcoming release of Star Wars Episode VIII

Mark Hamill, 66, who plays Jedi Luke Skywalker, looked dapper in a suit and bow tie as he took in the awe-inspiring moment with his leading lady.

Mark was joined by his supportive wife of 39 years Marilou Yorke and their daughter Chelsea. 

John Boyega, 25, who plays Resistance Fighter Finn, looked over the moon as he roared on the red carpet clad in a black suit and bow tie.

It was a family affair for the proud Boyega family with John  bringing his parents Abigail and Samson and sisters Blessing and Grace, along with his nephews, to the premiere. 

The Force was strong at the premiere with an army of deadly Stormtroopers opening the dazzling show.

Fan favourites C-3PO and RD:D2 were also seen greeting fans on the red carpet along with Wookiee Chewbacca.

Princes William and Harry and Tom Hardy all make cameo appearance as Stormtroopers 

Use the Force Luke: Mark looked handsome as he walked along with his wife and C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels

Use the Force Luke: Mark looked handsome as he walked along with his wife and C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels

Glee: Daisy and Mark looked over the moon as they posed up together ahead of the film's UK premiere

Glee: Daisy and Mark looked over the moon as they posed up together ahead of the film’s UK premiere

Jedi family: Mark was joined on the red carpet by his wife Marilou York and daughter Chelsea 

Jedi family: Mark was joined on the red carpet by his wife Marilou York and daughter Chelsea 

Fearsome: Gwendoline Christie, who plays feared Captain Phasma, flashed her cleavage in a plunging semi sheer dress dotted with black circles 

Dark presence: Gwendoline joined her Stormtrooper pals on the red carpet while flashing her radiant complexion

Dark presence: Gwendoline joined her Stormtrooper pals on the red carpet while flashing her radiant complexion

Bow down to your leader: Gwendoline got into character as the terrifying Captain Phasma as she ordered her troops

Bow down to your leader: Gwendoline got into character as the terrifying Captain Phasma as she ordered her troops

Fan favourites: Droids C-3PO and R2-D2 were a welcome addition to the red carpet as they greeted their fans

Fan favourites: Droids C-3PO and R2-D2 were a welcome addition to the red carpet as they greeted their fans

How's it going? Benicio greeted a Stormtrooper on the red carpet as he shot a warm smile at the soldier

How’s it going? Benicio greeted a Stormtrooper on the red carpet as he shot a warm smile at the soldier

Work it: The star was flanked by soldiers of the Galactic Empire as he posed for snappers on the red carpet

Work it: The star was flanked by soldiers of the Galactic Empire as he posed for snappers on the red carpet

Polished: Mark Strong worked navy trousers, matching tie, flat cap and a three quarter length coat for the premiere

Polished: Mark Strong worked navy trousers, matching tie, flat cap and a three quarter length coat for the premiere

Their arrival came after the glittering world premiere at LA’s Shrine Auditorium on Saturday. 

The film’s  director-writer Rian Johnson paid special tribute to late Princess Leia actress Carrie Fisher as he introduced the screening, saying: ‘I want to dedicate tonight to Carrie, who is up there right now flipping me the bird, saying `Damn it Rian, don´t you dare make this night a solemn tribute.

‘So let´s all have a blast tonight for Carrie.’

Wow factor: Laura Dern, who plays Amilyn Holdo, looked stylish in a feathered pink strapless dress as she was flanked by Stormtroopers

Wow factor: Laura Dern, who plays Amilyn Holdo, looked stylish in a feathered pink strapless dress as she was flanked by Stormtroopers

Dark Side: Andy Serkis, who plays evil Supreme Leader Snoke, posed with his wife Lorraine Ashbourne

The film ends with a dedication to Fisher, who plays Princess Leia. 

Carrie died at age 60 last December after completing her work on The Last Jedi. 

She shot to fame as the feisty and determined Princess Leia in the original three Star Wars film- A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). 

Bucketheads: The evil soldiers made for a frightening sight as they marched their way down the red carpet

Bucketheads: The evil soldiers made for a frightening sight as they marched their way down the red carpet

Galaxy glamour: Myleene Klass (L) flashed her toned legs in a thigh-high split gown while Alexandra Burke flashed her bra in a lace body paired with a green velvet suit

Practicing your Strictly moves? Alexandra appeared to be dancing with a Stormtrooper on the red carpet

Practicing your Strictly moves? Alexandra appeared to be dancing with a Stormtrooper on the red carpet

Her character, now known as General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance, plays a key role in the film.

 The Last Jedi, which is out on December 15, picks up with  the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snoke´s First Order which is trying to take over the galaxy.

The film’s release comes two years after The Force Awakens. 

Rey (Daisy Ridley) tries to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to join the Resistance and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke’s villainous rule.   

The star-studded ensemble cast, including Ridley, John Boyega, Lupita Nyong’o, Adam Driver, Andy Serkis and Hamill.

Disney has a strict embargo on full reviews until Tuesday, but early spoiler-free Twitter reaction has been universally positive.

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi is everything. Intense, funny, emotional, exciting. It’s jam-packed with absolutely jaw dropping moments and I loved it so, so much. I’m still shaking,’ wrote Gizmodo’s Germain Lussier.

‘I can’t believe The Last Jedi exists. @rianjohnson is a madman and I love him for it. He takes Star Wars to the edge and throws it over. What a crazy, awesome movie. We’ll be talking about this one for a long, long time.’

SlashFilm’s Peter Sciretta tweeted: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi is so very different, exciting, surprising. So many emotions, so many amazing moments. Stay away from spoilers.

Rey of Light: The Last Jedi, which is out on December 15, picks up with the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snoke´s First Order which is trying to take over the galaxy

Rey of Light: The Last Jedi, which is out on December 15, picks up with the Resistance fighting Supreme Leader Snoke´s First Order which is trying to take over the galaxy

Battle: Rey (Daisy Ridley) tries to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, above) to join the Resistance and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke's villainous rule.

Battle: Rey (Daisy Ridley) tries to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill, above) to join the Resistance and bring hope to the rebels against Snoke’s villainous rule.

The LA Times Jen Yamato claimed: ‘StarWars: The Last Jedi is so beautifully human, populist, funny, and surprising. I cried when one POC heroine got her moment because films like these leave their mark on entire generations — and representation matters.’ 

The original trilogy’s plot focused on the Rebel Alliance, led by Leia and its battle to destroy the Galactic Empire’s space station, the infamous Death Star, manned by supervillain Darth Vader.

Luke Skywalker, then a simple farm boy, acquires droids that possess stolen blueprints for the Death star. 

‘A brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster’: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best by a distance, writes Brian Viner

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (12A) 

Rating:

As the Star Wars behemoth lumbers on, cynics might be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at the number of sequels, prequels and spin-offs that continue to make their way here from a galaxy far, far away.

Or not so far, actually. This film, the ninth (and in my view the best by a distance) since George Lucas’s original movie in 1977, was shot mostly in the British Isles. 

It is the product of some remarkable technical wizardry at Pinewood Studios – as well as great vision from its American writer-director Rian Johnson. 

Crowd-pleaser: 'A brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster': Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best by a distance, writes Brian Viner

Crowd-pleaser: ‘A brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster’: Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best by a distance, writes Brian Viner

Admittedly, it takes a very long time to get from its exhilarating start to its poignant sign-off, a dedication to “our princess”, the late Carrie Fisher, who died after filming had been completed. 

Stars Wars: The Last Jedi lasts fully two and a half hours. There were moments towards the end when I felt like one of those poor Cubans listening to Fidel Castro at the height of his oratorical vigour … just as you’re planning your route to the exit, it lurches into yet another new lease of life. 

But my goodness, how it rewards the audience’s staying power.

The second in the so-called Star Wars sequel trilogy, it follows directly on from 2015’s The Force Awakens. Han Solo is dead, killed by his son Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), and the villainous First Order’s ineffably evil, incomparably ugly Supreme Leader Snoke (a mercifully unrecognisable Andy Serkis) is determined to finish off the noble Resistance, led by the venerable General Leia Organa (Fisher).

Excellent viewing: It is the product of some remarkable technical wizardry at Pinewood Studios – as well as great vision from its American writer-director Rian Johnson 

Excellent viewing: It is the product of some remarkable technical wizardry at Pinewood Studios – as well as great vision from its American writer-director Rian Johnson 

Snoke has the dastardly but comically hapless General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) to do his dirty work for him, as well as the still-conflicted Ren. 

Driver again makes a fantastic baddie, a worthy successor to Darth Vader, investing his character with proper depth.

In fact, if I had to find a spoonful of negativity to splash on such a cinematic feast, it would be that Daisy Ridley, as the space scavenger Rey, is outclassed in her scenes with Driver and the equally terrific Mark Hamill. 

She’s jolly pretty, and wields a light sabre wonderfully, but her dramatic range still stretches only from A to just beyond B.

Tense: Stars Wars: The Last Jedi lasts fully two and a half hours. There were moments towards the end when I felt like one of those poor Cubans listening to Fidel Castro at the height of his oratorical vigour

Tense: Stars Wars: The Last Jedi lasts fully two and a half hours. There were moments towards the end when I felt like one of those poor Cubans listening to Fidel Castro at the height of his oratorical vigour

Happily, Hamill gets a gratifying amount of screen time as a disillusioned Luke Skywalker, looking like a lonely old fisherman and living in self-imposed exile on a remote, jagged island, supposedly the most “unfindable place in the galaxy” and in reality just off the coast of County Donegal. But he’s still a Jedi knight and Rey wants him to teach her the secrets of the Force.

Will he be tempted out of retirement? Even without him, the beleaguered Resistance, rapidly running out of both fuel and ideas, can muster some impressive assets, among them the apostate stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) and his unlikely new sidekick, a doughty janitor called Rose (Kelly Marie Tran).

Maverick pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) is a further thorn in the First Order’s side, though he’s almost as much of a handful for his own side, especially Leia’s second-in-command, Vice-Admiral Amilyn Holdo, played by Laura Dern with a fetching mauve hairdo that makes her look for all the world like an inter-galactic Mrs Slocombe, from Are You Being Served?.

Dream like: Further enlivening the basic good v bad narrative are some truly spectacular battles, oodles of wit and a glorious episode in a casino that looks like the realisation of a feverish dream

Dream like: Further enlivening the basic good v bad narrative are some truly spectacular battles, oodles of wit and a glorious episode in a casino that looks like the realisation of a feverish dream

In our seats at Monday’s IMAX screening (do see this film on the biggest screen available) we were certainly being served. Further enlivening the basic good v bad narrative are some truly spectacular battles, oodles of wit and a glorious episode in a casino that looks like the realisation of a feverish dream surreally fusing James Bond with Dr Dolittle. 

There’s also a scene-stealing turn from a rascally, stammering Benicio del Toro, and a few fleeting cameos, from Adrian Edmondson and Lily Cole among others, that are fun to spot.

But all this is underpinned by some genuinely profound philosophising about life and death, including a line about the way to win being more about saving those you love than killing those you hate, that felt almost too deep for Star Wars.

 The Last Jedi is that very rare thing, a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster that will deserve every penny of its doubtless immense box-office returns. 

One to watch: The Last Jedi is that very rare thing, a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster that will deserve every penny of its doubtless immense box-office returns

One to watch: The Last Jedi is that very rare thing, a brilliantly crafted, intelligent blockbuster that will deserve every penny of its doubtless immense box-office returns

Lure of the Dark Side: Questions remain over whether Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) will face justice for murdering his father Han Solo (Harrison Ford)

Lure of the Dark Side: Questions remain over whether Kylo Ren (played by Adam Driver) will face justice for murdering his father Han Solo (Harrison Ford)

Fighter: John Boyega will return as Resistance Fighter Finn in the new film

Fighter: John Boyega will return as Resistance Fighter Finn in the new film

 

 



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