The Last Jedi - General Movie Discussion

You say that like we're supposed to pay attention to leaks! I don't pay attention to leaks. In fact I avoid them, so I certainly don't rely on them for my understanding of them! Nobody should, so it's not that funny really.

Also, I'm not sure how that leak preempts and reinforces the idea Ahch-To has two suns. If anything it reinforces the idea of it being some sort of vision. It's certainly closer to my interpretation of it, even if not so literal. Which you kind of acknowledge at the end!

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 1, 2020, Original Post Date: Sep 1, 2020 ---

I've seen those panels before and even the comic book version is still open to interpretation. It didn't make me think "hang on, Ahch-To has two suns?" - it still presents the twin suns as a possible vision. It doesn't state one thing or another. "Ending as it begun.. by the light of two suns" is Luke's vision written down in prose without trying to say too much about. It just backs up the images without providing any deeper insight on what is happening. They're like alt-tags!

 

That’s not at all what I meant in my posts and, frankly, I’m a bit insulted that that’s what you took away from my posts here.

In my first post, I was just saying that it never even occurred to me that the twins suns could’ve been anything but literal. I never said that interpreting them as something else is incorrect, nor was I trying to insinuate that my interpretation was the correct one. I’m not trying to “achieve” anything or ridicule anyone. I’m genuinely surprised that so many others didn’t have the same surface-level take as me, as I’ve never heard of this take before.

I also included the comic panel to show another reason why I might’ve thought that the twin suns were actually there. Luke directly mentions them which leads me to believe that they were actually there.

In my second post, I was just trying to express how I found it ironic that the leaks specifically referred to the twin suns as being a vision and that so many people here interpreted the scene in such a similar way. Obviously leaks don’t convey emotion: I hated the Rise of Skywalker leaks but generally enjoyed the film. The emotional context is irrelevant to the ironic parallel I found.

I don’t know what my posts contained that warranted such a harsh response but I guess that this is what I get for trying to multi-task while posting here.

 

Ah sorry I think I for one misinterpreted what you were saying in your post. I thought at first you were trying to say the leak DOESN'T back-up any interpretation that it was some kind of vision, but I see now you were saying the opposite. So my bad on that. It makes more sense now! (even though it might mean my first response does less so )

I think opening with "It’s funny that so many people think that the twin suns were a part of a vision.." initially sounded like you were then going on to give an example of why we were wrong to think that. At least that's how I kind of interpreted it and I suspect @Angelman did too.

 

I admit that I could’ve worded both those posts a little better. Like I said, I was multi-tasking when I was on here earlier and as a result of that, I didn’t articulate my thoughts as well as I could have otherwise.

Anyhow, I think that this thread has gotten derailed enough as it is, and that’s partly my doing, so I think we can lay this topic to rest.

 

We were two then.

 

A dyad in the Force...

 

I'm rewatching The Last Jedi right now, and it's still really strange to me that so many longtime Star Wars fans didn't and still don't understand why many of the major plot arcs of the film play out the way that they do.

TLJ, more than any other SW film, is deliberately about failure. Poe fails in understanding the lessons that Leia is trying to teach him, Finn and Rose fail in their mission to save their friends, Rey fails in her attempt to reach out to and save Ben and believes that she failed in her mission to bring Luke back into the fray, Ben fails in his attempt to persuade Rey to join forces with him personally, Hux fails to wipe out the Resistance because of his own hubris, and Snoke fails to properly calculate the extent of Ben's independence and need to rise to the top of the Dark Side "food chain".

Speaking of Snoke, there's a very subtle Ian McDiarmid-esque snarl to his voice that I only noticed this time around because I now know that he's a literal puppet of Palpatine.

 

Happy 3rd birthday to one of my favorite Star Wars film. The creative pinnacle of the sequel trilogy, it was surprising, fun, and features some of the best Star Wars sequences ever.

 

I really hope this isn't the last hurrah for theatrical Star Wars as an art.
High hope for Patty J to carry the torch

 

Oh, by the Whills I love this movie! <3

 

This alone is why I can't take people calling it "poorly made" seriously.
Yedlin and Johnson know how to craft a beautiful piece of cinema.

 

I have a lot of complex feelings about this movie, but the looks and Luke's arc and characterization aren't part of those! And while I rarely seek it out, TLJ is always a blast to watch (and as such is a Tier 2 Star Wars movie).

 

Rian Johnson continues to be one of the nicest guys around.

 

I don't know what that says about a piece of theatrical Art, but people are debating for years now about TLJ. Everyone has a very specific opinion about it. Isn't that quite unique in our restless western world for its own. That hundreds of people analyze, criticize and have an emotional debate about sthg and talk (our argue). That's not usual for a XY popcorn blockbuster that we often get to watch, we laugh about it a few minutes or have a short adrenaline flash. We went out of the theater (I miss that.. ) and forget about it a day afterwards.
I tend to appreciate the fact that a movie is discussed for that long and with such an obsession as one of the most important quality parameters for Artwork. It's a bit of a mirror (like the one Rey had to look at). At the very end of such a controversy, we often get back an Echo of the Energy that we have radiated at the beginning of a debate.

 

There is more discussion around the content of TLJ than just about any other blockbuster since......The Matrix?
Certainly more than any I can recall in the digital age where topics come and go in hours.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 27, 2021, Original Post Date: Jan 27, 2021 ---

This is how you do easter eggs and references...not aiming that anyone specific...JJ Abrams.

 

Right!
I have to admit that I had to sort out my feelings after the premiere. It kept me thinking quite a while. I am lucky that I am a bit "old-style" when it comes to enjoyment of a movie that is very much made for a huge screen and I also like so called "slow paced" and character driven movies. Looking deeper into "every" scene I had the one or the other moment in TLJ that didn't give me a lot. Hux and the first order people at times with that little extra slapstick at times, but overall I was impressed by the effort they but into all the details and the Sets and Scenes of Crait where genuinely well crafted. Luke walking out to his doom and final purpose at the same time gives me shivers, while listening to The Spark Theme

 

Ok, this may not be crazy popular, but Last Jedi is by no means a bad film. I would actually argue that it is actually good and well done. Though it is not by any means my favorite StarWars movie, it is not a bad one. I think this movie gets so much grief from especially Luke fans.

So my response is mainly about Luke...

Concerning Luke,
I don't think it is that big of a deal. I think it can add to the Mythos of Luke and the Skywalker legacy in a moment where Luke feels Dark. He feels like he has been seduced by the Dark side. It is Luke at his lowest which is something that we have not really seen (Since Episode 5). It makes sense though, as much as I like when he is, Luke is not always the Hero all of the time. I would argue that he actually be comes a better Hero because of his struggle. He is no longer just the perfect archetype, but a distant war hero who feels it is genuinely in everyone's best interest for him to go away. This Luke is still my Luke. He is a battered and scarred one. Now I would not like it if he stayed that way, but he doesn't! He comes back to confront Ben and Dies for the cause so that the Resistance can further itself. He gives himself up for the very thing that he became the spark of hope for so long ago.

What makes me so happy is knowing that Luke isn't even done yet. A big gripe was that Luke was done and he was a crappy Jedi at the end and that we never got prime Luke! But now we can have him! I don't know about you guys but I am super stoked to see a prime Jedi Luke going across the Galaxy and becoming a seasoned force user. We will also get to see him (Hopefully) become a Master to Ben and even meet the likes of Ezra and Cal. Who is to say but I think that the future is brightest in front of us.

 

I honestly don’t get what’s so compelling about ‘prime Jedi Luke’. What’s interesting to me about the character is his struggle. It’s his uncertainty and strain against the temptation of darkness and fear and rage. A confident, capable, self-assured Luke, who struts about the galaxy unchallenged just isn’t very provocative to me. I’m fine simply knowing he had that time. I don’t need to actually see it. I’m not really sure what the point would be. But I’m definitely in the minority with this.