Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Reaction and Discussion *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

[BrianL]

No, Han Solo (for example) could not be trained to use the force. Neither could any other person who was not born force-sensitive.

What I believe, though this is just my personal take on it, is that all living beings have a connection to the Force, but it shows up in varying degrees. I do think anyone could learn about the Force, but not to the extent of a Jedi. They're not going to be levitating objects and shooting lightning and stuff, but I do think you might have someone like Chirrut Imwe (the blind guy in Rogue One) who had learned enough understanding of the Force, enough to allow him to not get shot most of the time. They have stated that the character does not possess "Force powers." It's like if you believe hard enough you can "feel" something, but that's about the extent of it. Anyway, that's just my thoughts.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I don't think it's "anyone-can-be-a-Jedi", but more like your genetics don't determine whether you are a force user or not. Remember, until Anakin Skywalker came along there were generations of Jedi who were force-users not because of their lineage but because they were just strong in the force. Jedi went out and found these children throughout the galaxy and brought them to the temple to raise them and train them in the Jedi order. Until Anakin and Luke/Leia, being strong in the force had nothing to do with who your parents were. No, Han Solo (for example) could not be trained to use the force. Neither could any other person who was not born force-sensitive. Rey is like the thousands of other Jedi who came before her - just a girl who was born with a special gift. She does happen to be extremely gifted in the force (like Mozart, Einstein, or Michelangelo were gifted in their own way), but otherwise has the gift the same way all these other Jedi were given it before her.

**Note: I am by no means well-versed in Jedi lore and could possibly have mis-stated something here, so please add on or correct as needed.

Sounds right to me.

Rey being SO STRONG with ZERO training and NO Jedi parentage — juxtaposed with the focus on the little Jedi-to-be at the far reaches of the galaxy — struck me together as worse than a story that actually revealed her parentage as something noteworthy.

And I spent ZERO time contemplating her parentage between films btw. It just struck me as not as good as what a filmmaker could have chosen to do.

All felt to me like a filmmaker message that didn’t further the story. But, meh. I’ll live.

And like I said, I still really enjoyed it and am not freaking out at all that it seems right now that Rey is not a Skywalker. I do think there’s a lot of pressure now for the final film to bring a tad more coherence and tie up the Skywalker saga, though...

 

[Grand Admiral]

I'm perfectly fine with Rey not being related to anyone we know.

I liked that it subverted some of the old Star Wars tropes. That seems to have made plenty of people upset though.

Luke says "This is not going to go the way that you think." It's right there in the trailer.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of tropes, check this out. Careful, it could eat your day. The "Anti-Climax" trope is particularly relevant to this conversation.

 

[mcjaco]

Sounds right to me.

Rey being SO STRONG with ZERO training and NO Jedi parentage — juxtaposed with the focus on the little Jedi-to-be at the far reaches of the galaxy — struck me together as worse than a story that actually revealed her parentage as something noteworthy.

And I spent ZERO time contemplating her parentage between films btw. It just struck me as not as good as what a filmmaker could have chosen to do.

All felt to me like a filmmaker message that didn’t further the story. But, meh. I’ll live.

And like I said, I still really enjoyed it and am not freaking out at all that it seems right now that Rey is not a Skywalker. I do think there’s a lot of pressure now for the final film to bring a tad more coherence and tie up the Skywalker saga, though...

I didn't sepnd much thought to her lineage either. I thought it was rather boring, and going the route of her being a Skywalker, Kenobi, or the dumbest rumor of being a Palpatine, was an easy way out. Clearly there's some political subversiveness here, with her parent's being "nobodys." A clear message that you don't have to come from greatness to be great.

After seeing it yesterday again (I may go see it one more time), I caught a lot more that I missed the first time around. I think we're set to see a huge power struggle betwen Hux and Kylo, maybe the First Order splinters itself apart? Kylo will likely go two ways (as I don't have much faith in Abrams doing something spectacular). Deep to the dark side, and likely be destroyed. Or the old redemption plot. I'd love to see him go Grey Jedi on us, with Rey leading the way, but I don't see that happening. My guess is Luke, as a force ghost, gives us a little more background into Snoke and his history, since he clearly knew of Snoke too.

Clearly the Resistance/Rebellion will re-establish themselves somewhere. I think the next film will be about five to ten years into the storyline.

 

[kbelle8995]

When Kylo stated that Rey came from "nobody", my reaction was "that's it?"" But now that I think perhaps it's better. Apparently the force goes to certain Skywalker's heads.

And in our history many great leaders come from nothing backgrounds

 

[BrianL]

A clear message that you don't have to come from greatness to be great.

This is why I am so surprised that so many people have a problem with Rey's parentage. This is pretty much the concept of "The American Dream" and generally an ideal that I think most people would agree with. Why would anyone be against it?

 

[TheFloatingBear]

And while some things in TLJ I would personally like to have seen handled differently, I still enjoyed the film overall quite a bit, and some scenes I loved! Still will be in line for the next one, and still will watch this one again. It’s a testament to the strong parts of this film that the weaker parts didn’t even come close to ruining it for me.

@MickeyMinnieMom - Thank you for summing up how I feel, lol! I saw it a couple of weeks ago and have been following along here but I'm kind of all over the place with how I feel about the movie. I would identify myself as an "old-timer" fan (with a "newfangled" son). I feel like I'm still processing it, but your comment is about the gist of it overall!

I definitely want to see it again, preferably alone (or at least without my kids). Our theater was having "technical difficulties" so the movie started at least 45 minutes late - and then they still did the eternity of previews. The good news was they gave us all free passes, but the bad news was, it made an already long movie longer, so not sure if the draggy parts for me was due to that experience?

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

This is why I am so surprised that so many people have a problem with Rey's parentage. This is pretty much the concept of "The American Dream" and generally an ideal that I think most people would agree with. Why would anyone be against it?

Lovely, lovely theme in many, many movies. Just didn’t fit best with this Skywalker SW saga — to us — this is all subjective, obviously. And as I’ve said, I just can’t get all worked up about it either way.

 

[mcjaco]

This is why I am so surprised that so many people have a problem with Rey's parentage. This is pretty much the concept of "The American Dream" and generally an ideal that I think most people would agree with. Why would anyone be against it?

Not to get political, but we're kind of bizarro world right now. So who knows. I thought the same thing.

And while some things in TLJ I would personally like to have seen handled differently, I still enjoyed the film overall quite a bit, and some scenes I loved! Still will be in line for the next one, and still will watch this one again. It’s a testament to the strong parts of this film that the weaker parts didn’t even come close to ruining it for me.

@MickeyMinnieMom - Thank you for summing up how I feel, lol! I saw it a couple of weeks ago and have been following along here but I'm kind of all over the place with how I feel about the movie. I would identify myself as an "old-timer" fan (with a "newfangled" son). I feel like I'm still processing it, but your comment is about the gist of it overall!

I definitely want to see it again, preferably alone (or at least without my kids). Our theater was having "technical difficulties" so the movie started at least 45 minutes late - and then they still did the eternity of previews. The good news was they gave us all free passes, but the bad news was, it made an already long movie longer, so not sure if the draggy parts for me was due to that experience?

Like you, I'm an old timer. Saw A New Hope in the theater when it was re-released right before Empire (I was 2 in '77). Saw the re-releases in back in the 90's and then the prequels. I hated Ep. 1. but 2 and 3 have grown on me as I watch them with my boys. They both love Ep. 2, which I guess makes sense. There's lots of action, and very little nonsensical political story telling in that one, with lots of worlds being explored. And no Jar Jar! I wasn't a huge fan of TFA. It just didn't do much for me after the excitement of Star Wars on the big screen wore off. I can honestly say, I can't wait until TLJ come out on Blu-Ray. It'll get lots of re-watches, much like Rogue One is now.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

This is why I am so surprised that so many people have a problem with Rey's parentage. This is pretty much the concept of "The American Dream" and generally an ideal that I think most people would agree with. Why would anyone be against it?

The only thing I can think of is that if she is the new "chosen one" or whatever and the continuation of the plot of the first 6 movies, then there has to be a connection to the Skywalkers as the first 6 movies are all about the story arc of the Skywalkers (Anakin's turn from chosen one to the dark side and then his son, Luke, seeing the good in him and enabling him to turn back to the light). The way it is now, with Rey not having that connection makes this seem like a separate Trilogy rather than parts 6-9 of that story arc

That said, we still don't know where this is going to go - and it could be that Kylo was lying to her or that the people that left her on Jakku were her adoptive parents, not her birth parents, or in the end the focus is on Kylo and he brings balance to the Force and ties everything up from the first 6 movies and does have the Skywalker lineage - so it could still all work out in the end

 

[jkh36619]

The only thing I can think of is that if she is the new "chosen one" or whatever and the continuation of the plot of the first 6 movies, then there has to be a connection to the Skywalkers as the first 6 movies are all about the story arc of the Skywalkers (Anakin's turn from chosen one to the dark side and then his son, Luke, seeing the good in him and enabling him to turn back to the light). The way it is now, with Rey not having that connection makes this seem like a separate Trilogy rather than parts 6-9 of that story arc

That said, we still don't know where this is going to go - and it could be that Kylo was lying to her or that the people that left her on Jakku were her adoptive parents, not her birth parents, or in the end the focus is on Kylo and he brings balance to the Force and ties everything up from the first 6 movies and does have the Skywalker lineage - so it could still all work out in the end

Agreed. That is why I believe we need a new trilogy. Rogue One could have been stretched into a trilogy with DS plans in the end or something totally different.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

The only thing I can think of is that if she is the new "chosen one" or whatever and the continuation of the plot of the first 6 movies, then there has to be a connection to the Skywalkers as the first 6 movies are all about the story arc of the Skywalkers (Anakin's turn from chosen one to the dark side and then his son, Luke, seeing the good in him and enabling him to turn back to the light). The way it is now, with Rey not having that connection makes this seem like a separate Trilogy rather than parts 6-9 of that story arc

Exactly. If Rey-sans-Skywalker-lineage was the start of a new saga, wonderful. It seems out of place as movie 8 of 9. To me.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Exactly. If Rey-sans-Skywalker-lineage was the start of a new saga, wonderful. It seems out of place as movie 8 of 9. To me.

I get that and agree largely - just feel we do still have Episode IX to go which may tie it all together - but if not then I certainly can understand that complaint

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I get that and agree largely - just feel we do still have Episode IX to go which may tie it all together - but if not then I certainly can understand that complaint

Agreed. Feels like a bit of a tall order to tie all together now — assuming that’s what they intend to aim for — but I’ll certainly be in the audience to see!

 

[amberpi]

Exactly. If Rey-sans-Skywalker-lineage was the start of a new saga, wonderful. It seems out of place as movie 8 of 9. To me.

I was talking about this last night and absolutely believe the Rey lineage will be a spin off saga.

 

[nkosiek]

Lovely, lovely theme in many, many movies. Just didn’t fit best with this Skywalker SW saga — to us — this is all subjective, obviously. And as I’ve said, I just can’t get all worked up about it either way.

How does it not fit with the Skywalker saga? Anakin's mom was for all intents a slave and Luke grew up as a dirt poor farmer*.


*: pun intended.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

How does it not fit with the Skywalker saga? Anakin's mom was for all intents a slave and Luke grew up as a dirt poor farmer*.


*: pun intended.

A dirt poor farmer descendent of Jedi royalty... descendent of a Skywalker... in this Skywalker saga.

 

[KenHutch]

I wanted to love this film I really did. It's OK but someone needs to stop the director before he is allowed to direct ANYTHING else. Its a shame to because I liked Looper.

 

[TheFloatingBear]

Not to get political, but we're kind of bizarro world right now. So who knows. I thought the same thing.



Like you, I'm an old timer. Saw A New Hope in the theater when it was re-released right before Empire (I was 2 in '77). Saw the re-releases in back in the 90's and then the prequels. I hated Ep. 1. but 2 and 3 have grown on me as I watch them with my boys. They both love Ep. 2, which I guess makes sense. There's lots of action, and very little nonsensical political story telling in that one, with lots of worlds being explored. And no Jar Jar! I wasn't a huge fan of TFA. It just didn't do much for me after the excitement of Star Wars on the big screen wore off. I can honestly say, I can't wait until TLJ come out on Blu-Ray. It'll get lots of re-watches, much like Rogue One is now.

I was 8 in '77 - prime age to get swept up in it all! I've been feeling like I need to re-watch the prequels. Really wanted to like them and did the midnight showings and such, but didn't love them and haven't really watched them again. Maybe I'll make my kid take a break from making his new First Order Star Destroyer Lego set and take another look...Enjoyed (mostly) TFA and Rogue One maybe even more, and generally not resistant to changes, etc., with the story but still not sure how I'm feeling about this last one - hoping to go see it again by myself!

 

[rteetz]

It's OK but someone needs to stop the director before he is allowed to direct ANYTHING else.

Well that's not happening. He is in charge of the next trilogy. However that might be better for him since he gets the whole trilogy vs. just one episode.