ST Did You Like TLJ's Characterization of Luke Skywalker?

After watching The Last Jedi how do you see Luke's characterization in TLJ and the events leading to it?

 

Loved it. His ending has taken some getting used to but I now appreciate that too. Fact is he's in this trilogy to pass the torch to the next generation. Like Obi-Wan & Qui-Gon did before him. He's not here to be the focus & the hero of these movies.

 

I have some problems with it but Mark Hamill was just brilliant , he made it work .

 

The only way i could excuse the characterization of Luke Skywalker in this movie, was if the writer/director had never seen any of the previous movies (and i could believe that). It was a complete and utter character assassination.

 

It was just not Luke Skywalker, we remember him as the one who saw that there was still good in his father. A father he knew for only a few moments in his life, a man who had killed lots of people and was very dark. Then we have the situation just a few years before TFA, Luke was training Ben and during some night Luke went to sleeping Ben and sensed this Darkness in him. Ben did not do anything bad yet and he probably knew Ben since he was little. Then in this moment Luke considers killing his sleeping nephew..... See the contrast with what happened in RTOJ?

Luke saying that the Jedi must end, well, I'm okay with that. They showed that the Jedi order was like a religion, and is a flawed concept.

 

Horrible. The worst part is that ruining Luke Skywalker is almost ruining all of the gffa for me. I now firmly believe that the Skywalkers are a curse on the galaxy. They make everything worse. That this movie ruins Luke and makes the poor residents of the gffa worship him like a god brings out my inner cynic. Oh you poor, deceived fictional people. Pray that Kylo does without children.

 

I don’t know if it’s perfect, but I fully accept it.
So, I can’t in good conscience vote.

 

I strongly disliked it.

 

It wasn't likable, but it made sense in the grand scheme of things. And I was glad to see a glimmer of his old self in the scene with R2. So, yeah, I'm okay with it, though I wish we saw a few more glimmers of who he once was.

 

but why go in with pre conceived notions of the way the film should have gone. I am going in with no expectations whatever the story and archs are It Is what It Is I didn't write It nor could I have, I am not a writer for hire in Hollywood.

 

Tolerable. Kind of a waste, but Hamill made the most of it.

 

I didn't go in with any preconceived notion, and i'm not at all familiar with Luke Skywalker from the EU. I'm purely going off the character as he is presented in three movies, against this representation presented in TLJ. The two are worlds apart.

 

Loved it. Flawlessly portrayed and developed. 10/10 **********

Throughout the film we see him journey from stubborn Jedi, to masterful selfless Jedi who once again put his sister, and the last remenants of a Rebellion ahead of himself making the ultimate sacrifice so that they could live to see another day. (in a way that has always been how it has worked ~ Rogue sacrificed everything to get Leia the plans, Obi-Wan sacrificed himself to show Luke his calling, Vader sacrificed hinself to show Luke his love, Han Solo sacrificed himself to show Ben his love...)

Master Yoda said in Last Jedi "Failure is the greatest teacher", C-3PO said the odds of survival were "14,528 to 1" to General Leia Organa in the base as the First Order was appoarching. Who increased the odds of survival Luke Skywalker, and his heroism.

Luke didn't need to be redeemed but he needed to be reminded of the humanity all of us have in us, we all fail, we all struggle and we all perserve; and he showed that beautifully. Luke's journey is not complete Rey will take his teaching with her, he will continue to influence her and Ben Solo; he exited as the Master Jedi that wanted to see. He used a part of the Force no one had ever seen and by doing that there were consequences he'd die and his twin sister would escape. Selfless, thinking of others and never quitting the good fight that's the Luke I saw and remember.

 

did you get into spoilers?

 

I don’t think it was horrible, because I still liked the final scene and Luke saying to Kylo he was not the last Jedi. But I also don’t think it was “okay” either not that it entirely worked with the story, because although the message was there, the communication of that message was done poorly – to the point that we needed a shoehorned Yoda cameo to tell us that “message”, otherwise we would never get it.

I’m talking about the purpose of Luke’s legacy here, as “passing on what he have learned”. Well, I didn’t see that. His half-hearted training (if you can call it that) of Rey never got past the first basic lesson, and the second lesson was just him bashing the Jedi and Rey trying to correct his opinion. Ultimately, I never got the impression that he passed on any valuable knowledge of the Jedi for Rey to continue that legacy (like I felt with Yoda in TESB), and Rey had to stole the Jedi books (books which Luke wanted to burn, and it’s also unclear if he even read them) just so she could learn something. Everything of value she learned in that island – particularly the scene in the cave - was no thanks to Luke. Heck he didn’t even want her to go there. Have no idea why.

Too many times I felt like Luke, and Kylo too, were being used as mouthpieces for the director’s Star Wars Manifesto. Which is fine, it’s obvious that Rian has strong opinions about what SW should be and he wants to impose that vision, but that came at the expense of the character arc that was meant to be there for Luke, as it was poorly shown. It’s scriptwriting 101: show us Rian, don’t tell us.

And of course, there is arguable the worst scene in the movie, which is when Luke thinks about killing his twin sister and best friend’s son in his sleep despite Ben not doing anything that warranted that (I’m sorry, but merely having bad thoughts never and should never, warrant someone pulling sword at a human being). I get that characters have flaws, but if what you write betrays the fundamental core of the character, then you’re not writing flaws, you’re butchering an established characterization.

So yeah, I ended up voting “horrible”. But like I said, I don’t think it was really horrible. Just mediocre.

 

I did back in the prequel days but not for these new ones.

 

Here’s the thing. Luke’s character has changed. For the good or for the bad. In the decades that past off screen his character struggled with his own identity and place in the universe. Sure I hate the idea that the thought of killing Ben came up, but it was an important lesson to learn, one which the crappy looking yoda, made him realize. I for one enjoyed Luke doing something we’ve never seen before. It shows that he has grown into much more that just a nephew killer in all those years. It is what it is. Luke, now a force ghost himself will be the legend and role model for the next generation of trainees, flaws and all.

 

It was a lame end to one of the greatest heroes we have.

Rian Johnson should hang his head in shame.


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You see, I'd thought they'd have his character grow since the OT, imagine how nice it would've been to see how a reformed Jedi Order would've differed from the one we saw in the PT, instead they needlessly destroy them just to make this this series feel more like the classics and to add insult to injury, Luke's pretty much a coward who gave up and everything he every stood for. Having try to kill Ben Solo (in cold blood nonetheless) even though he didn't completely succumb to the dark side feels like a slap in the face, that would be like if he wanted to murder his father instead of having him redeemed. Luke also said he wants to live out the rest of his life in isolation even though TFA clearly said he went to go look for the first Jedi temple (which we don't even see) and if he wanted nothing to do with the rest of the galaxy, why did he leave behind a map for his friends to come looking for him? This seems like a huge misstep.

 

Loved it.

Hamill's performance made it work very well, and I loved it when we had those moments where the old Luke would come out (like the scene with R2).

 

It was a lame end to one of the greatest heroes we have.

Rian Johnson should hang his head in shame.


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I thought it was done pretty well. I'm sure there are a lot of deleted scenes with Luke and Rey on the Island, and I think RJ thought enedlessly about how to handle Luke. Luke is still Luke, he just did not get over the loss of the academy (as explained by Yoda). I'm confused about why he decided to leave his body at the end of the movie though, I imagine Yoda had something to do with that.

 

Luke's characterization in TLJ was a complete and utter travesty.

We waited 30 years to see Luke at the height of his powers. Instead, we get a broken man who does not even use his lightsaber in battle. That scene with Kylo Ren does not count in my eyes.

He dies using Force projection, when instead he should have lived and been perhaps a little weakened after the effort. His use of Force Projection and subsequent survival would have been proof of his power. I think he should have lived to fully train Rey between Ep 8 and 9, then perhaps die, similar to Yoda in Ep 9.

If they wanted to kill him off, then do it on Crait in a climatic battle where we see a true demonstration of his mastery of the Force and selfless sacrifice to save the Resistance/Rebellion/Republic or whatever they want to call it.

The idea of Luke contemplating killing Ben Solo contradicts the optimism and faith he demonstrated when he sought to redeem Anakin Skywalker. Totally inconsistent with the Luke Skywalker we have come to know.

I have become sick and tired of franchises darkening the mood of beloved characters in a contrived attempt to add emotional depth. The current characterization of Superman in the DC comic movies come to mind. We should have seen the faithful, dutiful, and optimistic Luke as a counterweight to the pessimism that is prevailing with the rise of the First Order. It would have been a good example for Rey to follow.

I never thought I would see such disrespect paid to such an iconic character.

Mark Hamill did the best with what he had. However, we know he was disappointed with the characterization of Luke.

 

It was a lame end to one of the greatest heroes we have.

Rian Johnson should hang his head in shame.


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I didn't like it at all, but I did find his ending redeeming. I thought TLJ was a very good movie, but portrayed Luke differently from what we remembered.I thought Luke was going to hold all the Wisdom, instead he behaved more like a Padawan or Jedi Knight needing guidance from Yoda.