Luke on Crait

The Last Jedi

“No, I am your father” is the iconic twist in Star Wars. Possibly even the greatest twist in cinema history. However, my favourite shock ending from a galaxy far, far away was delivered in The Last Jedi, as once bait and switch victim Luke Skywalker demonstrated that he had the power to drive home a twist finale.

Like father, like son.

Cards on the table, I left The Last Jedi on opening night not sure what to make of how Rian Johnson treated Luke. I guess that at 3am, after having just watched a new Star Wars movie for the first time, the part of my brain that processes nuance wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that I missed all of the visual cues that pointed to the fact that Luke was never actually face to face with his nephew Kylo Ren on Crait. I didn’t notice the fact that he wielded his already broken blue lightsaber, or that he suddenly looked a few years younger, or that his footprints made no effect of the salt above the red clay.

When you look back it’s obvious that Luke was never really there and the idea of a force projection driven finale is telegraphed throughout the movie, as we have Kylo and Rey talking across the stars and seeing each other within their own environments.

Having seen projections of Rey throughout the movie, you’d have thought Kylo would have seen through Luke’s deception. But that’s the brilliance of Kylo Ren’s story so far – he’s unchained, imbalanced and reckless, unable to see the bigger picture. He just wants to kill the past and that includes his uncle and former master.

Luke not actually being there allows us to see just how flawed Kylo is as a villain – and now a Supreme Leader. This isn’t an ultra-perceptive Sith like the kind of villain’s we are used to seeing. This is a petulant man being torn apart by his desire to connect to the darkness amid a nagging call to the light.

If Luke had gone to Crait, we would have seen another lightsaber duel. Instead, we see an inspirational Jedi demonstrate his rediscovered connection to the force with a noble sacrifice and a reminder to Kylo that he will always be with him, “just like his father.”

To those who argue that we fail to see an all-powerful Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi, I can only imagine that you’d left the screening before this scene. Force projection across the galaxy to trick the Supreme Leader of the First Order is an ability some would consider to be unnatural. Rian Johnson gave us a broken hero and treated us to a finale in which the true all-conquering Jedi reemerged in one of the saga’s most powerful moments.

“See you around, kid” is the perfect line as the projection ends. A tricked Kylo has been baited into a fight that never was as the Resistance has escaped to fight another day.

Luke would watch a final binary sunset from his mediation rock on Ahch-To before becoming one with the force after his greatest act of skill and bravery.