ST Lightsaber Toss?

RJ was perfectly competent to write this. You’re confusing Luke’s mental state in the film with Rian’s perceived lack of respect of Luke. Two completely different things.

 

I also thought it was perfect and there was nothing funny about it, nor was it meant to be funny. Shocking, yes. It simply reinforced his decision to vanish and hide on the island. He wanted nothing to do with the Jedi. Totally appropriate. In fact - PERFECT.

 

Oh, and stop with the "family heirloom" nonsense. It's not like it's his grandmother's cherished necklace that she wore every day of her life, and was her grandmother's before her. It's a weapon he used 30 years ago during a life he had moved on from. Seeing it again brought back all the memories he was trying to run from. If anything it's the OPPOSITE of a family heirloom.

 

Good to see you understand the point of the sequence.

 

Thank you. Yeah, it's not that difficult.

 

The toss of the LS in the beginning of TLJ completely took me out of the movie for me and set the bad tone going forward. It was cheap and built for a laugh. It was completely unnecessary and unreasonable. It would have been better had he made a quip and just dropped it, or gave it back to her. Started off TLJ on the wrong note for me and the film never really recovered.

 

It was perfect.

 

We were watching a completely different movie. It was not intended to be funny at all.

 

Well it came across as funny, the entire theater laughed. It was a terrible idea. Let me be clear. I am fine with luke rejecting the saber. Maybe tossing back to Rey or just dropping it and walking away. The shoulder toss etc. is what ruined it for me. Fine. Reject the saber, I like that idea. But tossing is like he did was a mistake for me.

 

So the fact that whenever I've watched TLJ there are laughs in the audience means the film maker missed the mark.

Later on, it makes less sense. We later learn that the last time Luke saw that lightsabre was when he last saw Ben Solo. Ben, who Luke thinks he failed, who Luke knows is powerful and dark. Then that lightsabre, which is closely linked to the person and reason why Luke wants to die on that island, turns up in the hands of someone else - and he's not even curious. That's not Luke.

 

I wonder if it would have gone over better if the throw had been the same as when he threw down his saber in the DS2 throne room.

 

Say what, now?

 

I'm sorry, I don't understand your question.

 

When did we learn that Luke last saw that saber with Ben Solo?

 

Oh I see. Luke saw it when they had the altercation in Ben's hut. Luke comes around when Ben is gone (literally and figuratively). Luke goes to the solitude of exile on Ahch-To. When could he have seen the lightsabre again?

 

Personally, I don't even care if laughter was or wasn't the intent. It was hilarious. I laugh every time I see it. I don't necessarily think it was meant to be played for laughs, considering it lines up perfectly with Luke's state of mind at that point in the story. It makes absolute sense to me. Nope, I don't want any part of this thing, and I don't want to listen to you ask for my help. Go away, please, random girl.

 

Oh, I don't think that's the same lightsaber. It's just another blue saber.

 

"That lightsabre, it belongs to me."

 

Right, because it's a family heirloom.

 

The Anakin lightsaber is different to the one Ben Solo attacks Luke with at the academy...that's why that line doesn't make sense to me

 

I just still can't believe we joked about Luke doing this on these boards and then it actually happened. I almost died right then and there in the theater.

 

Yes. My thoughts exactly. I was also pulled out of the movie in this moment and never quite recovered. Toss the saber. Chuck it as far as you can. Reject the object that reminds you of your failure. Just NOT FOR COMEDY. This moment set a "missed mark" tone from which the film never recovered for me. It made the other humor that would follow feel even more off. The caretakers for example.

 

Yeah...No, it was definitely meant for laughs. If you saw it in the theatres and immediately jumped to the conclusion of how 'brilliant and perfect' it was then you must be a high degree intellectual and I salute you, but, no, it was for laughs. And Rey's reaction was meant to mirror the audience in 'WTF just happened?' 2 years of waiting, and THAT was our reward? RJ was babbling how 'Oh, I wanna know what happened after Rey and Luke met up.' And THAT is what he does with it??

It definitely got a laugh out of me. An incredulous laugh. It also set the tone of the movie for me; It felt like the start of a lite-parody.

If you have to jump through hoops and make different leaps to understand how 'deep' something is, then I feel like it failed.

TFA had a better comedic-symbolic balance for me.