Star Wars: Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

[blueviper]

I didn't really have much of an issue with Rey's arc. I think I'm just disappointed it follows Luke's arc a bit. I kinda wish we were introduced to her a different way.


Like her force abilities are awakening, and sending force waves that Luke feels and Snoke/Kylo feel, and they are on separate ends of a chase to find this new force user before the other side does.

So instead of the map to Luke Skywalker, we have the search for a force user.


I dunno. Something a bit different. Just to avoid the Death Star III plot.

[dimejinky99]

I sometimes wonder am I watching different films than other people. Really

She doesn’t do anything with the force apart from a mind trick. That’s it. It’s wll she’s ever heard about Jedi apart from they can move things with their minds. That’s all

She used the force at the beginning to make her bread appear in that pot.

I did laugh


At some point this week I'll post a bit more about Rey's introduction. But no time today

Please do. Your input is missed.

[dimejinky99]

Let’s not forget. The force literally calls to Rey and chooses her. She’s drawn down to find Luke’s saber. It takes her there. It shows her that vision. That’s her moment of awakening. That’s also when she hears Ben Kenobi.
It’s crystalised in that one moment. Then she’s told the path is ahead not behind.
She can’t accept that in that moment.

Seems like other people can’t seem to either.

[Leatherhead]

Jedi aren't the only ones in SW that know how to fight. Jedi get beat by non-force users all the time. Rey just knows how to fight.

[dimejinky99]

Very true. And only for defence. Never for attack. They’ll avoid killing whenever possible.

[blueviper]

Let’s not forget. The force literally calls to Rey and chooses her. She’s drawn down to find Luke’s saber. It takes her there. It shows her that vision. That’s her moment of awakening. That’s also when she hears Ben Kenobi.
It’s crystalised in that one moment. Then she’s told the path is ahead not behind.
She can’t accept that in that moment.

Seems like other people can’t seem to either.

oooh, something that would have been cool is that she's drawn to the force and it's wanting her to go a certain place and she doesn't know what for and she meets finn, millennium falcon, han like normal but the end up going to cloud city and she's drawn somewhere down below and Han thinks she's crazy but takes the MF down into the gas and she finds the lightsaber and ignites it. there's a lot to tweak to make it work.

[VinylGuy]

Has nobody here watched TFA with JJs commentary on?
Give it a spin. Far more insightful than Rians for TLJ but it answers a lot of these things that are obvious but seem to confuse people or give them hang ups

If i need to watch a movie with a commentary on from the director to have answers...yeah, thats bad storytelling.

Not that i think thats a problem with these two movies. I liked them. But they have plot holes like crazy.

[Anders]

Let’s not forget. The force literally calls to Rey and chooses her. She’s drawn down to find Luke’s saber. It takes her there. It shows her that vision. That’s her moment of awakening. That’s also when she hears Ben Kenobi.
It’s crystalised in that one moment. Then she’s told the path is ahead not behind.
She can’t accept that in that moment.

Seems like other people can’t seem to either.

oooh, something that would have been cool is that she's drawn to the force and it's wanting her to go a certain place and she doesn't know what for and she meets finn, millennium falcon, han like normal but the end up going to cloud city and she's drawn somewhere down below and Han thinks she's crazy but takes the MF down into the gas and she finds the lightsaber and ignites it. there's a lot to tweak to make it work.

The Last Jedi doesn’t sound that bad anymore.

[blueviper]

Let’s not forget. The force literally calls to Rey and chooses her. She’s drawn down to find Luke’s saber. It takes her there. It shows her that vision. That’s her moment of awakening. That’s also when she hears Ben Kenobi.
It’s crystalised in that one moment. Then she’s told the path is ahead not behind.
She can’t accept that in that moment.

Seems like other people can’t seem to either.

oooh, something that would have been cool is that she's drawn to the force and it's wanting her to go a certain place and she doesn't know what for and she meets finn, millennium falcon, han like normal but the end up going to cloud city and she's drawn somewhere down below and Han thinks she's crazy but takes the MF down into the gas and she finds the lightsaber and ignites it. there's a lot to tweak to make it work.

The Last Jedi doesn’t sound that bad anymore.

[dimejinky99]

Still think it’s beautiful that both Enfys Nest in Solo and Luke in TLJ both say ‘the war is just beginning’ (she says ‘the war is just begun’) but no matter..and both in relation to the Rebellion.
Love this stuff

[stip]

God, I really didn't like that Han helps fund the rebellion.

[stip]

Anywho, back to Rey's origins, the first scene we get of her is her repelling down from the heights of the cavernous interior of that Star Destroyer (for a couple of spare parts that are essentially worth just a meal or two). We learn she is resourceful, and desperate. She's a survivor (we also get that from her living out alone in the desert, making due with what she can find). She is hungry all the time (watch how she eats). There is that wonderful shot of her banging out the last few drops of water completely overwhelmed by her environment. It makes her feel small and insignificant (which is how she does feel) while at the same time establishing that she can somehow survive in the face of all this.

There is an innocence to her despite all that - something almost childish and frozen in time that she is desperately trying to hold onto to (counting the days she's been waiting for her parents, the way she smiles playing with her helmet, the X-wing doll on her shelf). And that innocence at least in part informs her moral core. That despite everything she has to struggle with underneath it all is a personal commitment to just being a good person (which is, actually, a new motivation for a star wars character). It is on display with her desire to help BB-8, her refusal to sell him when she is starving, even in the fact that her first words in the trilogy are declaring that that scavenger who finds BB8 "has no respect for anyone"

And finally, we establish right off the bat in her early dialogue with BB-8 (and running through the movie) that what she wants more than anything else is to be a part of something that validates her and feels like a family or community. Finn is looking for the same thing. Rey finds it in the Rebellion. Finn initially finds it in Rey, but gradually shifts that to the larger Rebellion. It is why Luke's rejection feels so painful - not only does the Rebellion need her. She needs him. His refusal to be the mentor she wants challenges her place in the story (and the new trilogy, thus far, has self-consciously been at least in part a meta-textual look into how stories work). This, alongside her general refusal to give up on people, is why she keep assuming that Kylo can be redeemed. She assumes he wants the same thing she does (and he does. He just doesn't have her moral center)

We do get the flashback that shows us she was given to Unko Plott (or whatever his name is) so we know what happened to her at least in the aftermath of her parents abandoning her. We know she was trusted enough to be allowed to work on the Millennium Falcon so she almost certainly didn't go off on her own until she was old enough to survive independently.



Given all of that, what else do we need to know about who she is and where she came from? The film gives us everything we need, and shows us without telling us.

[Anders]

I really appreciate how you view things Stip, even if we don't always agree. Whether it's about Pearl Jam or new episodes in Star Wars. Good post.

[dimejinky99]

JJ says later in the commentary that she’s been all her life desperate to find family and someone who cares for her and she gets that by the end of TFA and beyond.


Great post Stip as always.

[stip]

i watched this yesterday for the first time in a while - the last 45 munutes of this movie are just phenomenal

[epilogue]

i watched this yesterday for the first time in a while - the last 45 munutes of this movie are just phenomenal

There's not a bad scene.

[dimejinky99]

i watched this yesterday for the first time in a while - the last 45 munutes of this movie are just phenomenal

There's not a bad scene.

On balance the last third is as good as anything in Star Wars.
If only those folks/bots could get past the first two acts.

Cos they are a difficult watch if we’re honest.

[epilogue]

Nope. All of it is great. Top tier Star Wars.

[dimejinky99]

Youve seen all of the Star Wars films but....never seen the Wire.

My disappointment in you cannot be overstated

[wease]

Youve seen all of the Star Wars films but....never seen the Wire.

My disappointment in you cannot be overstated

Why? The Wire isn’t Star Wars.