Scenes From A Thursday Night In A Galaxy Far Far Away

SPOILERS FROM STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI ALL OVER THIS ARTICLE. ?DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE!!!!

• Dear Disney: You?ve got money up the wazoo! How hard can it be for y?all to give Lucasfilm a proper movie studio logo with bells and whistles and such? ?Marvel?s all spiffed out. ?Pixar and the animation wings are spiffy. ?Lucasfilm?s got that same placeholder madness from the 90?s. ?Update that thing! ? PLEASE!!!
• So…Luke?s journey with the Force started with a binary sunset and ended with a binary sunset? ?Coincidence? ?Doubt it. Poetic? ?MOST DEFINITELY!
• How many of y?all besides me reduced the Force to moving rocks and other inanimate objects? ?That mind-melding between Rey and Kylo to get in each other?s head/physical space? Mind. BLOWN!
• And till now, we thought that Leia?s Force gift was just sensing thoughts and feelings. ?Teleporting herself in a semi conscious state? ? Mind. Blown. Again! Although my heart sank when it appeared that was how she was gonna die.
• YODA!!!!
• I?m not so sure Finn earned that ?kiss from a Rose.? ?There?s gotta be some cutting room floor material from that casino planet?scene to justify her falling in love with him.
• My SF colleague Arnaldo Reyes summed it up for us all in his review. ?LET THE PAST DIE…but hold on to HOPE! ?And that?s why fanboys are up in arms. ?We will go into Episode 9 with a dead Vader, dead Han Solo, potentially Force ghosted Luke (and Yoda) and, ever so sadly, dead Leia. ?The past has died. ?All we have ever know about Star Wars is gone. ?And that?s a good thing. ?It?s what the last scene – along with the revelation of Rey?s parentage – leads us into: A TRUE NEW HOPE – the promise of something new. ?Newness can be horrifying. So many times we cling to familiarity at our own expense. ?We hold onto old memories, old lives, old sins that God clearly states that we are to put away. ?Paul in Romans gives us one of the hallmark statements of faith when he declares that his mission in his journey with Christ is to forget those things which are behind and press forward toward that which is in front of him. ?Rian Johnson has done that for us, the audience. ?The past must die in order for us to move forward. ?Just like our position in Christ: ?Old things passed away. ?Behold, ALL THINGS ARE NEW.
• One final point about Luke. Addressing the fanboys again who were searching for their hero who they loved back in 77-83: ?Heroism has a cost. ?We see our heroes in real life and admire their greatness. ?But we have no idea what that heroism cost them emotionally, mentally and spiritually. ?Luke was supposed to be the manifested Jedi prophecy bringing balance to the Force and restoring the Jedi order. ?But he failed in the process. ?That failure cost him his nephew and the students he was training and also unleashed the power of the Dark Side to a new level. ?Now mind you: THIS is on top of being a presumed orphan for the early part of your life, watching your aunt and uncle who were your caretakers die, finding out your sworn enemy is YOUR DADDY, losing your hand while confronting said enemy, the utter mind-blowing discovery that the most beautiful princess you?ve ever seen (and stole a couple of kisses from) is your friggin sister AND taking eleventy gazillion bolts of Force lightning from the Emperor as your enemy/Daddy saves your life and loses his in the process. ?Talk about your burdens being carried! ?But no one sees that. ?They just see the blowing up of the Death Star, using the gift of the Force and Vader?s redemption. Heroism to the masses…failure behind the scenes. ?Much like our own lives. ?But as Yoda said, FAILURE is just as crucial to the journey as the successes. The American wing of the Christian Church is infected by this anti-failure mindset. ?It has seeped into the fabric of the entire country. We celebrate success. We denigrate failure. ?I have seen failure get people who genuinely love God removed from churches because of it. I have seen friends lost because of it. ?I have seen the outright dismissal of people?s walks with Christ because of it. But, in my life, I have seen FAILURE be the launchpad into the revelation of the grace and mercy of God. ?I never would know God?s genuine love if I hadn?t failed. ?And I have failed epically. Just like Luke. But out of the ashes of my failures have come my greatest victories. ?Just like Luke. ?Luke?s final act in this film was paid for through the cost of his failures. ?He became greater and more powerful than at any point in the Star Wars saga! ?Can?t wait to see the lessons his Force ghosted self will teach Rey – and hopefully that little boy in the final scene.
• JJ: Pressure?s on you, bruh. ?You alienated a legion of Trekkers through your remake of The Wrath of Khan?in which you made Khan an English dude and flip flopped Spock?s death into Kirk?s death. ?We cannot have those shenanigans for Episode 9! No digging into your crates to find another movie to remix. The gauntlet has been thrown. Rian Johnson has set the table. It?s on you to bring the feast that will end this trilogy. DON?T SCREW THIS UP!!!