I liked it fine. (Off-Topic)

by Kermit , Raleigh, NC, Monday, December 30, 2019, 18:18 (1788 days ago) @ EffortlessFury

Deja vu. I totally agree with your larger points about story and what we want vs. what we need. As executed, the Last Jedit just didn't work for me. It's okay to disagree.

Perhaps something the movie could have done better is to sell us on Luke's fear. We have to accept Luke's narration of what he sees in Ben's head and what those visions mean to him. What was presented isn't a lot and I can see how some may not be able to suspend disbelief in that.

Again, it's not the path of Luke's arc that bothers me, but how his character was written. The Luke in the original trilogy, had he become a hermit, would have not acted like Luke in The Last Jedi barring some brain injury. He had a completely different personality. I believe Luke served as Rian's surrogate and Rey served as the Star Wars' fan surrogate. I don't think he was trying to be consistent with Luke's character or serve the story so much as screw with (or "educate") fans that had what he saw as silly, simplistic expectations. Rian has said again and again that he doesn't think he's done a good job unless some people strongly dislike his movies. That's his artistic mojo. I actually respect that, and I like many movies with moral ambiguity that divide audiences. It's also why he was a bad choice for a Star Wars movie, which is premised on universal themes with universal appeal. He would be a better director for a Star Trek movie--that franchise has a more complex moral topography, and has a history of including allegories that represent current cultural issues. This is why a lot of people like Star Trek more than Star Wars, and that's fine. Viva la difference, I say.

There are loads of other problems--the slow chase dynamic, the completely new Force abilities, the grecian formula issue with Luke's beard, useless subplots, and a pattern of aggressively subverting expectations minutes after setting them up.