RE: Star Wars overview VIII: The Last Jedi
"They were a fraction of the imperial army" - They only started as such. Then they were taking children. They also had connections and destroyed Republic. And these are even from TFA. what retcon.
"Luke Skywalker was a completely different character" - And that was perfectly explained. He tried to kill Ben for like 3 seconds out of fear/anger and then started to question himself. He was not responsible for Vader's dark side, so situation was worse and completely new for his character, how can we know if he would not act same.
"Did I mention how most of the movie felt like filler?" - Without them there would be no last phase and characters would have survived. They also showed bad stuff of "light side", which is thematic. How is that a filler.
"but there was only a small portion of the philosophical depth of episode 5" - So you wanted it rehash more or what? We already know that stuff, so that would have been time wasting. As Yoda said, Rey already knows whats important and also has these books.
"were promising all that stuff in interviews." - So? Phasma was easily captured in TFA, what hype. Much time was not wasted on Snoke and it would have been worse to use him in the sequel (Hint hint original trilogy) - I agree that 2-3 minutes of his backdrop would have been better, but he died in a logical way. So, you think, that Luke would abandon his own daughter?
"this way everyone can be special. Thus no one can be special" - Sorry... wat? Also, if these special ones are not trained, then they can't be called as Jedi or Sith, thus they will go extinct.
"By extension, this also means Kylo Ren will never accomplish his goal" - How so, Rey at least saw how does the Force works. If he kills everyone and will never reveal his powers in public, Mission = Completed.
" the Force is proven to be the worst thing about Star Wars" - Sure, but Leia did nothing after that. I agree, Yoda was ridiculous, but at least Luke paid his price and died. If magic exists somewhere, it is always used at such extents (Remember LOTR?) and it was close to minimum here. Any real problem was not resolved with this, ffs.
I disagree with some of your other points too, but it is taking to much time to address everything.
The Last Jedi takes off almost immediately after The Force Awakens. We know this because Rei had just arrived on the island. At the end of The Force Awakens the First Order suffered major losses when Starkiller Base was destroyed. There's no way they could have gone from a competing faction to reigning power in that time.
Luke went to the evil lair of the two most evil men in the galaxy because he believed he could change a man that had done only evil things on screen. Luke would have known Kylo had good in him and it is 100% out of character for Luke to believe that signs of the dark side, which he exhibited throughout the original trilogy, would cause Kylo to be a lost cause.
The movie had 5 different plot lines going on. Most of them were irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. The most important plot line had a Mad Max style space ship chase in real time, which was incredibly boring.
Yoda saying that Rey understands the lessons is an asspull. How do we know that Rey knows those things? Doing that off screen is lazy writing.
Snoke had literally no explanation whatsoever. He said menacing things then died. That's incredibly anti-climactic and not conducive of good storytelling.
They showed the stable boy at the end had force powers. The message is that anyone can be special and to replace the old with the new.
Magic in Lord of the Rings is excellently written because it exists as a function of the universe, and thus doesn't need explanation. We're shown how that power works and we know that only elves and Istari have direct access to that power. Magic is not used often in Lord of the Rings, whereas the Force is used frequently in Star Wars to solve every major problem. Did Frodo use magic to destroy the Ring? No, he walked across the world to throw it into a volcano. Does every Star Wars protagonist use the Force to solve all their problems? Pretty much, yes.
I never said otherwise.
And that is why he started to question himself right after he took the lightsaber in his hands. Did you even read what I wrote? It is not about that there is light in Kylo. It was HIS FAULT, that is different from Vader's situation. Because of this, he thought that it would be impossible to bring Kylo back. He tried to kill Kylo and he just can't prove otherwise. Nobody can.
Somethings changed in most of the arc. Arcs played role. For example, without Finn's arc, Luke would have survived. How is that irrelevant. Yeah, sure, I am not saying that movies is perfect. I gave it 7/10... 8/10 at best. But 2/10? Come on...
Because 1) As Snob said, that philosophy is not hard - even child can understand it. 2) She took these books. 3) Personality-wise, like having faith in Ben (Similar to the symbol in that temple. Which resembles to Yin and Yang). 4) She knew myths in TFA and adored them.
What else is necessary here?
Yeah, novels did better job here, from what I heard. I hope they will fix that in some movies like Rogue One. But having him as such for another movie too, would have been worse. Original trilogy did that, iirc. He had build-up towards Kylo going against Snoke (First time, when he achieved nothing and then, when Snoke trolled him). He also died in a logical way and served Kylo as a character. This probably will have some backlash in sequel. And we also had battle scenes. Other than fleshing-out, I don't see any problem in Snoke's death. Even that may not be considered as a horrible problem, because not much of a screen time was wasted on him.
Just doing some little tricks with the force = you are a Jedi/Sith?
"to replace the old with the new" - Can you elaborate? I didn't catch that while watching the movie.
Through magic ring was connected to the villain and because of just throwing it into a volcano, greatest problem was solved. Without magic, gendalf would have died. That, of course, was important. I watched it many years ago, so can't remember other examples.
Why was it Luke's fault? He was training his pupils as best he could. The only thing that was Luke's fault was having doubt and wanting to kill Kylo, which was the out of character part.
Without Finn's arc the focus could be drawn to the escape ships via the force. Kylo Ren or Snoke could detect Leia and figure it out.
How does Rey get good at fighting? This ties in to The Force Awakens heavily as well, but Rey swings around her stick and lightsaber like it's second nature. Not what we saw in The Force Awakens.
Kylo's goal is essentially a revolution where the old ideas are removed. He wants to get rid of Jedi and Sith, and the warring factions. This is clearly the theme of the movies as a whole because the old favourites are being killed off. Leia has to die at some point because Carrie Fisher is dead. The new characters are supposed to be replacing the roles of the old ones.
The Ring was connected to Sauron, but the main draw was its power. The power of the ring drove men mad and corrupted minds that believed they could use it as a weapon. Gandalf did die, but he was resurrected by God in a Jesus-like way. That's not magic. It's not like magic is never relevant or never does anything, but it's not a solve-all for every problem. The Force is.
Because Kylo "went Dark" right after that incident with Luke. Luke was also his family, but he tried to kill him. These are facts, which can not be denied by anyone. That is why, Luke is responsible for him. Making mistakes is thematic in the movies. I don't see how overreacting for seconds and then questioning oneself if out-of-character. Did he perfectly control his emotios in original trilogy? Also, idea of it was, that people knew Luke as a legend and not as a real person. Rey saw that, but in others eyes, he still was the one, who can't be scratched even by First Order's army. It was clear, that he would not have killed Kylo.
Kylo was distracted by Rey. Snoke, when Leia escaped, was also with Rey and then he died. How would they detect them? Also, sequel is important too, to judge if anything was filler here.
It is not confirmed, but heavily implied, that she gained skills through connection with Kylo. They balance each other. Also, Rey uses Kylo's style, Like: She cried. She did to Kylo, what he did to Finn (difference is, that it was Finn's back that got slashed). She also swings sword when she is not near to the enemy, similar to Kylo.
In addition, Kylo was angered by "a girl" without any reason given to us, which implies connection.
Before Rey concentrated on the Force, she was worse than Finn with the sword. In novel (which is more detailed version of movie), she even heard the voice of Snoke. Connection is still there, even after Snoke's death. They also were on same level, as was seen in the scene of throne.
But Kylo has not achieved anything. And making mistakes was a theme in that movie, so it could be his mistake. We can see his tears in the final scene, when he was standing in the darkness, but there still were rays (Ray and Rey is very similar) of light there. That was symbolism, as we can also see in TFA, when light disappears and next, what we see, is Kylo killing his father. On the "Light Side" old ones are dying, yeah, but ideas are still same.
Sure, but every evil thing died, so what is the difference. Ring was magical and fixed the greatest problem. How is resurrection not magic?
But I am only talking about TLJ. I don't even like Star Wars as a whole and agree, that magic is horrible there. And so far, First Order is still there and characters still died. They suffered more. I just hope, that sequel will improve things, instead of ruining everything.
Yes, Kylo went to the dark after Luke confronted him. But why did Luke confront him?
Resurrection is religion, not magic. The Ring didn't solve the problems, destroying the Ring did. The Ring created problems.
Out of sheer fear, that history will be repeated and everyone will suffer. That was for seconds and then he realised what he was doing (And what Snob said. That is only logical conclusion, really). As he said, he also was ashamed exactly at that moment. Sound of lightsaber was enough to woke Kylo, tho.
But he was resurrected and that is not something you can do without some supernatural stuff. That affected plot. Leia's survival, for instance, didn't affect anything. Also, is not the Force a religion for Jedis?
Destroying the MAGICAL Ring also destroyed evil things, because they were magicaly connected. The Ring's problems had not much of a pay-off. If that is the case, villains also use the Force in Star Wars, so it creates problems too. The Force makes special ones of both side. Volcano was also magical, iirc and they didn't throw the ring themselves in volcano, these mad men (They were not even trying to destroy the ring. They didn't make a choice) did it. My point is, that magic played way more important role here, than hobbits did. Like, they only walked and that resolved the world threatening problem.
Luke went to the ends of the earth to save the second most evil man in the galaxy. Showing that much doubt is out of character.
You should reread Lord of the Rings. Your understanding is a bit hazy. The Force is not just power. The Ring is raw power.
I am saying, that he just could not control his emotions for seconds. In original trilogy he almost killed his father, too.
I understand that. I was talking about the movie, tho. I watched it when I was a little kid. Will rewatch it soon.