Thread for those who loved the movie

Nah, it's a lens flare.

 

But it wasn't directed by JJ

 

Isn't it one of those +-shaped floodlights?

 

There's only one notable lens flare in TFA. TLJ has multiple, including the one from the picture.

 

Lens flare. Mystery box. Who can tell the difference.

 

ok upon further review.....it is NOT a lens flare, because it is one of many "+" shaped lights in the cavern. A later scene shows many of them......but anyway I thought just seeing one there as Luke departs is quite powerful.

 

Which cavern?

 

Hello everyone,

I want to share with you all why I love the Luke arc and why I see some profound concepts within it worthy of acclaim and analysis once one views it from a different point of view.

In my opinion this “Jake” phase of Luke’s life is essentially his version of Anakin’s “Vader” phase. It’s less extreme. It hurts others less. However, there are some interesting parallels.

In both cases father and son were at their best when they embraced the Light side of the Force within. In both cases an issue tied to control lead to the Dark Side coming to both. For Anakin it was about control over Padme’s life following the loss of his mother. For Luke it was control over the family legacy after he’d devoted his life to righting his father’s wrongs and trying to improve the family’s and the Jedi’s future.

The Dark Side came to both in moments of weakness and whispered ideas as the Dark Side can. For Anakin it was to do anything to save Padme’s life. For Luke it was to do anything to save others from being hurt and another family member undoing all he’d spend decades building up to undo Vader’s legacy.

Anakin chooses darkness. Luke, as he had in ROTJ before, catches himself before it’s too late. He stops. However, where before Luke still got the happy ending for being able to stop... this time he and most importantly... others face negative consequences for listening to the Dark Side even briefly. And that turns his ability to fight evil against himself. He sees himself as the enemy because he’s never been responsible for the loss of so many innocent lives.

So, now, here we are with both father and on again around a temple massacre. One lead by Anakin by alllwing darkness in and one that Luke feels responsible for because he let it in briefly.

Anakin comes to place the blame on the Jedi Order staring, “From my perspective the Jedi are evil.” Luke comes to believe the Jedi are part of the problem as well after both his father and nephew being radicalized after being taught the ways of the Force from Jedi.

And so begins their dark periods. Anakin seeks more control over the galaxy. Luke seeks to control the fate of a religion. Just as before though Luke can’t go through with it. There’s a part of him who wants to rid the world of these books because he knows that they will forever keep the Jedi alive otherwise. And what’s more... they’re the oldest ideas that exist so any attempt by him to modernize any one specific order can simply be undone by a future fundamentalist who finds these books and chooses to reinstate the oldest ways. It’s the fundamentalist risk that seems to upset him most initially.

What’s fascinating here is that this period combines elements of his past. Here he’s stuck between do or do not with the books. Here he’s focused so much on the horizon of how to break the cycle forever that he’s missing the real issue right before him that’s holding him back. Where previously his choice to ignore his master’s and block out their advice lead him to redeeming his father... here he blocks them out and the force entirely and in does so when he needed them most. Where previously he was willing to sacrifice for others here he thinks he is helping others long term when he isn’t.

Most of all the lack of the Light twists each man’s identities. Vader becomes engulfed by the dark side and like a different person. Luke becomes engulfed by the absence of the force entirely and empty inside and like a different person too.

Both men get advice. Anakin from his son. Luke from Yoda. Anakin realizes he can control his son’s fate by defeating the emperor. Luke realizes there is a way forward with the Jedi and it involves not hiding Vader from Jedi teachings or hiding the failures of the Jedi but rather teaching them and talking about them. Both men realize their mistakes. Both men find themselves in situations where their loved ones are at risk and hope nearly seems lost. Both men find a way to save what they love and atone for their mistakes. Both the father and son then join the Light and are now together again.

So, yeah, Luke at his low point isn’t exactly like the Luke we used to know. Neither was his father at his low point and what’s fascinating about the arc is how we can see where father and son remained different from each other in how they handled these things and where they had similarities. A lot of fathers and sons can relate to becoming more alike as they get older but always with notable differences.

And that’s why I love this arc.

 

Some details of the script has been "leaked", I guess?





Also, if true thats hilarious.

 

If you want to find out more, go and listen to this:

 

1 year anniversary, still an incredible movie - it has aged for me like fine wine. I have it on moviesanywhere.com and just watch scenes over and over again....

 

Agreed! Such an incredible performance by Mark, giving us beautiful indications of Luke's life-long struggle with his destiny and his inner darkness; a fantastically powerful film that will stand as a crowning jewel for Star Wars for ages to come.

 

I expect JJ to make a real crowd pleaser to close out the trilogy. If that happens the appreciation for The Last Jedi will grow even more. Middle chapters are always tough on some parts of the audience. Also, those that wanted a Luke action hero film will get over it. They'll be more fan service to close the trilogy.

 

That, and... with mo-cap tech revolutionized seemingly every other day now, we might very well get a young Luke action hero TV show at some point, acted by a great body double wearing Mark's mo-cap'ed face. As much as I adore TLJ and the decision to not make the ST all about Super-Luke kicking butts, an action show set shortly after (or even at any time during) the OT would have me squealing like a school girl at a Rolling Stones gig in the late 60s!

 

I'd love that as well and there's definitely a huge market for it.

 

Haven’t posted in this thread before, but yeah, I still like this movie! I disagree with most of the criticisms that I’ve seen thrown out over this past year, either from the criticism being overthought or not being given enough thought or attention. This movie alone has some of my all-time favorite scenes in all of Star Wars:

• Rey and Kylo Ren fighting the Praetorian Guards. The light side and dark side teaming up for the first time (in the movies) in a really exciting action sequence. The atmosphere, the choreography, the music: everything just works. It’s too bad that some have let that one minor continuity error where that guard loses one of his daggers ruin the whole fight for them.
• Yoda’s Force Ghost shows up and imparts some final wisdom upon Luke in front of the burning Jedi tree. The Tree bursting into flames symbolizes the respark of hope inside of Luke in my opinion. In this, Luke learns that you do need to let go of the past, learn from it, and to live in the present. Luke also learns that he is missing the figurative forest for the literal tree; he’s worried about protecting some old books, when he could be imparting some real wisdom upon Rey, the Resistance, and even Kylo (which he ends up doing).
• Luke Skywalker’s appearance on Crait. He reunited with his sister for the final time, before going out to face the First Order as a restored legend went out to face the First Order and his nephew.
• Luke Skywalker’s journey ending the same way it began: the setting of two suns before taking his first steps into a larger world.

I do have some problems with The Last Jedi, most of which are problems I have with the Sequel Trilogy in general, but the good in this movie heavily outweighs the bad. I still like it and really look forward to watching it again sometime soon, once I finish rewatching The Clone Wars and all of the movies that come after it chronologically. And a year from tonight, I will probably be in a theather watching Episode 9!

 

@The Hero With No Fear Great post my friend! Luke's appearance on Crait is , for me, probably the most powerful scene ever in SW. It has grown on me so much. RJ's expertise here is awesome, the score is incredible, Hamill is amazing. The moment with Leia, the wink with 3PO, Luke striding through the flames to face the FO. During the showdown with Kylo there are several scenes with the both of them in the shot that are amazing and reminiscent of Japanese anime or Kurosawa. This scene alone puts this whole movie into epic status for me.

 

We need to constantly comment on this thread to knock out the hate version. More traffic on this thread people. The HATE mongers are disheartening. wait a second, is it really fandom or is it the Russians? LOL

 

On the last rewatch I grew an unusual amount of appreciation for DJ. Benicio is 100% committed to the role and the writing for this character has a lot in common with characters from Billy Wilder's films. I genuinely love DJ.