RogueLeader

I’ve had the same thought about cutting Leia’s reaction into two. Although I wonder if you would need to replace that one shot of Leia that we see as the Starkiller laser is racing toward Hosnian Prime. Not sure what you could replace it with.

I don’t know if the audience would put two and two together with that idea, but regardless I think the idea of radio chatter being cut off when Hosnian is destroyed could add to the weight of all those deaths.

I think it would be difficult to get this idea across with the spy’s subtitles, though. I guess we would have to just throw some ideas out and see if anything works.

I do! I haven’t had a chance to try it myself yet, but I would really like to see someone just try to have the swell of the music line up with the moment Luke tosses the saber. I think it could be a simple change, but with an effective difference.

So Kylo Ren’s prayer basically would replace where Hux’s speech and the Hosnian destruction is in the theatrical, right? That actually makes sense. I think fundamentally having this scene gives the audience some time to reflect on Rey’s decision.

By taking the First Order stuff out, maybe the Takodana stuff did feel rushed, but by inserting that moment there in its place, it gets back some breathing room. I also like the idea that he is praying before battle, basically.

Not really a major idea but just a slight scene restructure that I have been thinking about, but curious as to how much of an impact it would have.

This idea relates to the scenes during Luke and Kylo Ren’s confrontation, to possibly improve tension/pacing.

Currently:
Kylo’s ship lands-
Poe brings up his binoculars (POV), cuts to-
Kylo and Luke’s first lines together, they ignite their lightsabers, cuts back to-
Poe and Finn where they decide to go find another way out, cuts to-
Rey flying around scanning for life forms-
Poe finding their way out is blocked-
Rey finding the blocked exit, “lifting rocks…”-
Back to Luke and Kylo’s fight.

I’m basically wondering if this could be restructured slightly. I’m thinking that maybe one could combine Poe first looking through the binoculars with him deciding to find another way out, and then moving Luke/Kylo’s first dialogue interaction to later, possibly after the quick scene of Rey and R2 scanning for life forms. We then would cut to Luke/Kylo’s first interaction, sabers ignite, then hard cut to Leia and the beacon on her wrist, and them finding the blocked exit.

Putting those two Poe scenes together might require some kind of buffer shot, maybe of someone looking at Poe while he looks through the binoculars.

The reason I have been thinking about this is because there is a lot of time in-between Luke and Kylo igniting their sabers and cutting back to the duel. It might not noticeably take away from the tension as it currently is, but maybe the tension would be increased by reordering these scenes this way.

This also leads me to think about the moment Rey sees the blocked exit. Even though “Lifting rocks…” is a funny line because of how Luke said earlier the Force is more than just about lifting rocks, and now, she has to do exactly that to save the Resistance. But, I wonder if it cuts out some tension in that moment because it tells the audience exactly what Rey is going to do. Would it not be more tense if we have just heard how Luke is sacrificing himself to buy the Resistance time, only to find out their only means of escape is blocked, and then to surprise the audience by showing Rey has lifted the rocks using the Force? I’m not saying it is bad as it is now, but just something in my head is telling me that this could help increase the tension in that moment.

Bonus thought: I would also suggest cutting the line of Rey telling Chewie to draw off the fighters from the battle. By cutting it, it might allow the audience to assume this tactic was Chewie’s idea, giving him a little more agency in this film where he doesn’t really do much at all. I also like to think Chewie has a lot more experience to draw from to come to this decision rather than Rey.

I know these aren’t major changes but these might be slight trims/reordering ideas that might help polish the final act of the movie.

I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that it is black all around it in the film. I like what you did, though I can tell where parts of the ship have been mirrored. I wonder if you could find a bigger source image that you could use. Even if not for Revisited this would be a cool asset for others!

I’m sure Ady is pretty set on his additions and changes now, but I thought I might throw out one other idea.

At the end of the final space battle, I think a shot of Star Destroyers scattering into hyperspace would be an interesting addition. Not only would it give a little more context on what happened to the rest of the massive Imperial fleet (did the smaller rebel fleet destroy them all, did they surrender?), but it also could foreshadow the eventual return of the Empire as the reformed First Order in the next trilogy.

Here are some of my own thoughts regarding edits ideas for the film.

Either cut the introductory text or tighten it up. I thought it was a little too much and unnecessary in my first viewing.

Possibly trim and regrade some of the first act, if not the whole movie. It seems to be the clunkiest part of the film for some and apparently pretty dark, so it’ll be interesting to see how people could tackle this. Definitely someone doing a full regrade of the movie could be a good template for editors.

Cut Han saying he’ll come back for Qi’ra. This is a good suggestion because it really serves Han’s character. Han’s motivations being revealed later keeps the movie more interesting. This was one of krlozdac’s ideas. I might trim a little less than he would but I generally agree with most of his ideas on his post!

Maybe when Imperial officer asks for Han’s last name, it cuts to a new Solo title card, as others have suggested. Some people seem to like this moment, others don’t. I think that cutting to the title card could be a cool moment, but that would mean you’d probably have to remove the nice hard cut from the officer saying something like, “You’ll be up flying in no time” straight to the chaotic war zone. Pretty funny moment. Atm I would lean toward keeping the moment but have the officer a little more apathetic and quick to get this process over with, so just trim the scene a little.

Trim a little L3 here and there. I had a small audience, but the only L3 moment that got a laugh was when Lando asks if she needs anything and she says, “Equal rights?” I thought this was a little on the nose personally but it seemed to have worked for others.

I liked L3 talking about how Lando has feelings for her but they just aren’t compatible, but I would cut it before Qi’ra asks “How does that work?” I think it is funnier if it is possible be left to the imagination.

Cut out obvious Rebellion stuff. “We could use a leader like you!” I know Enfys Nest is a young girl but I always got the feeling that the Rebels weren’t very vocal about their plans for a larger rebellion, and I was under the impression that the “Rebellion” was more divided into different cells with little-to-no contact by this point. I like the idea of them being Robin Hood-esque figures that eventually get enveloped into the larger cause, but keeping them motivated on helping the poor and downtrodden more directly than just funding a Rebellion would also help explain why Han seems sort of willing to help them. He would definitely sympathize and relate with that because he knows what it’s like to be the poor and downtrodden.

Cut mentions of Tatooine. I didn’t mind most of the little nods to the other films, but the movie would still work without the Tatooine job ever being mentioned. I like the idea that the movie ends with us not knowing where Han and Chewie are going next. They can go anywhere we want them to in our own imaginations. Some people seemed to like this mention though. Like to get other thoughts on it.

I also think some kind of edit might work well with the “Beckett is the traitor!” reveal. They really built it up in that moment but you can see it from a mile away. Maybe just trimming the reveal in order to cut to the chase would be the easiest solution. Beckett’s first mention of Tatooine might serve the purpose of making people be less suspicious of him when he leaves, so maybe the Tatooine line does serve a purpose. Would like some more thoughts on this.

The fanboy in me likes Maul being introduced back into the movies, but from a more objective perspective, I feel like this is VERY confusing and out of nowhere for the more casual Star Wars fan. I mean, he made his onscreen debut and “death” basically nineteen years ago to the day (man, Episode 1 was already 19 years ago?)

Even as a fan though, how he ends up as the leader of the Crimson Dawn inbetween his final scene in TCW and his first scene is Rebels is unclear. I’m just wondering if it was really necessary, or if they are trying to set something up?
If I had to throw out some suggestions of how to handle this (suggestions that have already been made), I do think it would be nice to at least trim it to remove the unnecessary lightsaber move and to make his identity a little more subtle. Another idea someone had was to place it after Beckett’s death, though I’m not sure how possible/effective this would be. Others have suggested making it an after credits scene as well.

Personally, my top idea is to just cut it.
While it would remove a sort of unnecessary cameo, Maul’s cameo really comes down to how myself, as an editor, would want to portray Qi’ra at the end of the film.

As the movie presents it, Qi’ra seems to “betray” Han at the end of the film in order to save him. Someone has to answer for Dryden’s death and the general failure to attain any coaxium for the Crimson Dawn. She knows she’s already in too deep, and by contacting Maul and leaving, she is protecting Han from a dangerous path. This is pretty noble of her, in a way. A good guy move. She seems like she doesn’t really want to stay with Dawn, and that last shot of her looking out the window seems to be her, wishing she could be down on the beach with Han instead.

Removing Maul’s cameo could provide an interesting alternative. Instead of being primarily motivated to protect Han, what if she just saw an opportunity to fill this power vacuum, and be a step closer to being her own master? Removing the cameo could even be interpreted still in the same way as the theatrical if one wishes, but it makes Qi’ra seem a little more motivated by opportunity than just fear.

Throughout the film we hear how Han doesn’t know what Qi’ra has done, what she’s capable of, or what she has become, but we don’t really ever see that. I like the idea of her wanting to take Dryden’s place rather than feeling it is her only option. It gives Qi’ra more agency as a character.

Yeah, technically she betrays Han in the film as is, and that is how Han might see it, but the audience doesn’t necessarily feel he was betrayed by her because we know why she did it, and I personally like the idea that Han just gets betrayed by everybody (except Chewie) by the end of the film. I like the idea of her choice having a more ambiguous motivation rather just being self-sacrificial. I really liked EddieDean’s analysis of their relationship, and I think the tragic aspect works even more if she was doing it more for herself than for Han. She can still look through the window down at Han and wish things could be different, and maybe even wonder if she is making a mistake.

Speaking of Qi’ra, an almost plot hole I’ve seen people mention is the contradiction of Dryden not wanting Crimson Dawn being connected to the Kessel heist, but then sending Qi’ra, his lieutenant, with them to Kessel. Yes, people might not recognize her as an associate of Crimson Dawn, but she actually is branded with the Crimson Dawn insignia. So if she died there would be a physical connection to them.

You could write this off somehow, but maybe close-ups of the brand could be cut altogether if a lot of people thought it was a big deal? Not sure.

Honestly, most of my thoughts are pretty nitpicky overall. Basically just making some trims here and there to polish the movie. For me, the changes I would like to see most revolve around what I’ve mention regarding Han and Qi’ra’s relationship. I like it as is but little changes could make it even better.

I don’t think Solo necessarily needs a fan edit, unless you, as a Star Wars fan, just wanted the strongest possible version of every Star Wars film.

I might mess with this film myself eventually, but I honestly think DigModiFicaTion could make a strong Solo edit. His editing tastes/style would fit well with this movie I think. Would like to hear any thoughts he has on it.

While I don’t know if I will use this, I think a pretty decent alternate title for this movie could be “Han Solo and the Crimson Dawn”. It has an adventurous Indiana Jones vibe I think this movie deserves. Would also love for someone to photoshop some poster art to make it look like the old Han Solo trilogy book covers for a potential fan edit as well.

DominicCobb said:

Nope, during the scene in Lando’s closet Han drops the cape on the floor instead of hanging it up. It’s actually a really nicely done little beat by Alden and it’s very Han.

Cool, thanks for sharing that. That’s a lot more subtle, I like it.

Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but I had read that George Lucas apparently came on set one day while Ron Howard was filming and actually gave a little direction for Han. Apparently George said something like, “Why doesn’t Han just do this?”

For some reason, I really feel like this moment was when Han kicked the Kessel guard in the nuts. Maybe it originally was something more elaborate. They even have Qi’ra and Beckett acknowledge it by saying, “That was pretty good.” I’m probably wrong but that just felt like something George would’ve suggested.

The clapping is the icing on the cake.

Not 100% sold on it. What if the first reinserted shot started a little sooner, with Finn already messing with the controls. I suggest that because for some reason I feel what’s throwing me off slightly is Finn and Rose just staring straight forward for a beat. Though I think you could keep the Finn/Poe scene without keeping this one even though it sets up this moment. Poe saying that doesn’t necessarily require a payoff. I think you could make this moment work though.

Unrelated to your efforts, but what exactly is the moment Finn decides to be “a rebel”? When he is fighting Phasma? Is it DJ’s betrayal that makes him decide to fight for the Resistance?

Is there way to have to transition effects overlap, so you could have a clockwise wipe and counterclockwise wipe occur simultaneously? If not that, I wonder if you could create a custom wipe by making a mask and using keyframes to create the transition. Maybe create a circle mask and add three points to create the “opening/closing pie” effect?

Ending II with Anakin turning is a pretty interesting idea. I always wished there was a sequence where we actually saw Anakin, as Darth Vader, killing Jedi. The closest we ever get to that is the security hologram.

A radical, random idea, but one could make Anakin/Vader go to Mustafar in III because Jedi are hiding there. It would require some green screen work and costumes, but you could have someone as Anakin with his hood up fighting actors dressed as Jedi. Just replace the Separatists leader massacre with Jedi instead.

I like your idea for an alternate episode III as well Smithers. I think we will be getting an Obi-Wan movie (I think we’ll hear about it before the end of the year), but if for some reason it never comes to fruition, I think it would be possible to rework some material from Ewan McGregor’s film Last Days in the Desert as well.

That looks really nice. Super natural.

For some reason I’m feeling something from American Graffiti. It’s clearly a 50s diner, might as well go all in.

I think that is true. It seems like some senators supported her and other senators didn’t. So the New Republic supporting the Resistance or not supporting them can sort of both be true. I’m sure it was big issue in the Senate, which is interesting to me.

And that is also how it appears. While a lot of senators probably agreed that the First Order was an issue, open warfare with them was a step too far even for those that supported Leia. This political intrigue side of things is a very appealing story to me!

Instead of using stronghold, I would also suggest just “base”. Keep it simple, or, “fortress” if you’re feeling a callback. “hidden/secret Imperial fortress”, “hidden/secret Imperial base”.

Also, I would probably say “THE evil First Order”. “An” doesn’t 100% work since you are using a proper noun. I would also suggest an adjective like “mysterious” maybe.

Also, the third paragraph works well, although I don’t think it is very clear in the film that the New Republic supported the Resistance. The original crawl does say so, but from how it is portrayed in the film, it seems the opposite. Why would Leia doubt that the NR would be believe her, as the deleted scene shows, if they put her in charge of this proxy militia? You would think they would take their information seriously.

I think you have suggested in the past crafting something to show the New Republic responding to the Resistance’s call for help, so maybe it would work with something like that.

Seeing the tree-library in her vision is a cool idea! Definitely agree with that.

This is cool! I like the idea of each film starting out with a Star Destroyer in the first scene (not sure how that would fit with TPM). So what exactly would the first scene in this alternate version of the film be?

Pretty seamless! I didn’t even realize what you cut at first.

Eh, I don’t really think swearing is necessary, but if anyone were to swear it’s gotta be Sam Jackson.

Another idea for a twist, a lot of people felt they were actually going in this direction but it was never really made clear, but Palpatine could possibly reveal that he and/or Plagueis created Anakin to be the ultimate Sith. So both the Jedi and Sith believe Anakin will bring peace to the galaxy but in two totally different ways. Is he the messiah or the antichrist?

He’s said before that the Leia scene doesn’t bother him so I think he is going to stick with that. I’m with him on that decision.

I don’t think he’s going to change the title but he’s had a theme of using book titles for his edits so I think he would stick with that. I think Dark Force Rising would fit well with TLJ too, but I don’t think it necessarily needs a new title. Legacy of the blank would make for a cool title though!

Interesting ideas. Until you can get decent narration, maybe you could have what you want narrated written out on title cards during the intermission. You could have them fade onto the screen like they do in the opening of Blade Runner, but with the “A long time ago…” font and color. Maybe red or yellow instead of blue.

Was also trying to think of Taratino-eque sounding titles for the edit. Something Star Wars related but with a grindhouse vibe. How about something like Destroy All Jedi? Sort of like Kill Bill, but more of a callback to the 1969 Japanese monster-flick Destroy All Monsters and a nod to the fact that the whole film will be dubbed in Japanese.

If you wanted it to be seen as a companion piece of sorts to NJVC’s Pulp Empire, you could go with something like Inglorious Jedi, Vader Unchained, or Once Upon a Time in the Republic. Though I think people will still see it as such even with the first suggestion.

Honestly I even think you could still use Revenge of the Sith or The Sith’s Revenge, maybe Vader’s Revenge. Just some random thoughts.

I’m really digging your idea man. If you don’t mind me making a suggestion, I also think it would be interesting if you were to use some genre music in certain places as well. Tarantino occasionally does this in his own films. For Bill’s death scene, he uses Ennio Morricone’s track “The Demise of Barbara and the Return of Joe” from Navajo Joe. At least one Morricone track is almost a MUST if you’re going full Tarantino.
I feel something from Morricone would be appropriate for something like the finale montage, when Obi-Wan takes Luke to Tatooine and such.

Another suggestion I really wanted to throw out here would be the use of Toru Takemitsu’s powerful and haunting score for Akira Kurosawa’s Ran. I think something like this could fit well with the Rumination scene or when Anakin falls to the dark side. Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood also has a pretty haunting soundtrack. Just some thoughts though!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdUlGQIzeWY

Hal 9000 said:

I’d be interested. What’d you post? There are thousands of comments.

Here is my post on that thread:
http://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1201956/action/topic#1201956

Some thoughts on your workprint.
Early on, it is a little noticeable how Finn just randomly says, “I’m not a Resistance hero” even though Rose never calls him that. Yeah, she says, "THE Finn”, but she could’ve meant, “Yeah, the First Order traitor, Finn!” I do like the idea of cutting the “breathe” line, but I wonder if more of what Rose says could be kept.

I believe the box Luke sits on at Crait still moves, at least in the version I watched.

I really liked the new placement of the Luke and Yoda scene. I feel like it really works there.

I don’t think the changes to Finn’s sacrifice were very seamless. Maybe I’m just biased since I’ve seen it a few times, but the trimming of his attack run is noticeable, mainly how the music crossfades. Also the trimming of Rose’s lines wasn’t seamless to me either. I wonder if you cut “I saved you, DUMMY” but kept “not about fighting what we hate” line, it might work better. Maybe just keeping the first half and let the audience assume the rest? I’m not really sure on this one. I don’t know if it is the line that doesn’t work or the moment the line is in.

I feel like without seeing the Canto Bight slave kids at some point earlier in the film, it feels really out of place seeing them at the end, especially with the focus on the ring that has no context anymore. Are we to just assume now that they are just random slave kids somewhere out in the galaxy, unrelated to Canto Bight? I think the way you trimmed it still leaves some questions but I think it pretty much works. I wonder when you cut to them rushing into the casino, you could have the music continue to play, but quietly fading out, in the background to help the cut. It just halts at the moment. Not a deal breaker though. It’d be great if you could use a shot of them leaving the planet, but it would be hard to use what’s available and it not look weird.

I’d be in favor of keeping the leaf/reed moment. Or at least keeping, “Okay… but what is it?”

Overall though I think most of your cuts were pretty seamless. I didn’t read your cutlist before I watched it and I actually didn’t notice some of the changes, like removing the coin sounds from BB-8 (though I think you can still hear it a little when he gets thrown out) and the removal of the cowl line. Good job.

Looking forward to watching this!

Also wanted to mention I posted some thoughts on the Wisecrack video Hal posted earlier on the TLJ discussion thread if anyone would be interested in reading them.

I watched this video from Wisecrack the other day by Jared Bauer regarding “what went wrong” with The Last Jedi. After Hal posted it on his TLJ Edit thread I decided to comment on it. I felt like I should post it here instead because I didn’t want to start a discussion not directly related to his edit on that thread. Hope you guys don’t mind.

Link to video: https://youtu.be/dLYUc5t6wag

I think Jared premise is really great, I think he is mostly right, but I think he missed an important dinstinction.

I think he’s right when he says that Kylo Ren has the right idea. Things have to change. Rey wants things to change too. But I think it is the way that Kylo Ren and Rey want to go about it is why Kylo Ren’s way is wrong, and why she doesn’t join him in the end.

Kylo Ren talks about letting the past die, but he is still the leader of an army full of Stormtroopers and Star Destroyers, and by the end fight on Crait you can tell he hasn’t let go of the past because his resentment towards Luke blinds him and allows the Resistance to escape. He wants change through violence. I think a symbol of Rey realizing this is when Kylo reaches his hand out to her, but he is still wearing his glove. This is a contrast to the first time they touched hands, when he removed his glove as a sign of honesty and vulnerability. There is a symbolic dinstinction.

Kylo wants to bury the past while I think Rey will want to learn from it. I think Luke also realized this, it’s what his whole conversation with Yoda is about really. Luke felt the next generation would be better off without the baggage of the Jedi, but in reality they would be better off to learn from those mistakes in order to not repeat them, to grow beyond them. Basically, accepting and learning from your failures rather than forgetting or submitting to them.
The Jedi will live on, but they will be different, they will evolve.

I think this parallels the whole “fighting for the right reasons” thing that Finn and Rose’s story is about as well. The movie doesn’t flip flop on being a hero or not being a hero. It’s about defending first and attacking only when necessary. I’m not saying this movie is a perfect work of art, I still I’m not crazy about the execution of the Rose-saving-Finn moment in the film, but this movie is far from ruining Star Wars in my opinion.

And I think his references to Carl Jung are fantastic, I think looking at the issue of balance through the lens of Jung can help understand what I think Johnson was going for. But, I think Jared interpreted the finale from that perspective differently than I did.

If the dark side of the Force can be symbolic of Jung’s interpretation of the unconscious self, or the Shadow, then the Sith want to submerge themselves into the Shadow as means to gain primal power and dominance over others. The old Jedi feared the Shadow and did everything they could to keep the conscious self in control.
But balance is acknowledging the Shadow, one’s own dark side, and becoming a more well-rounded and self-aware person from accepting the darkness in all of us, but not submitting yourself to it.

Rey isn’t reverting back to the old Jedi ways. She’s growing from the old ways. She knows things have to be different. But she doesn’t want to kill innocent people to achieve change like Kylo Ren does. That’s a big difference.

Bonus: Interestingly, there’s this idea that the “acknowledgement of the shadow must be a continuous process throughout one’s life", which fits well with Luke’s big mistake. He didn’t permanently overcome his Shadow in ROTJ, the Shadow is something one must constantly face throughout one’s life. When he almost failed to hold his shadow back once again, it shattered his faith in himself and incorrectly decided the galaxy would be better off to start from scratch and learn to acknowledge one’s shadow from a blank slate. Not learning from his mistakes could just perpetuate this fight for another thousand generations to come as they slowly figure it all out again.

Both Rey and Kylo Ren are coming to terms with their shadow in this film. Kylo Ren is incorporating the monster within him rather than hiding behind his persona (his mask). He had split his ego like Vader had and identified as his shadow self, rather than accepting both sides are the same person. He couldn’t determine his identity, a big theme in TFA. But in TLJ, he smashes the helmet and even calls himself a monster in the film recognizing this fact. He believes he is merging with his shadow in a way to become balanced, but he is wrong.
Typically when one faces their shadow, they must face the thing that they resent the most about themself, their fears, their shortcomings, their anxieties. In Rey’s case, she resents the truth about who she is and her parents. The fact that they were bad people and that ultimately she’s a nobody. But in the end, she faces her own shadow and finally acknowledges it.

Acknowledging your shadow gives you strength, and it allows you to respect and better understand yourself, but when people fail this reflection is when they think that having strength justifies being cruel to others.

A person shouldn’t be cruel.
But being able to be cruel, and choosing not to be cruel is better than not facing your shadow and not being able to be cruel. That confidence in ones self prevents internal and external conflict. It’s similar to the idea of most martial arts. You don’t learn to fight so you can fight, you learn to fight so you can prevent fighting. But if you need to fight in order to protect, you can.

That’s what the Jedi are meant to be. A Jedi uses the Force for defense, never for attack. The Jedi unfortunately lost their way, because they were trying to prevent the Jedi from fully facing their shadows. They feared that if they fully incorporated their shadow, that many would only give into it and become cruel. They feared that many would fail like Jedi of the past had, so they assumed that protecting them from their shadow was the safer option. That’s why Jedi had to avoid fear, anger and hate. The old Jedi were taught to repress or expunge their shadows. But really, a Jedi must accept that they are only human, and understand those emotions rather than cutting themselves off from them.

This is the dinstinction. Kylo Ren’s incorporation of the shadow has made him cruel, his resentment of the past makes him want to kill it. While Rey is capable of joining Kylo Ren, to be cruel, she chooses not to because she sees that dinstinction. She also resents her past, but chooses to grow from it rather than letting it make her cruel.

The message of the movie isn’t to kill the past like Jared thinks it is, it is to learn from it. Grow from it. That’s what wisdom is.

The film is also not trying to tear down the Campbell’s monomyth either. The stories associated with the monomyth have always been a way for storytellers to teach society about morals and how to act. To tear it down would be to contradict the entire point of Star Wars. It’s trying to recontextualize it. To remind us how the myth and the legend is important to ourselves and our own lives. It humanizes Luke in order to show us that not only legends go through the hero’s journey of self recognition and affirmation. Luke is human, like all of us, and we all have to go on our own hero’s journey to accept who we are.

And Luke’s act of facing his own resentment (his failure with Ben) and accepting it is what inspires others to go on their own hero’s journeys, like good ole broom boy.

A reddit user, DH80, also made a great post about how Luke’s journey in TLJ is actually a completition of his hero’s journey. I’ll share it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/8azql2/how_the_last_jedi_explored_the_last_stages_of_the/

Yes, the original trilogy was more black and white, but not completely. The point of the Last Jedi is to remind us that things aren’t just black and white. We can’t just destroy evil because the potential for evil is within all of us. But the movie doesn’t “backpedal” on those ideas. The last act of the film is showing how we must accept the darkness within us. Kylo’s solution is WRONG. He’s not coming to terms with his darkness, he’s still being controlled by his shadow like any dark side user. He’s getting closer to the truth than most dark side users, but he’s not there yet, which I think IX will possibly deal with.

Jared also talks about how facing one’s shadow is important for the political side of the movie. Things have ended up in a similar place despite winning the war at the end of ROTJ, true. But Jared makes a point how that would make a strong point if the movie stuck the idea it was trying to make. He says it didn’t, but I think it did. I think to have things change, the Resistance can’t win the same way as the Rebels did in Return of the Jedi, by destroying the shadow, the Empire. There must be some kind of peace, or reconciliation with the shadow (the First Order) in order for things to be different. I think this will be where Finn comes into play. I’m hoping his role in IX makes him crucial in helping members of the First Order come around on some kind of resolution to the war, whether it be integretation/unification or some kind of reconciliation/armistice.

If you think of the Old Republic as an individual, then the Empire and the Emperor were just a representations of that individual’s shadow and inner demon. The Galactic Civil War is just a representation of the struggle to come to terms with it, it’s a full-on ego split. But in the end of ROTJ, the self only repressed that shadow rather than reintergrating it, which is what I’m assuming Episode IX might be about.

Like I said, I don’t think The Last Jedi is a perfect movie, we can discuss clarity or execution, but I don’t think it is a fundamentally broken movie. This is not where The Last Jedi went wrong.

TL;DR: Kylo Ren and Rey both represent distinct approaches to face your inner shadow, but Kylo Ren is still facing it in a negative way while Rey is facing it in a more positive way. Violence versus non-violence. That’s the difference between killing the past and growing beyond it.