[Snowflakian]

Love this set idea. That BB-8 is awesome too! Love that it has his thumbs up included.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunathar

2 - Luke tossing over his shoulder the lightsaber (that Force Awaken established as a kind of Excalibur of Star Wars) - No respect for his late father's item; the same I-don't-care-about-it-all-anymore attitude could have been made without the "funny" effect by simply letting Luke drop it to the ground.
10 - Luke vs Kylo - I'm ok with all the Force projection power. But someone explain to me why Luke chose to show himself holding the now destroyed blue saber -which Ren broke with Rey- instead of his green one?

Want to answer these two points real quick, though the others have explanations too. 3 is about the only one I'm not sure of as I'd have to watch the movie again to see why and where it fits.

On points 2 and 10 though, they're related directly. In 2, Luke is completely done with that crap, to the extreme of a "get this crap out of here and away from me" more emphatically, which would require him to toss it away from him in a dramatic fashion as in over his shoulder and over a cliff. He's that done with it that he wants it gone entirely but not in a direct violent against it way. So it couldn't be a drop and walk away. It had to be a more callous "get it out of here" entirely kind way that fully shows his entire over-dramatic tired of what the Force has done to his family and life and all he sacrificed for it. Which brings us back to your 10th point later in the movie. His acceptance of the force, his history, and his family line as well as his responsibility to it. Which means he would need that very lightsaber he so callously tossed away when he was fed up with that crap. That's character growth of his come around. That's also the poignancy to him appearing before Leia and his force projection of before he went pure hermit and ran. There's more depth to it than that, but that's the reader's digested version.

And it couldn't be Leia that did that hyper jump scene either. It had to be someone under her that would have been a "martyr" so to speak to save the rebellion. Leia is the heart of the rebellion. She's needed for Poe's turnover and growth and not in a sacrificed herself way. This is established by when he does the mutiny that Leia is the one to explain it to him and deflate the mutiny. This film had some heavy learning moments for Poe in it that are going to bring much of his personal journey full circle next film too. That's why the martyr in particular had to be Holdo. It was Poe's mistake that put the rebellion in danger, and now Holdo, the person he tried to start a mutiny against, is the one that has to clean up his mistake. Same as how Poe's own recklessness is what caused another character's sister to die. Because he didn't listen to what he was being told and why. Sacrificing lives without any real forward gains in momentum for the rebellion/resistance. This movie was his flawed moments that are going to reflect and drive his growth later, but at a heavy cost. That's why it couldn't be Leia yet.

Most of your other complaints are things you should probably wait to see the next movie about and if they answer it or other media does. Because large chunks of stuff seemed to be setup and positioning for later things. Moments to give various character triumphs to pull their stories full circle, but to also setup later spots to use to progress new stories. Like while the Casino was superfluous to this film(though not really, as it's part of Poe's decisions that impacted the resistance as well as gave Finn his resolution of his own personal arc and sets the finale in motion too for Rey's journey back to the resistance and pulling all the threads together), it did give us the Finn vs Phasma scene to give us Finn's symbolic finally overcoming his past/coming to terms with how he was conscripted in a visual form of facing his oppressor. Which I do also doubt this will be the last time we will see Phasma. As well as I also doubt this will be the last time we see that kid from before the final Casino chase scene.

Same as the rest of the search for the Codebreaker is likely to be material to come back up in the next movie. So much of that is setup for the next chapter. Character closure moments but also foreshadowing elements and setup.

And there were other story beats they had to cover too. Like the lightsaber breaking because Rey has to finish her training by creating her own anyway, as well as the other symbolism behind it. Same to her vision quest has deeper metaphors associated to it, that'll come up later as deeper revelations are handled when we get to the Knights of Ren, and how they eventually came to Snoke as well as where they've been.

That's part of the problem to serialized storytelling. Parts are going to be self-contained, but other parts are there to expand on their usage later so it's not suddenly randomly there later as a detail that never came up before. You have to establish material you want to draw on later to have it there to be drawn upon.

Though many fan theories may not be wrong yet either.
Rey still could be Luke's daughter. Or Rey could be a new age Anakin. Something the force took care of and guided as it once did Anakin and Luke. Someone new to bring new balance to the force unhindered by the chains of the past. Whereas Kylo is burdened by them, and even in breaking those chains is now even more driven by them into his descent of becoming a full Sith, including his final act in becoming one. That of killing and replacing his master. His final baptism by the darkside of the force.

Rey's heritage is really of no direct consequence to the story. It can go either way. As her parentage may yield direct lineage ties to the force, but even without that, the force has never shied away from correcting nature to create a balance. Spiritually she's much like Anakin in that way, but unlike Anakin, she has hope. She maintains her heart. She has support she leans on that pushes her forward, she seeks guidance and listens. Anakin was manipulated through his arrogance and bravado. Through his putting the heaviness of his path on his own shoulders. Rey succeeds because she lacks that, and shares the burden with those that she's willing to reach out for. Bringing us back to the importance of Finn, and the "grabbing her hand"/"giving her hand" growth. This also ties back to her vision as well. The symbolism for Jedi and Sith revolve around two things. Sith are lava/volcanoes, ready to blow and destroy all they touch. Whereas Jedi are Water/a geyser. Life giving water, and geysers being the home of microbial life from the depths of a planet. There's more to it than that, but that's the bare simplest explanation for now. Her vision is about her future and her path and what direction it's going to take as she faces what's inside her. (Similar as to when Anakin finally faced his, it was Lava all around him as everything fell apart and destroyed all it touched, himself included.)

No film will ever be perfect for all audiences, but vocal minority distaste does not equate "technical deficiencies" or "lack of story" or "mis-use of techniques". It may mean there's more that you haven't quite grasped to it or do not see. Sometimes it takes time for the full gravity to really settle in. For the full scope to take shape. Especially as we have this new trio each reach different personal arc growth points at different times. Where we started with Finn and Rey, closing Finn's personal arc to start Poe's, and create a new chapter for Rey as she's ready to begin this new journey with both. We also have on the other end of the Force, the new age of the Sith in full power. This new order of sith having completely taken over what the Jedi Order once was. Potentially more than one now around as the Knights of Ren are set to take the stage.

What we have here is a complex topic dealing with some very intricate moving parts to show the rise and fall and rise of fascist regimes seeking and controlling power, and the mistakes made that let these regimes rise again. How the final chapter unfolds and what ghosts from the past may follow later and haunt the future is anyone's guess.