ST The Most Important Moment In The Film

I would have to agree this is an incredible moment in the film. One of the times my audience cheered loudly.

Also, I absolutely think this thread is a place to share if you believe other moments in the film are the most important, but I do encourage you to read the OP just in case you hadn't.

 

Domesticated Han was one of the things I could never quite get behind about the character all throughout the post ROTJ EU. Just found him to be a boring after he settled down. In fact, the time I most enjoyed "old man Han Solo" was when he was seperated from Leia after Chewie was killed in the NJO books and he was zipping around the galaxy with a new co-pilot. So I'm glad they opted to have old pirate Han back, in this case a tad crotchety. That's how I want to remember him. It was obvious he and Leia still cared for each other very deeply when they reunited in TFA, so it's not like it diminished their love story at all.

 

That choked me up, not gonna lie

 

Han's death was unforgiveable. I was too furious even to cry.

 

I was fine with his death, but I agree that it was rushed. It was also really telegraphed. For a moment I thought he might not, but ultimately, it was obvious he was going to impale Han on his lightsaber. It should have been more of a surprise, but you could see it coming from the moment Kylo stepped out onto the platform and Han followed him.

The moment being rushed was honestly one of the biggest problems with this film overall (as much as I loved it in general). There wasn't sufficient time given to process anything emotionally. The acting was tremendous, though, and completely made the film.

 

Saw Han's death a mile away. That's okay though.

I personally don't think it was handled that well. It wasn't horrible though. It seemed inserted. Like the script was written and they had this Han death scene they had to insert somewhere and that's where they put it.

I can see why they did it that way though, it's important to Kylo's development that we see that it is both a concious decision that he struggles with. Kylo's enemy is himself.

 

This may not be the place for it as it seems to be more about Han's death, but one of the most important moments for me was seeing the silhouette of the Star Destroyer after the opening crawl and not Luke's severed hand and/or lightsaber floating through space. I actually breathed a sigh of relief. If that was one of Arndt's original ideas, I'm glad he was tossed.

 

I knew he died going into the film. It still hit me very hard. Saw it again today. Hit just as hard. One thing I picked up the second time is Kylo's line 'I know what I have to do but I don't know if I'm strong enough to do it." To me that was almost like JJ and Larry were talking to the audience about the need to kill him for the franchise moving forward. I I dunno...just my thoughts.

 

Why on Earth did Kylo 'have' to kill Han, and why did Han meekly consent to it? What did it achieve? Those questions would need answering to make the scene more meaningful.

 

The end credits. I wish I was joking.

 

Kylo chose the dark side. He chose Snoke over his family but his family still has pull on him. Hence, he expresses his conflicted state when he speaks to Anakin's charred skull. Snoke snatched him up away from his family, who had already physically separated themselves from him when Leia and Han sent him to train with Luke. Killing Han completes the separation from his family in an irrevocable way from Kylo's point of view and commits him fully to Snoke and the dark side.

Han loved his son. He wanted him back. He thought he was going to get his son back when approached him on the causeway. He was wrong.

As to what Han's sacrifice, and I think it is a sacrifice, achieves in the long run is something that will be decided over the next two movies. It certainly empowered Rey to accept the Force and let it in. So there's that.

My $0.02.

 

I think I have to disagree here. You are meant to derive your own meaning from scenes like this through the emotional responses of the characters. For me, I watched a father who knew he could be walking to his death do it anyway for the love of his son. I don't believe it was meek consent, I believe it was ultimate bravery and true love for his son. He HAD to try to bring his son back to the light, and he was also doing it for Leia. He didn't walk in there trying to commit suicide, he wanted his son back.

As far as what it achieved, Kylo is trying to prove himself to be as strong as Vader. He is trying to gain the approval of Snoke and I believe he felt that killing his disapproving father would help him to resist the pull toward the light. I also believe in a twisted way he wanted his father's approval. His views of the dark side have twisted his mind to believe strength and power are how you gain the approval of others, and if not then, submission.

 

I'll just copy what I posted in a similar thread:

In a lot of ways, Han's death was certainly the most emotional in the entire saga, since now we have a character who was a hero, who made it all the way through one trilogy, only to be killed in the next one. We've had almost 40 years invested in Han. That created much more powerful emotions than any of the other deaths in the saga up to now.

 

I disagree, I did not feel emotional at all over Han's death. It felt cheap and throwaway. Without developing any context, without giving us anything about his relationship with his son, it was hollow. And that sucked, because if they had properly explored their relationship, then it would have been astonishingly powerful. But we had learned pretty much nothing about Kylo Ren and his story, or how he feels towards his father. There was no breathing room. I figured that Han would get killed off, but I never thought it would be so uninvolving. Chewbacca's reaction was much more sensitively handled.

 

I saw A LOT about their relationship without needing a bunch of exposition. It was shown and not told. It was written on their faces, especially Han/Harrison.

Think back to how little we had to go about Vader and Obi-Wan's relationship when Vader kills him. I've never heard anyone say this death was cheap, or that we needed more backstory. I'm just trying to say that sometimes less is more.

 

I don't mean I want loads of exposition. But the writing was not subtle enough to be suggestive in their feelings, it was all very rushed.

I agree that less is sometimes more. In ANH the dynamic between Vader and Obi-Wan is great, as you can see they have a deep and complex history. With Han and Kylo, though, I didn't get any of that. Writing and acting was not good enough to convey any of their relationship, it felt completely random and arbitrary to me. Which is a real shame.

 

I think the fact that he is killed and basically "discarded" in such a way is SUPPOSED to make us angry to build hatred toward Kylo. If you think about it, we've all been fans of Han/Leia building a relationship, having children, etc. In way, we're hoping that Kylo will come back to the light side, we're rooting for him. But now that he's killed Han - no way. That was the best way to make a truly despicable character. Like GL trying to make us hate Anakin by making him kill younglings, except that didn't work as well. The motivation behind Kylo's hatred is somewhat mentioned (Han being an absent father) but vague (hence, material for the next two movies). And the best part is that Kylo KNOWS this will be the turning action - the conflict is there but he doesn't care...he's truly despicable.

I'm still depressed about Han's death. I didn't spoil myself but as soon as Han stepped on that platform, I knew. I started saying no no no no under my breath. When it happened, I screamed and starting sobbing - I don't think I've ever been so figuratively stabbed in the gut...(yes, pun somewhat intended). But this morning/afternoon I've been ridiculously mopey. And I think part of it has to do with my imagined ideals of Han and Leia's relationship and how this movie completely turned everything upside down and now that they finally reconnected, he's dead. In a most horrible way - killed by his own son, the product of his/Leia's love, and his body lost.

I don't think I'll ever be able to watch Han/Leia scenes again without tearing up.

 

The most important moment: the fight between Rey and Kylo, at the latest after that fight it´s clear Rey is not what it seemed to be and has some background that need serious explanation. We knew she was somehow related to Luke because of the saber scene but defeating a trained Jedi (Sith?) with the saber and showing such jedi powers with absolutely no training?? that was for me unexpected

 

I honestly believed Han had got through to him. How gullible am I.

 

Han was my favourite character, when I watched ESB in the cinema it was my first Star Wars film and while other kids wanted to be Luke all I could think about was Han.

Han faced the carbon freezing with a strong dignity which stayed with me, it made me think that was the sort of person I wanted to be.

I was upset my hero was seemingly never going to return but the journey he took in that film was an inspiration.

So when he told Leia he was going, and she told him to bring back their son (remember she thought like Luke redeemed their father that he could redeem his son) it made perfect sense.

Han was our everyman, he didn't believe in the force, he was selfish, he became a hero through his experiences, a journey we shared with him.

His death was noble and befitting his character, he died a selfless hero, a devoted father. No longer cynical or smug.

It was PERFECT. Harrison hit it out of the park, Driver played his part to perfection.

Thank you JJ and Kasdan - you delivered.

 

This. I'm sure it was stipulated in the contract. I die or I won't do it.

 

We were all holding onto that hope I think. The music even changes in that scene to lull you into a false sense of security.

 

"Like GL trying to make us hate Anakin by making him kill younglings, except that didn't work as well. The motivation behind Kylo's hatred is somewhat mentioned (Han being an absent father) but vague (hence, material for the next two movies). And the best part is that Kylo KNOWS this will be the turning action - the conflict is there but he doesn't care...he's truly despicable."

Problem was that Episode III was pulling its punches. They didn't show Anakin doing all that killing, he only Force-choked Padme so it felt like play-acting, and afterwards we have him asking if she's ok (as if he hadn't just accused her of plotting his death) and her (like a battered houswife) asking the same and insisting there was good in him. It all telegraphed his eventual redemption which we should have believed in until ROTJ.

I was hoping Kylo would make some step towards the Light, but when Han couldn't immediately take possession of that saber I knew something was wrong.

 

I agree. Maybe not at the Starkiller base but the aftermath. It just felt a bit rushed i guess.