ST Daisy Ridley (Rey) in the ST

I recall saying this right after TFA... in a way, this comes down to a matter of trust. Which is (another) reason TLJ's "subverting expectations" can be problematic.

When I saw TFA, I definitely had questions. Rey did a lot of surprising things, mostly (apparently) related to use of the Force. At that time, I had a choice ... assume the current team had no clue that what they'd given us was pretty unprecedented, demanding explanation, OR assume that they had to realize this, and intended to explain it.

The SW team could have made EVERYONES life easier if, after TFA, they had simply said "Yeah, you saw Rey do some amazing things, and we're going to get into why... but it may emerge more slowly than you expect", instead of responding as they did.

 

I don't think anyone would care that Rey was powerful as long as she had a training arc to show her building up to and gaining that power. There can be bumps in the road, but that just adds pathos and makes the viewer care. We know her potential is massive and we wanted to see her access it and do things her own way. The whole download thing takes away from her uniqueness and experience, because she just took what she needed from somebody else. That's not nearly thirst quenching enough

 

Some fun commentary from Ridley on the throne room scene from TLJ:

 

To reply in general to some criticisms here:
1.) The character of Rey will certainly gain somethign from at least believing she is random. The theme of needing that to know her purpose is foiled by the reality that her parents have no bearing on her purpose. She's in it, it's the will of the force and she's been gifted and chosen. That's important for the character, even if it turns out that there is more to her background than random which I think we will learn. Some may call it a retcon or fixing Johnson's mistake, but I personally want her to be part of the bloodline somehow, but also thing it's important for her to realize that that is doesn't define her purpose.

2.) Let's all hold off on "we need a reason she's overpowered!" We do need that, but we should be wondering why she is, complaining that an incomplete narrative hasn't turned over all of its mysteries yet. I personally hope that the "download" is explained better by some kind of closer connection between her and Kylo - just like the skyping I don't believe it's all contrived by Snoke who didn't know anything about her.

 

You know, this is an interesting point that doesn't get addressed much. Yoda, who was very adamant that Luke was too impulsive and absolutely does NOT want Luke to leave his training early, seems very okay with the path that Rey has taken, and Luke's failure. Hmm...

Agreed.

I think RJ is messing with the audience. He wants ambiguity. He wants questions to be raised. He doesn't want things to be clear cut. Watch Looper. Watch Knives Out. He loves dealing with the grey areas.... even if it is maddening for some Star Wars fans. Without a doubt, some fans are going to infer romantic undertones between Rey and Kylo Ren. I understand all the objections that this raises. I still wonder if Rey was a man, if audiences would walk away with this question since it is a (overly)used trope. All of that said, the Reylo thing depends entirely on the audience's interpretation of subtext.

As has been pointed out, Rey's primary concern is saving the resistance and winning. Luke refuses to help. She thinks Ben Solo is the next best option due to (faulty) Force visions. This is the only thing presented definitively in the film as Rey's motivation for going to Kylo Ren....anything else is speculation and inference.

 

I think had Yoda spoken to Rey it would have been the same type of speech and tone that Luke got in ESB. I don't know that Yoda's okay with what Rey's doing, he's just telling Luke not to abandon her, ie he has to get back in the game. I wouldn't take that as Yoda taking Rey's side over Luke.

 

It'd help if the "mysteries" themselves weren't so vapid and vacuous.

Oh, OK, I see many have yet to learn how much of a false equivalence this is.

 

I think people would have been happy, or at least happier, to "hold off" on an explanation of Rey's abilities if someone in the movies had openly acknowledged that something unusual was going on, or barring that, if someone in the "creative team" had. All it would have taken, I think, is someone of prominence saying something (in an interview or social media post) like "Yeah, Rey is doing some pretty remarkable stuff, and we're aware of that... don't worry, at some point that's going to be addressed".

Instead, it's not clear they agree she IS doing anything surprising, or that they find such questions to be reasonable. The reaction to questions about Rey was, at least initially, fairly hostile.

 

I agree. But it's important to remember that Anakin and Luke do amazing things with no training. Anakin flies around and blows up a Trade Federation ship at nine, and Luke uses the Force to make a million-to-one shot that destroys the Death Star, etc. The thing is that Rey has been a scavenger taking apart ships for a living, and so it should come as no surprise that she can figure out the Falcon. I never have gotten that aspect of the criticism. Everyone is a Mary Sue, I should tell people, and they should get on with their lives. I'm more concerned about the problematic relationship dynamics and dumbing down we see in TLJ.

 

Yeah, but that's a direct byproduct of said problematic relationship dynamics and dumbing down. She isn't a character. She's a plot device.

 

When the ST was announced, one of the very first things that I told my friends was "hey wouldn't it be cool if the new Jedi hero were a woman this time, that'd be new?" I also love characters like Leia, Ahsoka, Dr. Aphra, etc. Heck even the spinoff films have done pretty ok with them.

The problem with the ST females characters, ANC their male ones to TBF, is that they're not well written, it's that simple for me.

 

Oh that's because Rian Johnson choose to answer the mysteries of Rey with the starting status quo. Think about it, Rey is introduced as a nobody with an unremarkable past that only seems remarkable if you follow Star Wars stories. That's her starting character and she, like Luke and Anakin, is meant to change over the course of the story.

When TLJ restates that Rey is indeed a nobody with an unremarkable past that has no place in the Skywalker Saga, it reaffirms the notion that Rey never changed from her starting character... at the climax of the film. Had the mystery revealed something new about her instead of something that can be inferred, we would not have this problem.

 

It's also just boring, we've seen it before. Frankly, Finn had a much more potentially interesting backstory.

 

Wrong post.

 

Too good not to share

 

Beautiful woman. Subpar Actor.. Like others said too. The character is redundant. We have already seen it

 

Luke was in no way a Mary Sue.

- Ben had to save him at the cantina
- He struggled with a training droid
- Vader almost shot Luke down if it wasn't for Han
- His father handed his a$$ to him in a duel
- Luke made his share of mistakes

Luke was able to fly an X-Wing because the movie already established several times he had experience as a pilot

Now we have Rey

- Flies the Falcon against TIE Pilots (Even Rey said she had no experience as a pilot)
- Resists mind control
- Uses Mind Control
- Telekenisis
- Never picked up a lightsaber and beats Kylo Ren
- Zero mistakes
(All this happens in the first movie)

And No, people aren't attacking Rey because of her gender. She's in no way some breakthrough sci-fi heroine

Captain Kathryn Janeway: Studied at Starfleet, served as a Science Officer before being promoted to Captain. Definitely made her share of mistakes
Ahsoka Tano: Trained at the temple and with Plo Kloon before joining Anakin. Had some wreckless moments (her Master wasn't exactly the stern type)

Now you have Rey: She does all this crap after hearing the force is real

Rey is a Mary Sue. Skills out of nowhere, no mistakes. Even revealing her lineage doesn't make this character interesting. Wasn't Anakin or Luke that defeated the Emperor to bring balance to the force. Of course, its Rey.

 

No recollection of saying "everyone is a Mary Sue..." . Maybe I did, but can't imagine the context.

 

But that seems a bit unoriginal to me. I'm not saying that I liked the idea of her being Palpatine's granddaughter. I didn't. But Anakin and Luke's backstory already seemed similar, if not exactly the same. Why have Rey go through the same? Why not let her be established as a Skywalker and befriend some unknown Force user? You know . . . Finn? And audiences can see how this would affect her? And give Finn a better story arc as well?

I have always felt that by the beginning of "Return of the Jedi", he seemed in danger of being a Gary Stu. After the events of "The Empire Strikes Back", most of his Jedi training was from a handbook and that lasted only one year. It just didn't feel right to me.

 

Daisy Ridley, best acting skills of the ST, by a long shot. She has been the "Ewan McGregor" of this trilogy.