Most of what you say is 100% wrong. Luke wasn't 30 more years in tune with the force. He severed his ties to the force on Ach To. He says in the film that his hubris lead to the creation of Kylo Ren so he went in excile, similar to Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda after Yoda failed to kill the Emperor and after Obi Wan failed Anakin. It's very much in line with what happened to other jedi and directly contradicts your line about it conflicting with other films. As far as the thought about killing him, that was a very Skywalker thing to do. The balance Anakin was supposed to bring to the force was the ability to control the dark and the light which means that he has dark thoughts. He never was Obi Wan or Yoda, and he wasn't supposed to be, the same with Luke .The difference between Luke and Vader is while he dabbles in the dark, he never fully turns. THink about the final battle with Vader. He succumbs mid battle to fighting Vader after Vader senses Leia so Luke rages out and destroys Vader in a fit of rage disarming him (literally) and Luke then stops before fully turning to the dark side. The same thing he did with Ben. He saw the dark side and out of fear the dark side rose, before the light rose up to meet it and he stopped. To me it's a very Skywalker thing to do.
To quote Han Solo, "That's not how the Force works" When has a force ghost ever been summoned? Come on be smarter.
Hamill had a different view of Luke, he fleshed it out with Johnson. And by most accounts he's happy with the direction it took, because he realizes that Luke isn't something he owns, it's something he's a part of and Star Wars is bigger than him, or Lucas.
Give me examples. Because most of the humor aside from the Porgs flying arond the ship was a pretty poignant response. If you watch the OT there's lots of moments like this. Leia being rescued by Luke "Aren't you short for a Stormtrooper" and countless other examples.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
I wanted to address this in a different post. Lucas is a brillaint idea man but a bad director and writer.
THink about it this way, Natalie Portman, Oscar Winning actress. Did you see that from her performance in Star Wars? Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen effectively left the film business. McGregor has had a decent post Star Wars career but he's about the only person to come out of the prequels looking good.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
Total waste of Snoke AND Phasma. Hard for me to shake that. Would've been much better if Snoke would've had to fight them both while keeping Kylo from calling the saber to him (thus cutting Snoke in half). The injury from the attack would weakened him enough for them to win, but barely. THAT would've been a cool scene and not a waste and would've conveyed how powerful he was. They just ****ed Phasma up from the beginning, so I have no suggestions there other than to read the book, I guess.
Really liked Kylo in this one. That was the strength of the film.
The Chosen One (12-17-2017), zitothebrave (12-17-2017)
I think the "waste", at least with Snoke, comes from the sequel-trilogy's seeming desire to destabilize, disrupt, or outright defy our expectations. A big fancy high-stakes-but-not-really battle would've been just what the sci-fi operatic action narrative called for—so the film actively resists it.
I'm not sure yet how I feel about this new sequel (which I saw on Friday night). I know it wasn't the fun nostalgia-bomb that was The Force Awakens' setting-the-ground narrative, but two of those would've probably been boring; I know I'm apt to trust Rian Johnson, based on his other work; and I know this new film is difficult in a good way, which hasn't really been true—as much as I love the original trilogy—of any film outside Empire (which is its best part, though not its most fun—that's A New Hope, for sure). Overall, I guess I'm reserving judgment until I see where the final film goes—but it is quite exciting, if also nostalgically sad, to see them try to blow up all the rules to forge forward. And there's something to be said for critiquing the idea that the Hero, the Jedi, the Good and Ordered Faith somehow has a monopoly on the Force, or on Star Wars, or on stories in general.
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
Personally, I don't think it's a waste of Snoke. I think the idea of Kylo Ren being in charge of the first order is exciting. Personally after reading people obsession over who SNoke was, I'm glad he died. He went out in the same general way as the Emperor, and he did it in his first film on screen. The difference is the order of films. In Ep5 emperor was known as Vader's master but only scene in hologram (same as Ep7) in Ep8 he's in his throne room on his capital ship about to see the end of the rebellion when his hubris leads to him missing his apprentice turning on him (same as Ep8) the difference is that Vader turns to the light and dies. Kylo kills Snoke to seize power. There's that glimmer of hope until you turn and see him approach the throne. It is a brilliant parallel with a stark contrast.
Phasma I've always felt was kind of supposed to be a Boba Fett Type. Someone that wasn't supposed to do too much on screen, just be very recognizable and menacing. I also think there's a very real chance she could still be alive. Her suit could survive a blaster bolt so theoretically it could survive a fall into flames like that.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
The taking risks part of the film is definitely to be lauded with something this iconic, but some of the risks worked and some did not. You want to do what isn't expected? That would've been Rey joining Kylo and damned if that scene didn't call for it. It felt wrong for her to walk away. And the Snoke scene still had that battle you're talking about, just not with Snoke.
the thing is that The Clone Wars/prequels more or less already blew this up. As anyone could have the force, and plenty fell out of the Jedi's grasp. What this does is blow up the idea of midichlorians and imply that how many midichlorians you possess doesn't really matter. It took the force back into the religious mysticism of the OT and away from the Scientology realm of Episode 1.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
Dalyn (12-17-2017)
FWIW, I think we're gonna be getting a kickass Snoke novel or comic coming. There will be something to truly explain the rise of the First order. They just finished the Aftermath trilogy about the end of the Empire, so I imagine they'll have something more about Snoke and the first order. With Aftermath and THrawn they're exploring deeper portions of space which is where the First Order comes from.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
Dalyn (12-17-2017)
It's a long watch as it's like 115 episodes or something like that. I didn't get started with it until it hit Netflix, but it's quite brilliant. There are some bad parts but it makes you actually care about Anakin and makes his fall to the darkside more believable and explains why people in the republic loved him so.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg
"For all his tattooings he was on the whole a clean, comely looking cannibal."
Dalyn (12-17-2017)
I don't think it was there to alienate it's audience. I think it was there to alienate the expectations of tropes. The expectation of nostalgic necessity as well. It sets up the Future of Star Wars back to it's mystic Space Opera roots. I don't think it alienates fans because for me it really pushes you to connect better with Finn. Finn sees the world through the eyes of someone else for the first time. Finn has always been selfish, he was always thinking about his own means. First it was escaping the first order. He was connected to poe because Poe was his way out. Then he similarly became connected to Rey in a crush manner. Rey was not much more to him than that someone he wanted to pursue romantically. He instead gets shocked out of that via Rose. After some time Rose and him go on a mission, again it was primarily selfish, even though Rose was the one who figured it out, when explaining it to Poe he steps in and cuts Rose off, because he was being selfish. They go to Canto Bight and he loves the place and doesn't realize the harshness until Rose points out the rough spots and he actually gets to see it himself. He then becomes so involved that he's willing to die, only for Rose to bring him back and tell him to stop fighting what you hate but for what you love. (see below) I think Rey not being a chosen one is very relatable. I think Rey is what Luke in episode 4 and first half of episode 5 was. A nobody who is set out on her own and learns the force from someone who doesn't want to train them. Poe is Han Solo but with a **** ton of repercussions for his brash actions. All of them are more real than the OT characters in a lot of ways.
To address for what it's worth, I really think the line from Rose about fight for what you love instead of fighting what you hate kind of summarizes EP8's relationships to the previous films. It isn't about fghting the parts of star wars that suck (midichlorians etc.) but instead embracing what makes Star Wars great, which is that it's a mystical space Opera.
Stockholm, more densely populated than NYC - sturg