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I watched most of the BluRay extras today and walked away with a few encompassing thoughts:

I REALLY dig what Rian Johnson was shooting for with The Force. His understanding of the Balance of the Force is something that I have thought for a long time — BALANCE does not mean that good wins. Balance means there must be bad/evil as well.

I REALLY dig what Rian Johnson was shooting for with Luke. Luke was broken, again and again, and believed he had found the answer: The Jedi Order must die out AND be replaced by something new. The Jedi Order was what was causing the imbalance in The Force that continually gave rise to the Sith to bring about balance.

There is a deleted scene with Luke and Rey that nails this. It’s the only one on the disc that I wish had stayed in the movie. While they are in the island, they see sailing ships approaching and some alert is sounded. Rey asks what it is. Luke advises her they are pirates from a neighboring island who come once a month to plunder the Caretakers’ village. Rey immediately responds that they must put a stop to this. Luke states that is the exact thinking that has led to the fall of the Jedi — this hubris that demands action to fix every wrong without looking at the larger picture. He asks if Rey will still be here to protect them next month, because slaughtering the pirates now means they will return next month angry and with a larger army to cause even worse harm. Rey takes off running with her lightsaber ablaze and crasheds through the front gate to find ... a celebration the Caretakers are partaking in. No pirates.

For those who criticize “how Luke behaved” (and sadly, I would even include Mark Hammil by some of his comments), I would say they are still viewing the character as a wide-eyed 18-year old farm boy turned “last hope of the galaxy”. Those people still feel this should be the story of the Skywalker family tree, not the story of The Force. RJ tried to tell the story of The Force after years (and many movies) of having the story veer away from that. Luke is a broken man turned hermit who thought he had finally discovered the answer to perceived failure after perceived failure ... that the struggle for complete good was what was causing imbalance ... that the current way must die out to be replaced by something that works.

That said, RJ did not drive this home. I don’t think he ever would have been allowed to go that dark. Not by the fanbase, not by Disney. I wish that he had.

Another unrelated thought: OMG does he ever remind me of a young James Cameron in his mannerisms, his speech, and even somewhat in his looks.

PS — I still like the movie and think it would be in the upper tier of SW films if they cut almost everything having to do with Finn and Rose and fixed the stupid “Mary Poppins” Leia scene. I still think it would have been much better to the plot to have Kyle Ren actually be the one who uses the Force to save her. My post on that is buried in here somewhere.

But that’s sort of what Lucas was aiming for when he came up with that “balancing the Force” stuff in the prequels, that the existence of the Sith is what put the Force out of balance, and the “Chosen One” would come along and put an end to the Sith and restore balance. Lucas kind of half-assed this point in the movies, and most people came away with the idea that restoring balance to the Force meant an equal number of Jedi and Sith (in this case, Obi-Wan and Yoda vs Palpatine and Vader) creating a sort of yin-yang. In Lucas’ view, the presence of the Sith and Dark Side are a corruption on the Force that throws it out of balance by introducing disharmony and chaos.

I’m not sure why you started with the word “But” ... (I think) some of the things Lucas was aiming for with the PT were good concepts. The execution is another story.

I agree that too many people assume balance means “equal”, just as too many people believe “balance” is “good always wins”. Lucas scratched the surface with the notion that the Jedi were the ones throwing the Force out of balance (either through their own hubris or possibly even by searching for “the Chosen One”) but he backed off in lieu of fart jokes and racist caricatures.

That is where RJ was trying to go: Luke had figured it out. Whether he is right or wrong, we don’t know.

I can buy into this ... and agree. I don’t think JJ has the chutzpah to see this through.

It was due to excess negativity over something that hasn’t even been released. At least that’s my take on it. Which I’m fine with until there’s a trailer.