You’re making leaps and presenting things that just don’t appear in the script. Lucas takes a wide eyed, innocent kid template one second and turns him into Dan Dare the next.
That's the point. This isn't a bad thing. I wish he had done the same in the PT. He didn't. I'll readily admit over and over again that what Luke did IS absurd if you take a long, hard look at it. But it's framed by a movie that's pretty absurd up and down...it's fantasy. That's what fantasy is. What holds it together is it's framed well. Everything happens for a reason. I think a lot of that can be hinged on how limited the fx tech was at the time. Lucas had to make it all stick together or else nobody sticks around for the ride. Yeah, it's pretty flimsy overall...but it works. It's a template that has existed as long as movies have been made. ANH just took it a much bigger level. This film is not supposed to be overcomplicated, and you're trying to make it that way.
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If there was something in the film that pointed to Luke being a great X Wing pilot,
You mean besides seeing him destroy the Death Star?
The point of my comparisons is in films you often are described what makes the character unique or special and then you see them do it, usually to an even greater degree. It's exciting! Take
The Natural. Robert Redford is an old baseball player...his glory days are behind him. People talk about what could have been and how good he was, and lo and behold, we see him display those skills until finally, wracked with injuries, he smashes a ball into the lights above the stadium, unleashing a shower of sparks as he rounds the bases. It's absurd. It's ridiculous. Nothing we've seen or heard has shown he should be able to do anything even remotely close to that. And yet, he did! And we go with it! It's a movie! That character makes that final "push" and ends up being the hero! This isn't rocket science! Come on, man...
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Not only that, he barely even bothers to develop the “great pilot” angle at all.
Because, honestly, there's too much going on. When are they supposed to cram this in? It's not like they had almost half an hour to blow on a useless race that kindasortamaybenotreallynotatall reinforces how good a pilot the character is. We're told he's a good pilot. The first chance he's given to fly, he IS a good pilot, plus he's got the Force (which if you're buying into that, not seeing Luke in a lfight sim is the least of your worries)...my hero! The day is won! The fact he's blowing up what looks like a giant metal tit that can destroy planets makes not having seem him train at all seem irrelevant. I do not understand how you tell people they need to suspend belief to enjoy the PT, and then criticize the same people for actually doing that with a movie like ANH, where it works.
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The kids unexperienced, lost in the falcon (“whats that flashing?”) ecstatic when he takes out his TIE, which, when Lucas puts him up for comparison with the nearby Han, Lucas is obviously trying to say “this is the first encounter of this kind for this kid, on the other hand it’s Han’s millionth”.
So you're slamming movie for doing these things right? Why is he supposed to know how to fly a ship like the Falcoln? Why is he supposed to be a jaded mercenary-type? If he's going to be blaise about fragging Tie Fighters like it happens every Tuesday, what is the point of having Solo's character in the first place? Luke's "farmboy" persona is set to emphasize ultimately just how powerful the Force is. Remember, this before the Force was a mutated cell and it meant you could do cool flips and ninja kicks and twirl lightsabers like cheerleaders. It was vague and mysterious and supposed to be impressive! What better way to emphasize that than by setting it up so that this kid being in tune with the Force basically allows/helps him to destroy the biggest weapon in the galaxy? And you've done it within the classic mythology/fanatasy mold...naive boy saves the day and becomes a man...a hero! And not by accident in a cutesy slew of high-larious accidents and goofs. Whoopsies!
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It’s a massive jump to go from “bullseyeing wamp rats” on a terrestrial environment to shooting and evading highly skilled TIE pilots in space, while whipping down a metal gorge at a million miles an hour.
It's a massive jump to buy almost anything in this film. Why does Luke get bitch slapped in this movie by the Sand People yet can escape from and lop the arm off of a snow monster in ESB? We didn't SEE him practicing his "I don't wanna get beat down like a girl" skills, yet clearly they've improved. In fact, why do you buy he can fly the snow speeders in ESB? Or the bike in ROTJ? Nothing on Tattooine would prepare him for such vehicles or climates. Almost everything we see in these films happens for the first time without seeing anyone training or practicing or graduating with a major in or whatever. You're reaching!
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What’s left (a line of dialogue, a comparison to beggars canyon) just seems half arsed, and certainly not enough to address the problem that no one can adequately address- Luke managed the impossible.
That's the point! That's why he's a hero! Kid's a decent pilot, kid's now got the Force "flowing through him"...kid does the impossible. How do you stand watching ANY kind of popcorn movie, which rely on someone doing something impossible to save the day?
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Not only was he untrained, he had never sat inside the cockpit of one before. We can say “here’s some evidence that flying is easy and anyone can do it”, or “here’s a driver that changed vehicles and did really well” (although we’ve been over that), or even “well, a T16 is probably a bit like an X Wing”, but in the end you’re just filling in the holes in Lucas’ script.
See what I said above about us seeing anyone do ANYTHING in these films, especially Luke. By your logic, seeing him do anything besides farming whatever the hell they farm on Tattooine is complete bullshit.
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“I’m not such a bad pilot myself”. Luke, you’re a full on miracle worker, don’t sell yourself short.
Hence why so many people love this movie so much. And why NOT having something like this in any of the PT films is a huge flaw for them. The OT is packed with flaws and nitpicks, but this is not one of them.