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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2019-12-31, 14:14

It's not the power itself. Jedis can do all kinds of cool things, but my point is a) that's a pretty big one (magical wound healing/undoing death), and b) was never even hinted at (assuming it's a known, centuries-old ability) in anything else...eight movies, four decades, three distinct time periods? It just pops up in this final installment, three times even, pretty much out of nowhere.

Consider the following: maybe Rey accidentally kills one of those space nuns on Luke's island in The Last Jedi (that boulder she lightsabered in half fell on someone), she's all distraught and Luke shows up and heals/revives the creature, and looks at Rey with a "you have no idea what you're stepping into" look (as in "you have so much to learn, child, and I'll teach you now"), that would've been a nice in-universe setup (and a moment where we see Luke softening, reconnecting to the Force and realizing he must get with the program and help Rey). Then when it happens in this movie, you, the viewer, makes a nice connection "Oh, that's that thing Luke did in the last movie...right on!" You'd put together that between his training and her reading those books, it's something she's learned to do herself in that timespan between 8-9. Then there's context, and a nice payoff.

Like everything else in this trilogy, it could've been handled better/smarter with just a little thought and effort. It deprives the audiences of a nice little "ah..." moment where they are given the pieces and they all click together in a satisfying, story-wide way.

Then it wouldn't seem so "what? Since when?" element to this movie, just out of nowhere.

Yes, awesome powers are cool. They're even more so when somewhat explained/earned and a little easier to buy into.

This particular power tends to change everything, and act as a giant eraser/Command+Z, story-wide (think of the implications going forward). So I don't buy it just randomly being inserted halfway into the final chapter, out of nowhere (three times), like some throwaway parlor trick. Sorry, but it deserved a proper setup/introduction. But that sort of thing just isn't this director's approach. Obviously. And it certainly seems ginned-up just for this installment (like Palpatine's return) because if it were known since 2014-2015 that this sort of ability was going to be part of things, Rian Johnson might've seen fit to write/film a scene similar to what I suggest above, to establish something new and powerful like this? But he didn't, which tells me that it's likely just something else Abrams and Terrio pulled it out of their butts about 18 months ago, while hacking away (no pun) on their MacBooks.

Last edited by psmith2.0 : 2019-12-31 at 15:05.
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