This reminds me of when me and my dad went to see Skyfall. I remember he said “it’s a very well put together movie, but that’s not my James Bond”. He said James Bond wouldn’t have his ass kicked, or wouldn’t be in such a bad shape. James Bond is that guy who kills everyone and completes the impossible mission and his suit is still clean afterwards. So for him, it didn’t feel like James Bond, none of the Daniel Craig movies did.
I think this is what a lot of people feel towards TLJ, more specifically to Luke.
I appreciate the response and the anecdote with your dad. Take your dad’s reaction and multiply it by a few thousand for “Luke” in TLJ.
With James Bond I can wrap my head around the tonal changes because the part is recast, demarcating each series of movies from the next. Daniel Craig was essentially a reboot, and I was able to get on board with it. The same can be said for Chris Pine, whom despite never knowing his father in a rebooted Star Trek timeline STILL managed to resemble Captain Kirk.
With Mark Hamill continuing on in the original part, this depiction of “Jake Skywalker” is too much of a departure for my belief system, at least not without a trilogy of movies taking us through that emotional journey, and even then I’m not sure how “enjoyable” it would be to watch your hero lose their idealism and abandon their friends and family to die alone.
But for some, TLJ was a step too far. Rian Johnson, with the full authority of canon, told fans that Luke Skywalker is transformed into someone else. Let us not forget that Star Wars is a very special thing to its fans. For many its a part of their childhood. To see that Luke went from being the idealist to being nihilist is too much for a huge swath of the fanbase.
That sums it up for me. Thank you for articulating it so well.