MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) Discussion > Why I Loved Luke's Character Change

Why I Loved Luke's Character Change

posted 7 years ago by JesGuy (26)
57 replies | jump to latest

This is just my take. I loved this movie.

Will not be replying to comments like, "Why can't you just admit the movie sucks?!"

Don't be a dumbshit.

Much in the same way Sarah Connor changed radically between Terminator and T2: Judgement Day. She even had a moment of weakness where she almost murdered Miles Dyson in front of his wife and son. She even shot the guy! Then she realizes that she became a Terminator...and backs down before it was too late. I didn't feel this was a betrayal of her established character from the first film.

Imagine how boring T2: Judgement Day would have been without that character arc.

If Luke was this all-perfect, all-powerful God amongst Jedis---Force-Yanking Star Destroyers out of the sky, or Force-Crushing At-Ats might sound cool...at first. But what possible conflict could the writers come up with that make for an interesting story?? If Luke Skywalker could just BLINK the First Order out of existence---What story is left for the other characters in this VAST, SPRAWLING Galaxy??

This isn't Luke's "Journey". It mainly belongs to Rey and Kylo Benjamin. The reason for this is because Luke's main hero journey---is in the past. He did it! He became a Jedi, and redeemed his father. Yay!!!

40 years later...I'm SOOO relieved that Luke Skywalker had struggles and failures later in life. Luke the Jedi-God would've been really uninteresting, and not really something I could relate to. I could relate to Luke the aspiring Jedi who wants to save his Dad.

If you want Luke Skywalker to appear in these new movies, don't you want him to be interesting and relatable??? I sure as hell don't want a boring Luke Skywalker. And the fact that people are STILL arguing this movie nearly two months later (especially those who "claim" to despise it)---I'd say the film succeeded in refreshing Luke's character.

If you wanted Luke the Jedi-God immortalized on the big screen---I don't know what to tell ya. Shrug.

Now cue the HATE!! (That leads to the dark side ya know.)

[–] Frogarama (12942) 7 years ago

I like how Luke was handled in the present... But I have to disagree on one thing regarding his moment of weakness with Ben: Luke knew that Snoke was manipulating Ben, and still thought (even for a second) of killing Ben over that.

That could have been handled with one little line from Luke, suspecting that he too was being manipulated by Snoke. That could have shown his own vulnerability in a different way.

[–] darkpast (8756) 7 years ago

nice try Rian ;)

[–] Arghhhh (804) 7 years ago

Ha! But I'm pretty sure this is Kathleen's alt...

[–] JesGuy (26) 7 years ago

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[–] Keelai (34973) 7 years ago

Since you loved the film, you must have resolved issues that us haters have. Here goes a few:

"But that's a fundamental flaw set up in the first film.'
No, it's not. The flaw is Johnson's refusal to create continuity with the first film. Luke would've become like Obi-wan and trained Rey. Which leads to the question, how did a nobody with no training and who could barely use a lightsaber and never heard of the Force or Jedi in "Force Awakens" suddenly beat a Jedi master who studied the Force for decades and was trained by two Jedi masters? I still want a logical reason as to why Luke would leave a map if he wanted to be left alone. It was Johnson's job to explain this since he changed the direction of the story.

BTW, I don't know anyone who finds Obi-wan to be boring even though he remains a hero throughout his life.

"Also, as I read some of these posts, I notice people seem to forget or overlook one huge fact. Luke DIDN'T kill his nephew."
Because Kylo woke up. Another thing that's not explained is why would most of Luke's students turn against him? That makes no sense. They are being trained to be good and defend the Republic against evil, but on a whim they become evil and want to destroy the government and their mentor? They would've sensed the evil in Kylo so it makes no sense they would follow him and destroy everything that Luke built. Please explain.

Why not have Luke fight Kylo in person since they killed him off anyway? He died because he meditated too hard? Really? Explain.

The Republic was a galactic government with thousands of systems in "Force Awakens". The First Order was able to wipe out the entire government with one attack? No military left? No soldiers? No local governments? No dissent? Really? A day later (start of Last Jedi), the First Order has taken over the entire government? How is that possible? why can't ghost Luke and Yoda just pop-up and use lightning to kill Kylo like Yoda did with the tree?

continued below:

[–] Keelai (34973) 7 years ago

Luke isn't just a hero, he's a Jedi Master. Accepting a flawed Jedi Master is like accepting a flawed cardinal or pope. I think it would've been more interesting to see how Luke changed the Jedi Order to remove its rigidity and make it into something very different from the order that existed when Anakin was a child. That new Jedi Order would've also lead into new movies.

Another Luke issue is that the three trilogies were the Skywalker Family Saga. Why end on a down note by destroying the Luke character? You don't have to kill off an older character to introduce a newer one. You don;t have to demonize or weaken male characters to strengthen female characters.

BTW, Sarah Connor started off as a normal woman but she had plenty of military like training which made her stronger in the sequel. Apples and oranges.

[–] JesGuy (26) 7 years ago

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[–] Renovatio (2990) 7 years ago

I suspect that lot of fanboys felt the change in Luke too deeply, in that it reminded them of their own mortality and age... Hence the visceral reaction!

This is a generation that has held onto a childhood obsession throughout their childhoods, adolescent and adult lives... Decades of using Star Wars as an escape from reality and as an affirmation of their never ending youthfullness and childlike wonder...

To see their avatar in that state was like bringing in too much reality for them to bear... It not only breaks the fantasy but calls into question the lifetime of attachments to these movies... 40+ year old men (primarily) holding onto kids movies... It's an existential crisis and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them are having a mid-life reckoning because of it...

[–] JesGuy (26) 7 years ago

There's a lot of truth in that.

I fall into the 40+ crowd. Born the year Star Wars came out. Saw Return of the Jedi in Theaters. Was SOOO stoked for the Special Editions to released in theaters! Played Star Wars RPGs with friends. Waited in line for 4 hours to see the midnight show of The Phantom Menace. Annnnd...

I had an epiphany. George Lucas wasn't this grand sage of sci-fi brilliance I'd elevated since I was a child. He's just a dude. Like me. Makes movies. Fun movies. Not perfect. But doesn't have to be.

Shrug. I guess that was the adult in me slaying my inner youngling.

I'm tired of coddling dumbsh..s though. When somebody does a "review" of The Last Jedi and say it's "Objectively" bad---Saying you CAN'T like the movie cause it's an objectively bad film...

...I'm calling you out on your entitled sense of stupid.

[–] ADBruno1985 (3502) 7 years ago

Very well put, I agree with your whole post.

[–] JesGuy (26) 7 years ago

Thanks ADBruno!

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

The mental gymnastics applied here are almost comical.

There are only 2 categories of people who 'love' tlj:

SJW's who will literally retcon their own memories of past films in order justify the bs of these films (frog).

Non-conformists who are forced to 'love' something that is universally hated in order to 'not conform' (on the internet).

[–] naDaht (1087) 7 years ago

I really like your analysis and I mostly agree with it. Luke's been away fighting his demons for a long long time.

[–] TheUltimateHippo (2250) 7 years ago

It made sense that Sarah would act the way she did in T2, she knew that the world was going to be obliterated and felt it was her responsibility to do WHATEVER IT TOOK to prevent it.

Luke's character arc on the other hand makes absolutely no sense, he wouldn't kill the second most evil man in the galaxy because he felt there was still good in him, yet he was more than willing to murder his own nephew in his sleep because he got some bad vibes. WTF?