Anyway, Just Rey.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi dir. Rian Johnson | 2017

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI released december 15th, 2017 directed by rian johnson cinematography by steve yedlin

probably my favorite thing about the last jedi is its hyper-emphasis on people. just people. you don’t need the force to repress memories, you just need a child traumatized by her family’s neglect. these turns we expected in the story become not just plot devices but character traits. johnson chooses to make the characters’ losses, fears, strengths all a part of who they are, rather than the force manipulating them or a holdover from another generation or a shadow conspiracy that tells us the exact path snoke took from the end of the empire to where he is now. plot plot plot. johnson says it’s more interesting to give the characters responsibility, to let them fail and succeed by their own choices, rather than machinations of cosmic convenience. and it makes some of it really hard to swallow for people who like plotty things, who like to think about how everything fits together like a puzzle, a long game. but the last jedi is like, “yeah, but what if someone just messed up once and what if we just let that reverberate through the characters psychologically? what if every plot turn is about how a human being reacted to a single decision?” 

it’s just interesting how everyone thought rey having hidden memories would unlock a grand secret on how she fits in the plot, when really it’s the most brutally real response to abuse that allowed that to happen. it haunts as well as enchants. it’s a good star war.

Star Wars stunt coordinator Rob Inch and production designer Rick Heinrich discuss The Last Jedi’s throne room fight scene.

STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI 2017 | dir. Rian Johnson

The Last Jedi | The Rise of Skywalker

Rey’s lightsaber practice and the showdown on Crait; or, that time that Luke recognized that Rey was using Ben’s fighting style

I don’t have the patience or fortitude for a long meta, but I watched TLJ again today (the first time since the last time I saw it in the cinema), and something occurred to me that seems really obvious but that I hadn’t noticed before and that I haven’t seen others mention (apologies if I have missed meta that talk about this). It’s the scene on Ahch-To when Rey is practicing with the lightsaber. Luke is watching her practice, and he gets this look on his face.

I’d noticed it before and hadn’t thought much of it, but this time it struck me that he probably recognizes her fighting style, because it’s Ben’s. We’re all familiar with this idea - that during their showdown on Starkiller Base Rey dipped into Kylo’s mind and borrowed his fighting knowledge - and I think this reaction from Luke is further proof of this.

I went looking for parallel examples of Ben’s lightsaber technique to back this up, and I found it in an interesting place: his showdown with Luke on Crait. (My gifs are a little slow, but I think that’s okay since it makes their movements a bit easier to see.)

First, Rey opens her practice by holding her lightsaber straight ahead.

So does Ben.

Then she moves into some backhand swings.

So does Ben. (Note that Luke anticipates his move - Luke trained him, so presumably he knows what he’s going to do.) 

Rey follows up the backhand swings with a bunch of two-handed swingy chops. She’s pretty intense. (It’s after this that Luke makes the face in the gif up top.) (And check out her face, she’s all GRRRR, I love it.) 

Ben: SWING CHOP CHOP (two hands!)

Finally, Rey gets a little too into it and slices through the stone outcropping.

And what is it that Ben does? Uh huh.

So I started this wanting to prove that Luke recognizes Ben’s fighting style in Rey, and I think that is definitely the case, but at the same time I think I’ve also shown that Rey’s lightsaber practice is a foreshadowing of the showdown between Luke and Ben on Crait. If that isn’t very cool, I don’t know what is. 

I really, really, really love this movie.

(If there are other analyses along these lines please tag me on them, because I haven’t seen them but I don’t read a lot of meta. Oversights are my own and are accidental.)

YES. I noticed this yesterday, and I’m 100% on board with it. It tracks with Luke’s horror at discovering her and Ben in the hut, but it also shows him connecting dots from Rey having told him about everything that went down on Starkiller Base. The puzzle is piecing together. Luke knows about Force Bonds, and this is the second hint he’s gotten (after the whole, “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before, in Ben Solo).

This is good, yes! It fits in with the realizations that Luke has about Rey from their conversation in the Force tree up through the hut scene. I hadn’t really thought about it but there is a steady buildup and Luke recognizing Ben’s technique in Rey is a subtle step in that buildup. I think the first couple of times I saw TLJ I assumed Luke’s realization just before the hut scene was very sudden, but I see now that it wasn’t. He just didn’t want to believe he was seeing what he was seeing.

I love it.

I love all these details that we’re still catching about this movie, what a good.

The Last Jedi School Picture Day

This is such a better death scene for Phasma, what the fuck Rian

The Star Wars Show | Deleted scenes from The Last Jedi

Finally!

But I haven’t seen it yet.😐

Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)

Adam?

★ noho | SWまとめ２ ☆ ✔ republished w/permission