Drathnoxis said:
EDIT: I mean, were any motivations actually given in the film by anyone?
Apart from everyone knowing his name, talking about the legends, the stories?
No. Not at all. There was absolutely no reason given why a struggling Dark Jedi would want to kill his old master, they never do that. I mean, they usually end up killing each other anyway, imagine what they'd want to do to their old Light Side master. There's absolutely no reason that the First Order would want to finish off Luke, the hero of the Rebellion, who destroyed the first death star, converted Vader, and caused the death of the Emperor. A man who is referenced as possibly being capable of bringing Ren back from the Dark Side. A man who can control minds, use telekinesis, and god knows what else after all this time. There is absolutely no reason why the Resistance could want the heir to the power of the Force on their side, why Leia might want her brother back, why Han might want his friend back.
There's plenty of motivation, explained and what you can infer. Hell, the audience wants Luke back just because they want to see what happened to the cast, what happened to the characters. It's our journey too. I'm guessing that's why they included him at the end, since that scene was pretty out of place otherwise, it would have made a better opening for the next one.
The movie works fine. We're plenty involved in the heroes plight. They're attractive, sympathetic, charismatic and they're going through a bunch of Star Wars references that border on excessive, in a plot that is a literal retread of A New Hope. Our two leads don't really care that much about the map or finding Luke. Finn wants to run away, Rey wants to go back to Jakku. This is LITERAL SPOKEN DIALOGUE. The Resistance cares about the map to Luke, but we don't see much of them, exactly the same as the Rebellion in the original, who we see for a moment at the start, and we're introduced to before the end. Maybe you don't like it. That's perfectly fine. Not everything's to everyone's taste. Maybe Star Wars isn't your taste. It was a serviceable film, competently made. The biggest thing you can level at it is how unimaginative and derivative it is. And hey, it totally is. It's just competent. It's not visionary, it's not imaginative, it's just a bigger version of that original film, because that's safe. And you know what? That original was a classic for a reason, and the formula still works. It just feels sad and pedantic how people are trying to pick at it. Oh no, Rey reaching out to the force, who could imagine that? She knocked down a darksider after connecting with the mystical energy field that binds all living things, unlike Luke, who destroyed a PLANET KILLING SUPERMOON. Oh no, how could someone so new to this take down Ren? It's not like Han and Chewie shot Darth Vader and sent him spinning off into space, a Sith far more powerful than Ren, one of the best pilots in the galaxy, who clearly outclasses Luke, who we are informed and shown, is an excellent pilot. Oh god, how could that happen, two beings without a spec of the Force? MARY SUES! HAN AND CHEWIE ARE MARY SUES. CONTRIVANCES, MARY SUES, EVERYWHERE!
