Sometimes I wonder whether Rian Johnson is just really annoyed at how much controversy ‘The Last Jedi’ stirred up with the fans and cannot help but lash out every now and then at the haters on the internet, or whether he just honestly does not understand that every time he makes a comment he is just adding fuel to the fire, regardless of the validity of his statement. And while my opinion on ‘The Last Jedi’ has changed with time, and I eventually appreciated what the filmmaker did with the franchise, I do not exactly agree with his latest online statement, a statement that was made in response to a Twitter user criticizing Johnson’s portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the film:
So basically, Johnson is claiming that Luke Skywalker, the earnest farm boy who saved the galaxy and could not wait to get away from his secluded back-water planet far from anything and go out and save the galaxy, and later become a Jedi, is 100% consistent with the bitter, angry old hermit we met up with in ‘The Last Jedi,’ content to live his final years in isolation, far from his loved ones, the Force, and the galactic conflict HE HELPED SPARK.
I know I know, people change, events happen, years pass, but I think it is awfully prideful for Johnson to claim he knows the character so well that he has nailed it without a shadow of a doubt, to claim that Luke is “100% consistent” with the character from the original trilogy. That just seems awfully close-minded to me.
In my mind, at the end of the day, Johnson took some risks, tried some things different with ‘The Last Jedi,’ and that is part of what makes it such an interesting and often enjoyable movie, if people would give it a chance. And that includes taking some risks and chances with the character of Luke, such as making his character a bit different and taking him down some paths that differ from the paths the Luke we know from the original trilogy might have taken. There’s nothing wrong with that, but to claim this is exactly what Luke would have done without a shadow of a doubt just feeds into the idea that Johnson’s pride blinded him to any other possibilities for the film, and gives fuel to the haters who want to find more reasons to dislike ‘The Last Jedi.’
But hey, that’s just my opinion, feel free to share your own in the comments below.
