Star Wars The Last Jedi *SPOILERS*

[choptop]

It's still gonna make 1.5B total and probably close to 750M in the US... which is still a lot of money.

Still a top 10 movie.

Sheesh people. ..

That's far from a sure thing.....

[godisawesome]

It occurs to me that even if Rey is not in any way whatsoever a Skywalker, then it is still all aboutthe damn Skywalkers, because the reason she's so powerful is that the Force made her that powerful to balance out Kylo Ren's Skywalkerness.

That is the criticism some people have thrown at it, and I do think that is arguably an effective criticism of the film. In a way, that may be the result of the structural nature of the Force plot, which largely revolves around the questions of "what happened between Luke and Ben?" and "Can Ben return?", thus leaving the two sub-questions about Rey being about her parentage (her main character subplot in the film) or about her apparent attraction to the darkside (which really only gets some lip service). Neither one of those questions are that conducive to "Why can she match Kylo?", especially once they answer her parentage.

Snoke offers a hypothesis that most board users have accepted as the official one: that Rey is simply the yin to Kylo's yang. But I know that, apparently, I'm the only member of my family to feel that the answer was given in this film; my brother, sister, father, and uncle all still feel Rey's going to have a reveal. And while I'll admit to thinking that Rey being related to Luke is still a simpler and more engaging solution to that query, I do feel that Johnson went all out for the No One answer here, and quite rankle, revelations about Rey's parentage have a kind of "diminishing returns" thing attached to how long they keep that question open. As it is, we already risk too much time on the question without enough time on Rey's education in the Force. Making TLJ's take on the question redundant would exacerbate that problem.

[Sighphi]

To be fair, they did address this. They stressed balance in the Force and Snoke said that the rise of such a powerful force for the dark side in Kylo Ren would bring about the rise of a just as powerful force on the light side.

Force uses had always need training. Rey has had no training besides 2 small lessons and she has been kicking butt from the start without any lessons.

Rey is the first force user to just randomly do things with no training. She was fighting those red guards with no training, she just swung the ls a couple times alone and then she is out there taking out people who should be highly skilled.

[brettc1]

Force uses had always need training. Rey has had no training besides 2 small lessons and she has been kicking butt from the start without any lessons.

Rey is the first force user to just randomly do things with no training. She was fighting those red guards with no training, she just swung the ls a couple times alone and then she is out there taking out people who should be highly skilled.

Weve already seen on Jakku thst Rey has hand to hand combat skills as part of her upbringing.

This is, I think, more compelling foreshadowing of her fighting prowess amped by the Force than a couple of lines about Lukes piloting skills before HE jumps in a cockpit and starts shooting down fully trained Imperial pilots who you think should be (ahem) highly skilled.

[Carabas]

RE: Rey's power
Again, I don't need her to be a Skywalker to explain her power, but I'd at least like -some- explanation as to why she's Kylo's equal, and just as powerful as the universe's most powerful characters, WITHOUT the training they went through. The explanation doesn't have to be her being a Skywalker.

That explanation is actually in the movie. The Force balances itself.

Snoke offers a hypothesis that most board users have accepted as the official one: that Rey is simply the yin to Kylo's yang. But I know that, apparently, I'm the only member of my family to feel that the answer was given in this film; my brother, sister, father, and uncle all still feel Rey's going to have a reveal. And while I'll admit to thinking that Rey being related to Luke is still a simpler and more engaging solution to that query, I do feel that Johnson went all out for the No One answer here, and quite rankle, revelations about Rey's parentage have a kind of "diminishing returns" thing attached to how long they keep that question open. As it is, we already risk too much time on the question without enough time on Rey's education in the Force. Making TLJ's take on the question redundant would exacerbate that problem.

It's not even just Snoke's speculation. It's that in combination with Luke's whole speech about how the Force is all about balance.

[Carabas]

Force uses had always need training. Rey has had no training besides 2 small lessons and she has been kicking butt from the start without any lessons.

Rey is the first force user to just randomly do things with no training. She was fighting those red guards with no training, she just swung the ls a couple times alone and then she is out there taking out people who should be highly skilled.

We never saw Luke have any kind of combat training whatsoever.

[Red Robe Jaldari]

We never saw Luke have any kind of combat training whatsoever.

He spent 3 yeasr between meeting Kenobi and dueling Vader as a rebel.

[Franchise408]

"The Force balances itself out" still isn't really a valid argument when all of these premiere Force users in the past were there with the purpose of balancing the Force, and their training was still a heavy emphasis.

[SuperiorIronman]

"The Force balances itself out" still isn't really a valid argument when all of these premiere Force users in the past were there with the purpose of balancing the Force, and their training was still a heavy emphasis.

Who was balancing the force other than Anakin? If the Jedi had been present to do so they didn't do a very good job since Sidious came to power and with Vader wiped them out. A sort of overwhelming darkness at that.

[Conn Seanery]

"Balance" isn't always an instantaneous result. If you lose your footing you sometimes rock side to side before righting yourself.
The Jedi were up, then Palpatine and the Empire was, then Luke came along. Cut to the universal dance party. The key to that long path to change: Anakin/Vader. Balance.

[Carabas]

"The Force balances itself out" still isn't really a valid argument when all of these premiere Force users in the past were there with the purpose of balancing the Force, and their training was still a heavy emphasis.

The old Jedi Order had some radically mistaken beliefs about what a balanced Force would look like.

[RikWriter]

"Balance" isn't always an instantaneous result. If you lose your footing you sometimes rock side to side before righting yourself.
The Jedi were up, then Palpatine and the Empire was, then Luke came along. Cut to the universal dance party. The key to that long path to change: Anakin/Vader. Balance.

That sounds a lot like the Force is condemning the galaxy to one long, endless war between various incarnation of the Republic/Rebellion/Resistance and the Empire/First Order. I think killing off all the Sith and all the Jedi would bring the best sort of balance. Then people could get along with living their lives.

[Conn Seanery]

That sounds a lot like the Force is condemning the galaxy to one long, endless war between various incarnation of the Republic/Rebellion/Resistance and the Empire/First Order. I think killing off all the Sith and all the Jedi would bring the best sort of balance. Then people could get along with living their lives.

And if you were George Lucas, you'd be a very poor man.

[RikWriter]

And if you were George Lucas, you'd be a very poor man.

Well, George Lucas allowed the main characters in Star Wars 4-6 their happy ending and their happily ever after. It was Disney and JJ Abrams that made their declining years miserable.

[Conn Seanery]

Well, George Lucas allowed the main characters in Star Wars 4-6 their happy ending and their happily ever after. It was Disney and JJ Abrams that made their declining years miserable.

Yeah, you don't like the new films. Got it.

My point was balance can be (and was) a struggle.