Poll: Did You Like TLJ's Characterization of Luke?

I loved Luke in this and Mark's acting was fantastic.

However, I didn't like what happened to Luke in his last scene. I agree with Mark that it should have happened in Epi 9

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 17, 2017, Original Post Date: Dec 17, 2017 ---

Four times already. Wow. That's impressive. I watched TFA four times but not that quickly. I'm watching my 2nd TLJ today.

 

I really loved what they did with Luke. That intensity during the sleeping Kylo scene.. it was mindblowingly good. Mark's performance was out of this world, I expected him to be good but not this good.

 

They were rigth about one thing: this movie really divided the fans!

 

I would have been okay with it if Luke and Reys relationship progressed and they actually bonded the way she and han did a bit. I was really hoping for a bit more adventure. Luke's last adventure with Rey along with him. The same way kenobi went out. Instead we get this undeveloped curmudgeon that doesn't even mention or do much at all until his cgi magic show at the tail end. What a waste. Mark Hamill brought his A game just to be completely wasted with lazy writing and an overall bad understanding on story telling elements that progress these characters further. I'm truly upset and sad about this rediculous 'film'. For the first time I'm not looking forward to the next episode.

 

I liked the arc. That is brilliant and the only thing I really liked in the movie.
It could have been less grotesque, but I may accept that is Jhonson's touch.

What I will never, never ever forgive is the Ben Solo/Luke scene.

Apart being horribly filmed, it's totally out of character.

That "reveal" is not something that helps us understand Luke's
choices.
He doesn't need that to feel guilt.

It's a silly device that "almost" killed the character legacy (in fact he "almost" killed Ben)
needed only because Johnson had not a better idea to build up the Kylo/Rey
force-skype-calls one.

And truth to be told, it's incosistent even in regards of Kylo's arc.
It adds plot holes, it doesn't add answers.

 

Luke's action against Ben Solo at the Temple perfectly mirrored Mace Windu's action against Chancellor Palpatine in ROTS. "He's too dangerous to be left alive."

They both suffered for it.

 

I am not even a big Star Wars fan, never had the toys, etc.

But I loved Luke's journey in the OT. Learning about life, about the Force.

In TLJ I think they just urinated over any "emotion" that people may have had for Luke, any sense of wonder what happened to him in the preceding years.

I mean that unbelievable scene at the end of TFA with Rey handing Luke his lightsaber, hoping that he will come back, the whole audience hoping that he will return and teach us some profound life wisdom he garnered in the years of his old age when he trains Rey. To give us an amazing piece of Star Wars emotion that people love this franchise for.

Well in TLJ we find out he takes the lightsaber and with an accompanying wa-waaa-waaaaaaa comedic downer orchestra effect he tosses it behind his shoulder.

Really?

That's the best Rian Johnson had for the the single important scene the entire audience was looking forward to? (It being the END of the previous movie and all).

I think RJ must have no magnificence or noteworthy life lessons in him to impart an audience in the first place to be honest, or else we would have got something else.

It's moviemaking 101, if you don't have the horsepower just make an over the top gag. Nothing to see here, move on. He just couldn't hack it.

 

Where was he a cold kid murderer? He sensed the darkness in Kylo and changed his mind as he explained and that's when Kylo woke up and see him standing over him.

The portrayal of Luke is nice to see. He has weakness', among other things but it is the same Luke. He has realized the Jedi ways of old are very flawed and his failure really did teach him all along he just didn't know it until Rey and Yoda showed up. Or at least he felt like he failed that is. People fail and disappoint all the time. Thank god Rian gave Luke some humanity and not the same old things that would've been boring. It gave it emotion and to root for him to come back.

 

I love what they did with Luke and I don't think he was ooc at all. Luke was full of hope, optimism and purpose at the end of ROTJ. A combination of Ben's actions and his own would have destroyed him leaving you with the broken and apathetic man he became. It was an unexpected arc for the character however I think Luke's reaction to the events was exactly what I would have expected.

Mark Hamills portrayal was fantastic as well, I'm sure if s Oscar worthy but definitely worthy of recognition.

 

Luke's story was almost the single biggest flaw in a movie that I otherwise loved. Tossing the lightsaber over his shoulder, the blue milk (I thought he looked like a deranged Jim Bridger living off the land) were just ill-conceived. I've always loved the humor in SW (at least in the OT) but it was never Luke who brought it.

I very much hated his nearly killing Kylo. That was so out of character.... I have nothing else to say about that.

BUT the final act at Crait was just genius. I think Luke thought violence was the problem with the Jedi. As long as that was the main means of settling disputes there would always be the pull of the Dark Side because violence always needs to be justified or at least rationalized. It can never stand on its own as an inherently good act. Even the code-breaker DJ knows this, hence his showing the X-wing to Finn, as just another thing to be bought and sold. To me, Luke represents the ultimate Light side of the Force- the part that does not require that the ends justify the means, because the means don't need to be justified.

It's significant to me that Yoda shows up right about the time that Luke realizes this. Yoda also seemed to learn this lesson late in life as well if you compare the PT Yoda to the OT Yoda. Luke makes his final transition to true wisdom and the real meaning of the Jedi at this time. He then fools Kylo, using Kylo's own fear and rage to defeat him. Then it's time for Luke to move on, like Yoda, because he knows that Rey is there to take up the cause.

That's epic, and it's so exactly what Luke would do. Remember him tossing down the lightsaber in ROTJ- "I will not fight you." I was able to forgive the flaws in the depiction of his character from earlier in the movie just because of the ending.

 

'It was out of character"
This has already been addressed multiple times in this thread, but just briefly, this is why Luke almost killing Ben is not one of my issues with him or the film
(this is not to say i love the way Luke was handled in the movie though)

- He didn't. I couldn't repeat his exact exposition but he clearly says this was just a fleeting moment. A moment of instinct, which he is shameful for until the day he dies.

- Its been a while. Its been 30 some odd years and yeah people can change, but to me, this isn't that much of a character deviation from ROTJ Luke.
Does anyone not think that for a moment, even a second, Luke wanted to strike his father down, or the emperor? I mean wouldn't we all?

- He has heard the Jedi of old, fall to this darkness, even at their strongest, and he has heard his own father fall to it as well. Now this same darkness has come to one of his own. Can we really blame him for even thinking about snuffing this darkness out before it can hurt more people. You could liken it to the Trolley problem (classical philosophical mind problem).

- He is only human, Jedi Legend and hero of the rebellion/resistance, but still human

 

He was not only horribly portrayed in the flashback, but also in the tree burning scene. Not only that Yoda had to show him true power again, he was also not able to see that the books were already taken away. Nope and I really cannot believe Rian was ever a fan of Luke.

 

Because Luke was out of touch with the force and no, he wasn't horribly portrayed in the flashback. He lit his saber and ben caught him. There's not much to really go on other than your expectations.

 

it is simply just nothing Luke would ever do it is so ooc.

 

The reason I liked how Luke was written had to with the humanity of it. When we first saw Luke in ANH, we fell in love with the character because we saw humanity in him - we all had been that kid yearning for something more. As the series went on, we became more and more invested in him as he toppled the empire and became a Jedi because we all want to do great things as well. And when he emerged victorious at the end of ROTJ, it gave us hope that we could do the same thing. In a way, we were Luke Skywalker and seeing that happy ending felt like we had a happy ending.

But life, more often than not, doesn't have happy endings. No one is the same at 60 as they were at 20 and to see Luke Skywalker struggle the way he did made the character resonate even more with me. We have all been there before - our world comes crashing down, we feel we have no one to blame but ourselves, and more often than not, an exile on an island far away doesn't sound so bad in those moments. But at the end of the day, we rise up, become stronger, and press on to do what must be done - which is exactly what Luke did to save the Resistance on Crait. So to see him become a galactic hero, then have a fall from grace, but ultimately sacrifice himself for the greater good of the galaxy was a stellar arc for Luke.

 

This is the key. I think that he should have alluded to it again when his version of the flashback occurs, to solidify it as a desperate thought from a man with the entire Jedi legacy to bring back, and not let that same legacy destroy the galaxy.

That reason should have been pinned down a bit more in dialogue.

 

The whole point of the movie was not to romanticize things. Luke wasn't the legend that we (in the movies and real life) have built him up to be. He's just a guy with a lot of power and flaws. It humanized him and tore down the legend aspect of him. It was brilliant for that. I think that's why a lot of people hated this movie. It betrayed the legend that we've built Luke up to be. It had a lot of balls doing that and it was very much needed in order to move forward.

 

Mark Hamill was playing Luke ? Oh OK.

 

I answered no, but I guess my reasons is I had in my head what I wanted to see and the director went a different way. In my mind I could see where Luke would be just as he is in the movie but at some point would shake his condition and snap back to who we saw in ROTJ. I also didn't care for the way he went out, while he did the sacrifice to save everyone that was left I would have liked to see him be there for real and cause the First Order some real damage before he went down.
I do reserve the right to change my mind, what others have posted in this thread has made me feel as if I could be on the wrong side of what I wanted to see, or that there is always a different point of view that I missed.

 

I can't sleep well anymore. I keep constantly waking up fearing that the great master of evil Luke would be standing next to my bed reading my deepest thoughts and with his mighty lightsaber ready to slice me, like poor old Snoke, should he find any thoughts he doesn't like (and yes I'm sure he would find plenty of those).
It's worse than when I was being scared with devil taking me to the hell when I was a little naughty boy.

And I suggest admins to bring us some nice smiley depicting this situation.