A summary post where we cover what were 5 great things about The Last Jedi and wee gripe at the end about some plot points...
How Poe Dameron's "I know" changed Rey's character forever in The Last Jedi
When Poe told Rey, he already knew her with
the classic "I know" line, he thus framed her as being someone, rather than the nobody that Kylo Ren tried to define her by. In do so, he gave her back her identify.
There was a lot of trivia as a result of the production
- Director Rian Johnson came up with the episode's title during his first draft and had to keep it secret for several years.
- Rian has confirmed that to his mind, The Last Jedi title refers to Luke.
- Rogue One's director Gareth Edwards has a small cameo (as he did in Rogue One)
- It's almost a forgone conclusion these days, but Warwick Davis has yet another cameo as well, making it his tenth appearance in a Star Wars film. Here's a list of the cameo parts of The Last Jedi.
- Rian Johnson asked JJ Abrams for a Force Awakens script change to allow R2D2 to accompany Rey to Ach-to Island instead of BB8. This was so R2 could feature more and also echo the fact that he was on Degobah with Luke during his training with Yoda, much the same as Rey does with Luke.
There where many subtle moments that Rain added to his script
Subtly, both in terms of detail and theme, had a big effect of what many viewers actually take from the movie. Here's some key quiet little moments, some with fair consequence:
- The Falthier boy jockey at the end used the Force to pick up the broom... he was the result of the Spark after all.
- Rey stole the Jedi books and hid them in the Millennium Falcon. You can see them in the draw in the end of the movie
- As the Force Tree burns, its flames appear to make the Rebel Alliance symbol. This could be interpreted as the Jedi movement and the Rebels rising 'from the ashes'
- When Luke is projecting himself to Crait from the Island there are two clues for the viewer to understand this is happening. The first is his beard is brown and he appears younger - this is the same look as when he last saw Kylo Ren at the 'Jedi Academy' flashback. The second clue is while Kylo's feet where disturbing the red salt during the confrontation, when Luke walked over the same ground, no red salt was disturbed.
- Luke Skywalker's mechanical hand features a damaged area where his hand was shot by a laser blast during the rescue of Han Solo in Return of the Jedi. It's symbolic of the legacy of issues Luke has been carrying around with him.
Luke was tricked by Yoda in The Last Jedi and it was great
The Little Green guy once again taught Luke a thing or two about classroom management when he visited him on the Island by
playing a wee word play trick on him.
We first meet Yoda again as he watches Luke walk the up the Island steps with the intention of burning the Force tree and the Jedi 'bibles'. Luke changes his mind so Yoda (as a Force ghost!) zapps some lightning down and does the job himself.
While Luke tried to rescue the books that had been safely looked after on the Island since the Jedi began, Yoda intoned gravely:
“Wisdom they held, but that library contained nothing that the girl Rey does not already possess.”
It was a line designed to say to Luke, at face value, that the books no longer mattered with the implication being that the time of Jedi was over.
And Luke appeared to accept that. Well, he had no choice as the tree exploded.
But cut to the last scene on the Millennium Falcon after our heroes are rescued by Chewbacca and Rey. As Finn opens the drawer to get a blanket for Rose, what was in there?
Yes, the Jedi books.
Rey had ALREADY stolen them from Luke before he wanted to burn the tree down. Nice trick Yoda!
Snoke shared the same over confidence problem as Palpatine
If you thought Yoda's trick on Luke was clever,
Kylo Ren pulled off a doozey of trick on Snoke.
While he is urging on Kylo to kill Rey, Snoke misreads the intention of Kylo's mind. Due to his arrogance and hubris, he misread the enemy that Kylo was thinking of.
Kylo wanted to kill Snoke and take the First Order for himself. He was not intending to kill Rey as Snoke presumed. Perhaps Snoke should not have insulted Kylo in front of his would be lover eh?
So, Kylo slowly turned his saber and also Rey's at the same time. Rey's of course was conveniently at Snoke's side.
And then the trap set, Kylo committed fully to his plan and ignited Rey's saber through Snoke's body and severed him in half.
Kylo had wholly and totally tricked Snoke.
You could call it a severance package...
- Why has no one ever driven a hyperspace device into any ships before like Admiral Holdo?
- Why was Rose so stupid in letting Finn live which meant certain death for the others? Shurrrre, she fell in love with him with but it all felt wrong and entirely selfish, despite her claim about saving those we love as the reason.
- Why did General Hux not send Star Destroyers AHEAD of the Rebel Fleet to flank them? They could have easily zipped into hyperspace with a strong gist of where they would be.
- Why did Luke want to kill Kylo back when Luke was training him? It's simply out of character for ROTJ Luke. Have a damn chat about it first with his mother at least?
- What was Luke's third lesson for Rey? Was it a deleted scene?
- How can Kylo Ren stop laser blasts in mid air with the Force but struggle so much with Snoke's Praetorian Guards?
- Here's 501 cool bits of Star Wars trivia
