Star Wars: The Last Jedi has given proof, a definitive proof of what happens when a director tries to experiment and messes up with a classic franchise. The Last Jedi has been criticized for its departure from the original Star Wars pace and storytelling the franchise is famous for.
The movie added many new elements which were not seen before in Star Wars universe but I guess some fans just want the old, unadulterated charm back.
On the other hand, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was almost like a replica of original Star Wars trilogy in terms of feel, pace, tone and setting that fans slammed it for being unimaginative. (Star Wars fans are the worse….just kidding…I am one of them)
The result of ‘The Last Jedi’ was something mutilated and lobotomized that fan came to hate. While the movie still goes strong at the Box Office, one can’t help but notice the massive amount of criticism it has garnered ever since its release on the 15th of this month.
The Last Jedi has literally become the definition of polarization as it has divided the fans into two groups – one section of fans has heaped massive amount of praise for getting the key characters right and bringing Luke back from his wilderness after a long time, the other section of fans wanted a refund after coming out of the theaters.
Plot holes are a big question mark for Last Jedi and one of its greatest weaknesses. Fans have lambasted the movie for its multiple, unnecessary and most of the time glaring plot holes that almost ruined the story for moviegoers.
One such plot hole that quite caught the fans’ attention is how Rey escaped Snoke’s ship after the latter’s death at the hands of Kylo and the eventual fight with the praetorian guards. The scene was never shown in the movie. After Kylo tries to convince Rey to join the Dark Side, Rey refuses.
But does not that make Rey Kylo’ new enemy number one? If you are not with me, you are against me. Hasn’t that been Kylo’s motto? So how did Rey escape The Supremacy and made her way to Crait?
Is Rey Batman? We have to say no. Her escape could be explained if something really crucial happened on the ship off screen that the movie failed to mention. Our pals on Reddit helped us shine a light on this matter.
What we are shown is this: After Holdo’s kamikaze attack Hux arrives at the throne room at the right moment to witness Kylo Ren regaining consciousness. Kylo looks around and asks him where Rey is. Hux says she has already run away.
So she woke up earlier, right?
Imagine the scene: Rey wakes up in the burning throne room, still dizzy from the blast Snoke’s Star Destroyer suffered seconds ago. She looks around and sees Kylo lying on the ground not far away. She sees that he is still breathing. That he is alive. Absentmindedly she picks up her lightsaber from the ground only to realize moments later that her lightsaber was destroyed during the battle – what she is holding now is Kylo’s one.
She shakes her head and looks around again. To the throne, to the lightsaber in her hand and to the unconscious Kylo on the ground. And we see that she realizes that she could end this right now. She could kill Kylo Ren. She could kill him easily. This is what she wanted to do moments ago and now she has the chance.
Maybe she could even take his place as the leader of the First Order. At this point, she is certain that Kylo is now irredeemably evil and leaving him alive will only breed suffering and despair. She steps to him, switches the red lightsaber on and raises it, ready to strike him dead.
And at this point, we can see a flashback to Luke doing the exact same thing. Rey suddenly realizes that she is about to do what she despises her old master for. She throws the lightsaber to the ground with disgust, turns away and starts running.
The details may have been different, but the point is the same. When she wakes up, Rey faces the same dilemma Luke had earlier. The greatest moral dilemma of the entire story. Should we destroy evil if we have the chance to?
And we aren’t shown how she, our supposed main character handles this. The more I’m thinking about it the more and more I’m convinced that including this 30-second scene would radically change the entire movie.
So what does this mean? Let us enlighten you.
Luke is not a Moron:
Even the good guys, does not matter if he/she is a Jedi, can almost give in to the Dark Side. Luke tried to do the same with Kylo a long time ago. Rey was about to do the same. This act will make Luke’s actions a little more relatable and forgivable.
It’s natural that powerful Jedi warriors or masters would sometimes succumb to their inner dark side as they believe they are doing this for the greater good. But Luke could have ended Kylo Ren in his sleep but he did not, that shows his vulnerabilities as a normal person even though he is a Jedi master who should be free of any doubt or regret.
Everything’s connected:
Star Wars universe is vast and full of characters with different motivations to do what they end up doing. But in the end, everything that happens in the galaxy is in some way connected with events of the past and what is happening right now will have a bearing on the galaxy’s future. As they say – What goes around comes around.
Poe’s Mutiny, Holdo’s selfless sacrifice and Finn and Rose’s adventure are the very reason Rey and Kylo killed the First Order leadership. If Leia would not have been blown into space, Poe would not have instigated Mutiny, if Finn and Rose did not seek help from a master codebreaker, Holdo would not have sacrificed herself and the eventual scene with Rey and Kylo that we are talking about would not have happened.
Rey is now a more mature character:
Rey was introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens living a normal life on the planet nowhere. And suddenly she is thrust into a situation where she is told that she is not some ordinary girl but someone who is born with a purpose. She experienced intellectual and personal growth as she learns more about struggles of people in the galaxy ruled by The First Order and collapse of the Jedi. She made a great friend in Finn who is one of the heroes of ‘The Resistance’.
In the middle of ‘The Last Jedi’, Rey thinks Luke’s actions to kill his nephew are morally questionable and hideous. She despises Luke for it. But after she faces a similar situation – kill the same guy and save the Galaxy (and the guy himself) from further suffering, does she realize how hard a choice it could be. Hence, Rey has come a long way from Force Awakens to The Last Jedi and has become more mature as a character now.
Star War: The Last Jedi is currently in theaters.
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