Originally Posted by
ZeroBG82
No, the heroes failed. At just about every turn. "The greatest teacher, failure is." That's the point. Holding on to hope is the whole point. The movie isn't subtle here. Every time they fail they learn a little bit, grow a little bit.
Everybody fails. Everybody sets goals they don't reach, has plans that don't work out. But it's about what you learn from your experiences, how you grow, how you overcome.
Luke's plot doesn't reek of cynicism. It's a scathing indictment of cynicism! He had all but given up, exiled himself and hidden himself away. And he was in no way nihilistic. He couldn't even burn down the tree after vowing to do just that! Luke lost his way. He was afraid, and ashamed. He was a legend who bought his own hype, then failed at something in a major way, and he didn't know how to reconcile that. He was the guy who beat back the darkness, except he accidentally helped unleash a new one. He was human. But then along comes both a new student and an old teacher, who each show him that the path isn't to cut himself off and stay beaten. It's to get back up and do something. Luke has been a selfish old fool. It's ok, he's entitled to some failings after what he's been through.
When Luke "arrives" on Crait, it's the opposite of cynicism. He's stepping up and doing something that literally only he can do. He's becoming the spark. He's moving past his mistakes, past his feelings of shame and regret, and giving the future hope.
I get it, you wanted the legend. We all did, to some degree. To see LUKE SKYWALKER, JEDI MASTER. But this isn't a story of infallible gods, or of Herculean heroes. The Last Jedi is about failure. It's about what happens when, despite your best intentions and highest hopes, you fail and have to recover and move on. You either get stronger or you get broken. The movie definitely takes a side on which is the correct course of action: get stronger.