The hysteria over this film is absolutely hilarious.
Yes, yes it is.
Rian Johnson said before the movie came out that he wanted to push these characters to their limits after they'd been stripped of nearly every advantage. That's not "agenda pushing" it's simply good drama.
Nothing wrong with that idea. It's the middle act, you have to throw them into a world of hurt.
Poe is a weakened male? No he was a cocky pilot that could previously do no wrong until...things started to go wrong. So we got to see how he reacted when the chips were down. When every suggestion and maneuver he made *didn't* save the day. And that allowed him to grow.
Yeah, that's all good. They could have just told him the plan and saved some lives but everyone makes mistakes.
Rey was stripped of her hope that the mystery of her parents would in and of itself give her life purpose and a sense of belonging.
I don't have a problem with this. You don't have to be part of some great bloodline to do great things. Anakin's mom was a nobody too. I can go along with the theory that The Force picked Rey to balance things out.
And Johnson dared to strip even the great Luke Skywalker of his "legendary" status, to actually give him a real arc and give him an opportunity to prove himself when it wasn't all about him being the Chosen One's son and the galaxy's last hope.
They could have still done this but not make him a ******. I can see losing his mojo and doubting himself, we have all been there, but completely turning his back on his family and everyone? No, not even if he thought the Jedi should end. He didn't need to train more Jedi to still help.
This was not an incoherent film. It was a race against the clock/chase movie (Resistance ship trying to outrun Snoke's fleet) with all the heroes working toward the goal of saving the fleet. Heroes that were brought down to zero and forced to climb up again. A pretty straight forward narrative.
Yeah, I guess, but I already saw this done much better on Battlestar Galactica. And why didn't the First Order just warp right up ahead of them and take them out?
I'm honestly asking that because I forgot if they explained it in the movie. On Battlestar, they kept having to warp ahead and fight the cylons as soon as they warped to catch them until they could power up for another warp, if I am remembering it right.
I fail to see how the film's "messages" were overtly left-wing. The evil of what Luke was contemplating against a sleeping Ben Solo should hit WAY closer to home for Pro-Choicers than anyone on the right. Also calling out the evil of making deals that fund terrorist organizations. Not exactly a "Pro-Obama" message now is it? So conservatives can just chill out about the messaging. I don't think this film was meant to be partisan anyway. Last I checked animal cruelty isn't a left vs. right issue. Nor is greed, genocide, slavery, etc. So I'm okay if the film's morale is that "bad things are bad," lol.
I don't mind films reflecting current political events if they aren't preaching or lecturing in a divisive way. In that regard Holdo can represent Hillary OR Trump because it presents her as a leader who is not the characters' first choice and one that appears incompetent or even traitorous. But rather than using her to say Hillary = bad or Trump = bad it does what good escapist entertainment should do and says "what if you were wrong about that leader you hate (on either side) and he/she turned out to be surprisingly awesome when it mattered the most?" We should all agree that that would be pretty cool, on screen and off.
I'm not even touching any political stuff.
Getting back to Luke, his moment in Ben's tent isn't nearly as sacrilegious as many are making it out to be. Hell it's basically what Yoda and Ben were pretty much advocating in the OT. "Kill an evil family member for the greater good." It's what Ben wanted him to do to Vader when they chatted in ROTJ. And Yoda and Ben urged him to sacrifice Han and Leia in ESB. And if TPM had featured a scene where Qui Gon or Obi-Wan got a future vision of what little Anakin would become, and we as the audience already KNEW it would all come true because we watched the OT, would we think they were losers for being tempted to just off the kid right there? Would it be "right" to do? No, of course not, but it is an interesting dilemma that few films would dare to ask.
And at the end of the day Luke did NOT follow through with harming Ben, and because Luke is Luke the very knowledge that he even considered it haunted him for years. Ballsy, poignant, and tailor made for one hell of a comeback.
That's apples and oranges. Darth Vader had already slaughtered children and all but wiped out the Jedi when Yoda and Ben gave up on him and decided to kill him.
Ben Solo had never harmed a soul(as far as we know). He just had darkness in him. Also, some of the Jedi did sense the darkness in Anakin (in TPM) but they still accepted him into their order and tried to train him to be a force for good. Besides, even after Vader had slaughtered kids, had helped destroy entire populations, murdered Ben and was part of the empire that kentucky fried his adoptive parents Luke STILL wanted to save him and give him a chance to turn back to the light. Which, for the record, I think is waaaaayyyy too forgiving and BS after seeing ROFS. Ain't no coming back from killing kids. Anyway, even against what most people could stand Luke was still willing to try and save Anakin. So, Rian is telling me THAT guy would be tempted to off his nephew because he sensed darkness in him? Really?
Sure he could have been presented like Yoda and Ben were in the OT. Simple supporting badasses with virtually no arcs of their own. And it would have ticked off the box for many simply wishing to see Luke unleash a bunch of badass powers and moves and nothing more. But I'm pretty damn impressed (blown away actually) that Johnson dared to bring such a hero down to the point where he was pretty much lost and begging for help in the snow on Hoth again, hell I'd say he was even brought lower than that. There's a lot of risk in making such an attempt to give such an established character such a full arc again but that was a worthy endeavor and I think that both Johnson and Hamill did a hell of a job in pulling it off.
Again, he could have been challenged and even somewhat lost but just flat out turing his back on everyone he loved is a little much. Also, you aren't even addressing how using The Force was cluster F'ed by all the silly crap pulled in TLJ. Leia was knocked out when she was thrown into space. Do you know how fast she would've died? Never mind somehow stopping her body from exploding and freezing with no protection in space after she wakes up. And if force ghosts like Yoda can call down the lightning why not just take out Snoke or Kylo and save everyone a lot of suffering and death? Luke could now physically alter things from STAR SYSTEMS away. Don't believe me? The dice were solid before he died and Leia felt him touch her. Why not just turn Kylo's sword on himself and be done with the whole thing? They just didn't think a lot of this stuff out. That's all it is.
