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

Then please explain why is the only possible way.
Meaning... almost killing a boy sleeping.
Please...

 

There's one scene in the film that even comes close to slapstick.
It doesn't involve Luke.
I wonder if people know what slapstick is....

 

I never said it's the only way.

It's the way Rian chose. And it supported Luke and Rey's arcs.

 

I know what scene you re referring to and I guess it comes of be? I wasn’t really sitting there trying to hate it to be honest. Who cares though? Is that really going to ruin the movie for people? This film is exposing fanboys by the millions

 

I liked it. I thought it worked.

 

I'm truly mixed with it. Note I haven't seen it a second time and my thoughts might change. Mark Hamill did a fantastic job. His performance to me was the highlight of the movie. I honestly forget how good he is as an actor. and how much he has grown in terms of experience. And really, my respect for him grew tenfold when even with his disagreement(understandable) for Rian's take, he still gave it his all.

We need more actors like him. But that said, while Luke's character arc worked for the movie; I found that it undermined ROTJ. I will admit; I am biased as that is my favorite SWs movie. But seeing Luke miserable and defeated broke my heart.

I get why and it has been 30 years. But really, my issue is less with the take and more with how the ST has handled the OT characters. They have handled them poorly in my book. Han I could understand. Ford hates SWs and as soon as he was coming back, I knew he was gone. And Fisher's death was sudden and LF had no control.

It is bad enough that we got no reunion with them, but Luke dying was the last straw. For me, it was unnecessary. I know fans will leap down my throat, but imagine if Luke had lived? Where he had accepted that Kylo was gone(I disagree with that choice, but that's a minor problem) but was resolved in helping the next generation which he could in Episode Nine.




And before anyone mentions it is a new generation, that is such a bad argument. It's assuming that pandering to the old and new characters are mutually exclusive. Which they are not. Legends got this.Very flawed it was(trust me), but I could respect it as Luke, Leia and Han all grew/ changed with their children/ new characters.

Now, there is ONE thing I liked about Luke it was him questioning the Jedi and how they had hubris. That is a great concept and one that actually ties the PT very well. BUT, in my view; it would have been great to see that unfold within this new ST.

Overall, I know I was negative and trust me, I appreciated RJ's willingness to challenge me on Luke. But really, much as I enjoyed TLJ; seeing Luke like this broke my heart.

If I could have seen Mark Hamill and see his disappointment, I would have hugged him. Because, I cannot begin to imagine how it must have felt for him to return to SWs and feel so disappointed. May the Force be with you, everyone.


P.S: Note this isn't me jumping on the bandwagon. I know some fans want to assume that. But even with me knowing this take on Luke was different, my heart wasn't in me to fully embrace it. Maybe, during the second viewing. But really, seeing this movie dampened my excitement for episode nine and really SWs in general.

 

Then we agree.

 

No we don't. You JUST said it was useless to Luke's arc.

*sigh*

 

Well, no. Because we have movies. There's only one version that Lucas created. It's not about your personal views, it's about thematic elements.

 

And in your case, personal views of thematic elements.

 

Objective views, as they were presented.

 

It’s a fascinating question, but again – with everything we know about Luke’s character, I just can’t believe he would have done that. This is a guy who stared down the Emperor who was quoting prophecy, and things he had foreseen, and all of his plans, and basically proved him wrong by doing what the Emperor told him was impossible (converting his father back to the light side), based on nothing but his sheer faith and unyielding love for his father. I cannot believe that those same feelings wouldn’t have applied to his nephew, visions of the future be damned.

 

Ok.

 

So the kid who had conflict in him, made rash unwise decisions all his life, saw his nephew with darkness in him that rivals Vader wouldn't consider killing him to prevent the deaths of BILLIONS of lives?

It was a thought he had to consider. It lasted a brief moment. Then it was gone.

Luke was human. He had a moment of weakness when he saw what was irreversible darkness in his nephew.

How many lives would it take to be saved for you to think this is a fair option?
Because I'm betting the surviving members of the Resistance and the families left of those in the Hosnian system, would have wished Luke offed Ben in his sleep all those years ago. Billions of them.

 

Oh man I lost sleep after seeing TLJ.

In my opinion, Luke was wrongly portrayed by RJ. I understand RJ wanted to, as they say, "make it his own" but SW, IMO, is a different animal than other movie franchises...it's a cultural phenomenon and to deviate from that foundation its either a severe ego trip or a lack of understanding what Star Wars is all about.

When the entire Galaxy feared Vader and as ObiWan called him "more machine now than man...twisted and evil" Luke felt the good in him and risked his life to bring him back to the light side. Being reunited w/ his father's lightsaber to simply throw it away diminishes his love and his almost self-sacrifice to save his father.

Luke was portrayed as a broken and scared man and not as one of the most powerful Jedi ever as he should have been.

With the unfortunate passing of Carrie Fisher and still proceeding to kill off Luke in TLJ....RJ made a big mistake as the "Episodes" were always about the Skywalkers. Now it feels more like a spin off and not a Star Wars "Episode".

Between May 1983 and last Friday had someone told me a Jedi not named Skywalker would be the one to rebuild the jedi order I would have thought they were on crack as it looks more likely to be Rey (a nobody without any real training able to go toe to toe with a trained descendant of the Chosen One)

A few days have passed and am still floored and very disappointed. hurt in fact . Am just in awe w/ all the money and resources available to Disney and Lucasfilm RJ was able to ruin decades of the Skywalker legacy in a mere 2.5hours.

 

Its what I expected. Even to an extent what I wanted. Luke always saw Obi-Wan as an old Wizard. So despairing Luke alone in a hermitage was definitely what I expected. If Luke remained unchanged after the fall of Ben and the destruction of his students (many of whom apparently became the KOR) that would seem more off.

It also keeps Kylo as the true Big Bad of the trilogy. He and his fall (and Luke's role in it) are what broke the Happy Ending of ROTJ.

 

Spot on.
I hate when people say it was all for naught (winning in ROTJ) if the First Order rose almost immediately.
The War to End All Wars was fought and ended in 1918.
21 years later the world was back at war - shocker - fighting arguably the worst threat in modern civilization.

TLJ touches on this with the Canto Bight stuff about perpetual war and the war profiteers.

Happy Endings can never really last. If they do, what the Blast is there to actually do in these movies?

 

I’m mixed on Luke in TLJ. I liked the idea that he was isolated and bitter and I thought the explanation of why made some sense. But by the same token I thought the “crazed uncle” aspect of it was over the top and didn’t fit well - the milk scene, the tossing the lightsaber over his shoulder - none of that “fits” anything of the character of Luke I feel like we saw in any of the movies, none even a logical progression of the character. It was too extreme.

I’d contrast it to what Han had become in TFA - he came across as older, wiser and beaten down by what happened to his son but he was still fundamentally Han Solo and I thought it was a believable character progression.

On Luke, I definitely think RJ missed the mark (no pun!) in the more extreme aspects of his behavior - too much just came across as weird and unnecessary.

 

I think it was somewhere in the middle. I actually have no problem with Luke's thought about killing Ben. If you were Luke, and you sensed another Vader, and saw the chance to stop it, I think considering murder for just a moment is understandable. Personally, I was very worried about how they would explain the events of Luke's school. I think what they came up with was quite brilliant actually!

The parts of Luke's character that didn't make any sense to me was more the stuff like making a face after drinking green milk and tickling Rey's hand when she "reached out." .... as I'm typing this, I guess my biggest issues with Luke were the "funny" bits. *shrug*

 

The milk - He's putting on for Rey to show just how removed from what she *THINKS* he is. He's over acting to convey how removed he is to Rey. Just my take.

As for the reaching out bit, I liked it. Especially after her response to what she thinks the force is. Brought her (incredibly cute) ass down a peg