This has been an interesting thread. The first time in a long time where I’ve read 52 pages. People are passionate and mostly respectful and that is a great and precious thing. I thought I might (respectfully) weigh in. I’ve loved star wars since I first saw it about 2 years after its release. I was born in 1975.
I like Rogue One for the fan service, but will probably never watch it again. I liked Force Awakens in the cinema, then didn’t like it when I thought about it - the reason being that I knew every single beat in advance. Another Death Star ... yawn ...
There are some well justified nit picks about this movie but all I know is that I sat in the cinema and I didn’t have a fucking clue what was going to happen next. From Leia being spaced on down. That’s more entertaining to me than ticking off some checklist of things I predicted or didn’t predict would happen. These petitions etc strike me as incredibly childish. If you want that, shouldn’t you just get out your old Kenner toys and do it yourself?
As soon as they announced the sequel trilogy, we knew that the events of the OT were going to be rolled back. JJ is a hack, he ruined Trek because he didn’t understand it’s fundamentals, but he did understand the fundamentals of Star Wars - that no one gives a shit about Vong- whatevers coming from another galaxy, or squabbling imperial factions. These films had to be about guys in black and white armour having bigger ships and chasing our plucky band of heroes. What JJ gets wrong, however, is every lead character is a Mary Sue who hasn’t earned their position, from Cadet Kirk becoming a Captain so quick to Rey needing no training; he’s not that interested in world building, and verisimilitude can take a jump out the window as long as something pops on screen. I’ve been a victim of lost (and nu-BSG) and mysteries rarely turn out to be worth the build up or are unanswered in the end anyway.
So, some of these problems were carried over into TLJ. But Luke Skywalker was not one of them. It simply doesn’t make sense to accept that the stuff that happened or we were told about in the Force Awakens wouldn’t affect Luke Skywalker. He’s in hiding, so we know it did. The established trope is that the old hero refuses to help, he’s out of this business etc. In this movie as the Luke and Rey scenes played out, I started to wonder if he actually would really come back with Rey. As I said, in this movie you didn’t know what was going to happen.
So, now we’ve established he’s in hiding, what’s he doing? Is he going to fly in to the rescue and punch the villain out like Superman in Justice League? Yawn. Is he going to receive a message from Leia “it’s been 2 hours, are you ready?” Yawn (but kinda cool TWOK! Yay!). Is he going to stand on a burning bridge “You shall not pass!” quadruple yawn.
No, he’s going to find a Luke Skywalker solution. Like he did in ROTJ, where he put down his lightsaber. As someone has already said, he’s the lightest Jedi there is, Luke’s a good man, and he’s now a wise man, and he used that wisdom to come up with a magnificent ruse that had me cheering in the cinema. It was the ultimate brains over brawn.
Admittedly, people might be a little bit happier if it had played out exactly as it did in the film, but, instead of vanishing, Luke had just looked at the twin suns with a satisfied wry old smile, and we could all be sitting here speculating about “can you imagine what he’s going to be capable of in the next one??!!” But I suspect Luke had to die, to make room for the new characters, probably a business decision, which happens in this business. As to the manner of his “death”, how could it not be him becoming one with the force? Obi-Wan, Yoda, even Anakin. How could you write anything different for Luke fricking Skywalker? Imagine they’d had a bridge fall on him ...
It was my Luke Skywalker on screen. From the OT, not any EU stuff. He was older and more cynical (me and you both, Luke) but he solved the problem and saved the rebellion.
There’s been so much force-inflation since 1983, I suspect some people wouldn’t have been happy with anything other than Luke pulling a star destroyer out of orbit with his mind.
But that crap belongs in video games, it’s empty spectacle, not dramatic truth, and we all know how video games translate to the big screen.
That’s why Luke’s last stand will ultimately be remembered as a great moment in Star Wars.
Why is Wrath of Khan the best Star Trek film? Because stuff happened in it. Stuff that would reverberate for 2 more films/the rest of the series.
I think they’ve written themselves into a wonderful corner and am looking forward to seeing what comes next.
