Ryan said:
I would not be surprised if you see fan edits of TFA where they edit out a lot of Rey’s parent stuff. I think the Rey’s parent stuff in TFA will feel like a drag on repeated viewings. That’s assuming nothing changes on that in 9.But knowing she really is “no one” and not a Skywalker/whatever blood relative is one of the strongest ideas of the movie (and RJ takes his time to make that reveal, so in a way it’s quite respectful of the material). By making Rey not-Skywalker, he gives the Saga new horizons (I don’t like the Rey character but this idea is great me-think).
If they wanted Rey to be a “no one”, then they could have done that in TFA. There was no need to do a big setup, then in TLJ to throw that away of her being a “no one”.
I would have much rather we know in TFA that Rey is no one. They could have easily and quickly done that in TFA of her NOT being a Skywalker sibling, but a daughter of regular “no one” parents.
What was the point of her being “classified” in TFA?
Who knows, maybe JJ will retcon the whole thing and it will matter in Episode 9?
You do recall that Rey literally tells us she’s no-one in TFA - it was even a key line in the teaser trailers.
For the record I loved TLJ. I took my 9 year old daughter and we both came out of the screening utterly thrilled. I was actually struggling to speak as I had a lump in my throat as I tried to talk about the twin suns scene at the end. Big sap that I am I was even reduced to tears at the Luke and Leia scene when he told her “no one’s ever really gone” and handed over Han’s dice. Maybe it was because the line was loaded with so much extra meaning in light of Carrie Fisher’s passing last Christmas but it really got to me.
Anyway, back to the movie…
The problem is that Star Wars fans appear to all want the movie they made in their heads and not the one Rian Johnson made. I’ve read through every page of this thread so far and the amount of comments about “I wanted to see badass Luke, wah wah lightsaber duels” along with “but TFA set up (insert the payoff you thought was coming) and now I’m unhappy that the filmmakers didn’t do it.” Sorry folks, maybe it’s becsuse I’m old (43) but I don’t think Luke doing the kind of whirling dervish sabre duelling seen in the PT would be right for this movie. Luke is essentially the same age as Obi Wan in SW by this point - do we remember the elegant Kendo style duel on the Death Star between Obi Wan and Vader? Luke is old, Jedi or not, he’s past his prime and knows he’ll never get the measure of Kylo in a straight up duel. What he does have is age and experience on his side and he uses it masterfully to show Kylo that, while he may be the more powerful, his old master has a few tricks up his sleeve. Let’s be honest, if RJ had gone the other way and given you what you want there would be plenty people on here comply about “fan service” and lazy writing.
Point 2 - there also appear to be a few commentators who have missed important details and nuances in the film cf Yoda burning the Jedi Library - cue howls of outrage from people who missed the scene later where the books are seen on the Falcon. Rey might have understood Luke’s first lesson but lots the audience didn’t - the force isn’t about being special or something that you inherit from your parents,.Luke’s speech is a direct nod to Obi Wan’s first lesson to him - remember it’s: “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together”. One of the numerous crimes of the PT was to try to explain the force more and impose more rules on it here RJ has basically said “yeah, forget all that horseshit” let’s get back to the thing you fell in love with in the first place. TFA started this process by recapturing the spirit of the OT from under all the portentous weight the PT and the EU had heaped upon the galaxy far far away but the Starkiller Base was really just a little too derivative. It set up plenty - just not the stuff you thought it was setting up. TLJ takes a lot more chances with the source material and it mostly pays off - count me among the number who felt the Canto Bight sequence was probably over long and a little out of place even if the eventual pay off af the end sort of redeemed it a little.
Just my thoughts on the matter. Feel free to disagree.