Underappreciated/Overlooked Things You Like in TLJ.

the Canto Bight "balloon dog".
we see it twice in the casino (it belongs to the opera lady), but i can't even find a picture of it.
it's basically a dog on a leash floating around over her head. XD

 

I forgot about that. Luke was not in contact with the force during this scene. Great catch.

 

Badass or just plain impulsive (very Luke), maybe even suicidal (also very nouveau Luke)?
One of the many great little scenes in the film. Everything on that island is Dagobah levels of fantastic!

 

We can count as "Luke suicidal" his jump to the unknown in Bespin, no?

 

Rose innocently threatening Finn with the taser.
Kylo's reaction to being shot through the force by Rey.
Rey's battle cry.
The fathiers.
"You will bring Skywalker to me!" *crickets chirp*....lol
That guy who tastes the salt.
Hux's reaction to Kylo waking up.
Finn and Rose riding a fathier with a full moon in the background.
Caretakers' reaction to Rey ruining their cart.
Leia's relationship with Holdo (even though I hate Holdo).
The sound effects for the force connection.
Poe's "What the hell?"

 

i need a .gif of this. XD

meanwhile:

 

One of the stories in the Luke Skywalker book that came out last fall had one story, the most believable legend, where he learns to do this.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 21, 2018, Original Post Date: Jan 21, 2018 ---

This always grabbed me. So much faith that he would rather let fate intervene than give in. It has so much power.

 

Putting a flashback in the Star Wars universe, my only wish was that the flash would be at least 5 to 6 min showing a lot

 

Was just listening to the score. And remembered the Luke/Leia sibling theme music from RotJ was used during their brief reunion in TLJ.
That was a super sad, powerful moment. Not just for Luke and Leia and the memory and the music...It was seeing Mark and Carrie together for the last time.

 

A few things that intrigue me (maybe not like).

When Luke and Rey confront each other over Ben, they briefly clash staff against cane. You could argue that this scene was meant to establish that it was plausible that she could take on the PG and perform well. If she could manage against Luke, she ought to be able to manage against the PG. One weird thing however is when Luke disarms her of her staff she pulls for the LS and Luke falls back... he doesn't actually hit the ground. Did you all notice that? He is (for some reason) a few inches above the ground (perhaps using the force to keep himself from going down), he doesn't rest on the ground until Rey lowers the LS. I'm not sure what that was meant to mean.

We have talked a lot (on here) about Luke's brief thought to kill Ben, if you watch the sequence again, it's not really what I would call brief (at least not for Luke). He actually contemplated ending Kylo for the better part of 20 seconds. That wasn't instinctual at all, he did a little bit of moral calculus there before standing down.

 

1. I don't disagree much here, Luke was better in melee combat (as he should be given his vast advantage in experience). I do think it was funny that people have complained that Rey beat Luke in combat and I sat there wondering - what movie were they watching? I could'a sworn that Luke pretty much bested her (as should be expected) for the entire confrontation. Still, given that he didn't fall very far it seems odd that they would even bring attention to the fact that he used the force to break keep himself elevated, and only set himself on the ground, once Rey lowered the LS. I think you could make the argument it was more consequential than just showing him using the Force to break his fall. I don't think that would be very important to depict and most people didn't notice it the first time through.

2. It's quite possible that the LS woke him. But I am indeed counting the amount of time that Luke contemplated doing something that (to let me argue it) he had no business ever contemplating, it was roughly 20 seconds, you could say it was longer if you started counting earlier, I wanted to go with a conservative estimate. I am still unsure why he wouldn't just ask Kylo instead of trying to read his mind secretly. Also, did Yoda and Obi Wan provide any guidance on Ben? Just some stuff I wonder about.

 

I think the latter of what you are suggesting here may be the case. We already know he can use the Force and isn't cut off at the point of their confrontation, because when he interrupts Kylo and Rey's Force Skype, he explodes the domicile using the Force. His ability to balance himself at odd angles using the Force is clearly something we see in his fight with Kylo.

I think Luke stumbles back trying to create distance between himself and Rey because he was genuinely surprised that she went for the saber. That is a reoccurring theme with Luke and Rey, she doesn't behave like any other Force User he's encountered. She constantly does things that are outside the common domain of a force user (her power, her lack of fear to follow the dark side, etc.) She is an anomaly.

In retrospect, I think the thing we are supposed to understand is that while Luke fell, he was hardly defeated, if she had swung the LS, he was already poised to avoid the strike, but it doesn't look like it at first. Once he sees, that she really isn't going to attack him, he no longer needs to maintain the posture (that's my guess)

I think probably the most objective place to start counting is the moment he reaches for his LS. It would be difficult (IMO) to make the case that he wasn't contemplating killing Ben the moment that he reaches for it, because why else would he reach for it. And the moment that Luke narrates that it was fleeting and his facial expression changes, that is where you have to stop counting, because even though the saber is lit, he has no intention of using it. That is still roughly 14 - 15 seconds and to me, not instinctual or a reflex.

I have my qualms with Luke being depicted in a retrograded state (i.e. impulsive) but that's not this thread's topic so I won't side track us, but it was just something I was wondering about. It's not necessarily something I feel like is "a swing and a miss" because they didn't address it. Just something I was wondering.

Yoda also has no connection with Rey but he is aware of her and Luke's relationship to her. In my mind's eye, anything that was fair game for Rey was fair game for Kylo.

It would have been nice to get that in TLJ but with Snoke dead now, I think a Snoke back story is a non-starter going forward with the Episodic movies. Anything we get from Snoke now we'll be from the supplemental domain.

 

I think Ben does tell us with his own mouth, although it’s not exactly comprehensive. Many of the things he says to Rey are what he himself feels: your parents threw you away like garbage, but you can’t help needing them; you’re looking for a father figure everywhere. (The rest we learn from TFA from Leia: “I never should have sent him away—that’s when I lost him.”)

We were told over and over Rey and Ben are two halves of the protagonist, and with that in mind, you can find out a lot about Ben by what Ben and Rey interact over or talk about—and vice versa.