Rian Johnson's Comedy in TLJ

I loved the Humour. Everyone in the 2 theatres I saw the film laughed out loud to virtually every joke.

The Hux comedy bit a the beginning did kinda throw me off, but only at first though. I just wasn't expecting Hux to play along. "Can he hear me? He can." ... "I can hear you, can you hear me?" Those lines at first seem out of character a bit. Hux was always so smug and serious in TFA. But then it dawned on me... This is Hux, he's cocky, arrogant and entitled. He was so sure and proud of himself, that he didn't take the "single light fighter" seriously. Instead he allowed his arrogance and perceived self importance to be sucked into Poe's distraction. All Hux really cared about was to make sure Poe heard everything he said before he blew him out of the sky. To quote The Incredibles, "you caught me monologuing!"

And based on everything we saw between Hux and Ren in TFA trying to be Daddy's favourite, it fits Hux's personality perfectly.

 

I liked some of it, especially in Luke and Rey's interactions. Rey's reaction to getting her fingers smacked by Luke was hilarious. His facial expressions too. They have great comedic chemistry. But the rest....not so much. The comedy involving Hux was no comedy at all (brutal retribution can be satisfying, but watching someone getting thrown around for the sake of it isn't), and the supposed humor in Snoke's scenes almost ruined them. The thing about humor is that it makes the characters involved in the situation seem more sympathetic. It's just how it is. That's why Poe talking back to Kylo in TFA made the audience like him instantly, and why Kylo's sarcasm worked well for the character too. If someone makes you laugh, suddenly they're not so bad anymore. And this is why we didn't need a funny shot of Snoke's forever rotting corpse (chances are he's been a corpse for 400 years already) with his tongue out. That made the audience see him as less evil and frightening (even if only on a subconscious level), which took away from the horror of the things he's done. Which in turn subtly affected their perception of both Kylo and Rey. It's a very idiotic domino effect that affects important characters. All for the sake of "humor".

 

Stars Wars has always had silly humor. Most of it didn’t bother me.

 

I think a talented editor did help to make TLJ an amazing movie.

 

I didn't have a problem with it. It didn't shine but also didn't bother me that much. I also liked the Caretakers scene, Porgs, and some of Luke's scenes.

I think the problem is that the strength of SW humor comes from character interactions, and while I liked the new characters all right, they could have benefitted from more interaction and relationships. For example, I bet Finn and Poe as a team would have made for better comedic moments on Canto Bight than Finn and Rose. This movie isn't the first to suffer from a humor issue as TPM struggled with this in a different way, but I had some good chuckles in RotS because of the Anakin/Obi-wan dynamic.

I thought the forced kiddy humor in TPM was more distracting.

 

Originally Rian Johnson intended to have Poe and Finn to go to Canto, but scrapped the idea.

 

He scrapped the idea because Poe and Finn had no conflicts with each other. Instead of making up some conflicts Rian creates Rose which ironically has no real conflicts with Finn either...

 

Star Wars heroes have never been super human. They have been human beings that can tap into a power or allow a power to guide them.

 

"But in the EU....."

 

I honestly can't imagine anyone being afraid of Hux or finding him intimidating out of universe.

He's just a nasty wannabe at most and pitifully over compensating at worst.

In between? Mostly a joke and a lightweight Hitler Youth trying to be important with the feel of a "legacy" type that gets C- grades along to power on a silver platter because of daddy's money and influence.

Dude is a chump and Rian rightly made him a sneering, fart smelling joke because that is all he is and ever could be.

People act like this was a budding Tarkin or something.
What has given anyone the impression this is some serious dude that is a threat in a way other than like some punkass high school shooting spree chump?

 

In the EU Hux is a quite interesting character and yes, he is even fearsome sometimes. Rian didn't understand Hux. Only at the ending and in the throne room he got Hux right.

If JJ is wise and wants to tell a good story, he should get some focus on Hux as the (secret) "villain" for IX. Would you expect Hux betraying Kylo with his own KOR? No. The perfect twist.

Unfortunately Rian almost ruined this epic outcome, but JJ understands Hux, so he can still fix him.

 

I mean, I like that idea a lot, but I've also been somewhat expecting it for quite a while.

 

apparently other people don't see the awesome potential? : o p

 

Eh, no. He was comic relief for most of the film. Now if he sought help from a certain Grand Admiral Thrawn? Then yes. Hux is a sidekick for Kylo and Snoke's relationship and nothing more.

 

From my point of view this is fundamental misunderstanding of the character, what always made Luke special is his humanity.

 

What does this even mean? His humanity makes him special, and that explains why he went and abandoned his friends and family when they needed him most?

 

Vader was also "just" the villain's sidekick of ANH => Tarkin. But then he became the main villain in the next movie. Same could happen with Hux. Yeah, seems unlikely, but Ren should cast an eye at Hux.

I think @Too Gon Onbourbon meant that the natur of the human behavior (failure, fear, instinctive actions etc.) made Luke more reasonable, personable and therefore special.

 

I'm with you on this, and this is the impression I got of him from Force Awakens. So to me he never seemed particularly 'out of character' in TLJ in the way some people found him.

Although I would have described him more as a UK public school chump, but same thing I guess.

 

Why exactly is anybody older than 5 supposed to be afraid of Hux? Rian Johnson understood Hux's thin characterisation from TFA perfectly well and built upon it to make the character more distinct. Which is a good thing.

 

No, it informs and defines everything that made Luke special from 1977 on for the good and the ill.

He was never the cardboard cut out of two dimensional perfection old school distractors or new age worshippers have painted him.

He was always flawed as he was always more than ordinary not because he was a muscle man, an all knowing wizard, a master tactician, a fierce warrior, a contemplative monk, a selfless sacrificer, his genetic heritage, his tireless effort, extreme toughness, street smarts, or endless optimism.

No, what made Luke great to me over the years is his sense of wonder, foolhardiness, his impatience, his ability throw himself into a cause, his love for his friends, and that once he decides what is right he goes with it full tilt no matter the dowside.

Every plank a pro and a con depending on the mix and situation. Sometimes both to such a degree it creates or at least allows for dramatic tension where none should exist due to plot armor and Lucas avatar status.

The Luke I have observed almost my whole life is exactly the person that would remove himself if he thought he was the source of the problem no matter how calamitous the action might seem to be.

He was always willing to leap before he looked.

He was always looking to the horizon at the expense of the now.

There was ever the risk of wild eyed wonder getting scuffed up to cynicism.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that he would literally turn on himself in horror in reaction to a fleeting moment of weakness and reject himself and his place in the universe even more harshly than worshipping fans are.

It isn't out of character for him to be over focused on the future to the point the moment of weakness came to be.

I am not even slightly blown off the plate that he couldn't even look Leia and Han in the eye to make peace with them about not only his actual failure with Ben Solo but his inability to correct the preexisting issues that were trending toward Kylo Ren before he even took him under his wing because of how deeply he loved them.

All strengths have downsides and the darkest clouds have their silver linings in my view.

Some of the same impulses that made him abandon his training and literally betting the fate of the galaxy drove him to rescue a princess and destroy a planet killer.

The same parts of himself that made him bet his life on the good in a twisted soul wrapped in metal broke him in reaction to a moment of instinct.