I think people should at least play fair and admit that if they weren't happy with the direction Luke took, some of the blame should go to Force Awakens too.
That movie set up him in exile. That movie set up him blaming himself for Ben Solo's turn and the loss of his Jedi school. That movie illustrates with its final shots that Luke isn't exactly happy to be found. They could have easily had him say something like "At last..." or something if JJ wanted to set him up as being immediately ready to mentor another student and right some wrongs. But that is not the direction he went.
I understand having a problem with how it was executed in this film, but I feel like even Hamill himself seems to be underplaying how this was all tee'd up in TFA. He says "maybe he'd take a year to regroup"...uh nope, Ben Solo's fall happened around 5 years before TFA. Luke has been missing for some time at the start of TFA and has played no part in the First Order/Resistance conflict.
Sure, I guess some people may have interpreted "those who knew him best think went off to find the first Jedi temple" thing as "he went off to become an even bigger badass and will be ready when the time is right"...but come on. Any storyteller worth their salt that sees how things were setup in TFA would know that's far too easy a place for both Luke and Rey to be in at the start of the film and misses a huge opportunity for rich drama and a satisfying redemption arc for Luke. I think Rian Johnson just seized on what was obvious. And I don't think he's the only filmmaker out there who would've made that choice. Far from it.
Even Lucas himself pitched Luke being in exile and disillusioned with the Jedi in 2013. It's in the Art of TLJ book. If people want to point to Hamill as an authority on what Luke would do, you have to be at least willing to admit that the man who created the character may have had a different opinion.
I can understand people having an issue with the execution, and that's always fair and applies to any film. I just think it's disingenuous to act like this film conjured up this version of Luke out of thin air, when the seeds were planted in TFA.
Two points, and at least one to be positive about, since I need to make sure when I say this is a good-not-great movie, I don't just complain the
entire time...
I think the biggest conceptual argument I can actually mount against Rian Johnson's take on Luke and his exile is a matter of
extent rather than direction; that the only real direction for Luke that would adequately explain his exile and give the character dramatic weight is for him to be broken by failure and doubt the Jedi Order, but that the
total disenfranchisement and the conviction that he must do nothing is a bit
too much. On a fundamental level, Luke receding from the Galaxy after failing to prevent his nephew from going Vader makes
perfect sense, and the film
does milk the idea for all the dramatic potential it can. It's just that there is a bit of a leap to make that Luke won't be compelled to some kind of action by the events of the last film, or be so loathing of the Jedi; him throwing the lightsaber over his shoulder, for instance, doesn't quite compute, and only really works as a humorous artistic statement.
It may have worked better to have Luke convinced that something needs to be done, but wracked by self-doubt and caution about the Jedi, still a mess who's convinced he failed in every way, but maybe trying to see if he can reform Jedi teachings to keep Rey safe from the dark-side and being terrified of greater failure. Or maybe showing the audience what Luke saw in Ben's mind in the hut, or doing that thing I keep hoping happens, and we learn that Snoke was gaslighting Ben with visions and may have done the same thing to Luke.
If I can bring up one thing I do love, it's the use of that mystery between Ben and Luke as the heart of the Force plot. Going Rashomon with the backstory gave both Luke and Ben good POV moments.
