Quote Originally Posted by David Walton View Post
I still feel really ambivalent about The Last Jedi's characterization of Luke. I feel like it's brilliantly executed. Mark Hamill gives one of his finest performances, arguably Oscar-worthy (especially given the character's 40 year baggage and Mark's creative disagreements about the script).

But I don't buy into the idea that Luke would truly think it best to stand by and do nothing while the space-Nazis take control of the galaxy.

I do think Luke is more interesting when he's somewhat broken, but there's A LOT of middle ground between the Legends version (essentially a superhero) and him being a complete wreck. In a perfect world, we'd see a Luke who's cynical and witty, but still fully involved in the fight against tyranny. Luke didn't have the baggage with the Jedi that the film seemed to imply, since he wasn't trained in the traditional way and achieved his greatest victory by turning Vader against Yoda and Obi-Wan's advice. Luke was the ideal figure to re-shape the Jedi Order in a way that dealt openly and honestly with their failures.

All that said, the climatic battle is Luke Skywalker's finest moment. One of my favorite scenes in the franchise.
I’m mostly with you, but with one major caveat: O think the biggest mistake made with Luke in TLJ was the sheer size and enveloping nature’s of his role in the film, since it wound up hollowing out time and focus that should have gone to Rey, or to bulking up Kylo as a threat, or to giving Finn a worthwhile story.

Hamill is doing a great job, and Johnson’s ambition came from the right place, and even though I do think TLJ Luke is ultimately out of character and dubiously written on a basic level, I think I could have run with it if the writing for the ST’s leads was up to snuff. I’m loose enough that I could look at Luke, figure he’s written out of character, but roll with it if I liked the rest of the film, and if Luke was a supporting character who’s arc didn’t become the centerpoint of the film.

I mean, I was excited to see Luke, but I was putting down money to see the continuing story of Rey, Finn, and Kylo, not an epilogue to Luke’s story.

There’s plenty of Han fans who have a point in saying that TFA’s version of Han seems to have regressed off-screen so that Abrams and Kasdan could portray a loner, smuggler Han separated from Leia, all without really adequately explaining that. But Han is ultimately a supporting character in TFA; not only is his “regressive” starting point handled for only a short amount of time so you can get over it quickly, but he’s used to sell Finn and Rey to the audience even more and his death at Kylo’s hands is used to define Kylo’s evil. So even if you don’t like Han’s story, if you like Finn, Rey or Kylo’s story, you can enjoy TFA because of how they used Han.

TLJ puts way too much emphasis and time into Luke’s story, particularly considering its risky nature and how it really doesn’t build up Rey in any significant way. Rey is basically demoted to supporting character for Luke’s story (and Kylo’s as well, but that’s more because of the film ignoring her perspective for its man-crush on Kylo), and doesn’t receive “the rub” from Luke in any real way. She got one half-hearted, almost decent meditation lesson from Luke, than acted as an audience stand-in so Luke could explain his characterization to the audience with her other lesson, all before she left him to mail herself to Kylo. The only real service Luke performed for her arc was to supposedly drive her into Kylo’s influence (which makes no sense), and that’s it.

Then he takes the actual climax away from her by confronting Kylo, who gets belittled and humiliated in a film that never really rebuilt him after his TFA loss in the first place, meaning that when Luke leaves the film, our heroine is underdeveloped and out villain is somewhat pathetic.

And on top of all that, Luke’s shadow puppet show is supposed to be more motivating to the Galaxy than 1) the destruction of Starkiller Base in TFA, 2) the destruction of the Hosnian System in TFA (think Pearl Harbor-style anger for the Galaxy), 3) Holdo obliterating several Star Destroyers in one attack in TLJ (even if the moment is an example of poor writing), and 4) Rey lifting what amounts to a mountain to physically rescue the survivors Luke’s buying time for.

To really, deeply, enjoy TLJ, you *have* to like Luke’s story. It’s too central to the plot and holds too large a monopoly on the significant moments of the narrative. And outside of *maybe* Rey and Kylo’s interaction (unless you’re revolted by its shoddy writing, like I am), there’s really nothing else significant to focus on. TLJ dismisses Snoke as a potential intriguing character, uses all the military plots to try and just resurrect the OT status quote, but sloppily, and has Finn running around in a circle so he can undergo redundant character growth of downright pathetic scale.

And since TLJ’s story for Luke is risky, and since it really doesn’t handle critical thinking that well if you don’t jive with Rian Johnson’s creative impulses, the whole movie suffers as a result.