List five things you would have changed from The Force Awakens

I wish that the entire goal of Snoke and Ren was NOT to find Luke. And what was the point of having pieces of a map to Luke's location in the hands of Max Von Sydow's character and R2?

I just wish this movie wasn't a rehash of "A New Hope" or that Rey was portrayed as this borderline Mary Sue character, who can accomplish nearly anything by tapping into her connection to the Force without any real training.

 

-addressing your first point - Leia is Ben's mother, there is going to be some awkwardness there between her and luke, that is why she sends Rey... well it's Rey that had to go all along anyway. I think the overall trick of the movie is that it's not Rey starting some whirlwind adventure, it is actually her that Luke is waiting for, rather than for them to find him. I promise you this will become clear in VIII. gut instinct.

-the similarities to A New Hope are forgiveable if you look at it this way: the death star technology is the "nuke" of the star wars world, and it's already gone, having acheived its plot point of taking out the new republic, meaning the first order from the end of the force awakens rule the galaxy, where they do not at the start.

-We don't know that she hasn't had any real training yet. what's with this satisfy-me-instantly generation we live in now? I would say its heavily implied she has had training but suppressed memory.

 

THIS.
A single line of dialogue could have explained Han's newfound fondness for the bowcaster.

I think you should pay a little more attention next time you watch this movie.
EVERY time Han talks to someone about Rey, it is done so off-screen.

MAZ KANATA (to Han): Who's the girl? (cuts to different scene, and we never hear what Han says)

MAZ KANATA: Han told me. (What else did Han tell Maz?)

LEIA: Han told me about the girl. I'm sorry. (what did Han tell her about the girl?)

I think Han knows more about Rey than he let's on.

The new Star Destroyers are "Resurgent-class" (quite fitting really). "Victory-class" Star Destroyers were smaller than the Imperial Star Destroyers, capable of atmospheric operation, which allowed them to provide more precise bombardment.
The Star Destroyer from legends material, which was equipped with a superlaser, was the "Sovereign-class" Super Star Destroyer.

1. There weren't many lens flares in this movie, at all... Kylo Ren watching the Starkiller weapon firing was one of the few instances in the film.
2. Did you see a reunion with Padme and Obi-wan, and Anakin in ANH? I must have missed that... Sure, things may have been different had the prequels been made first, but really, people need to move on. This is not their story any more.
3. Would you have preferred they kill of Chewbacca...or Luke? Someone from the OT had to die in this movie. Han makes the most sense.
4. Agreed.
5. I think the simple answer is that they just weren't sure how Snoke was going to look when they filmed stuff...

Well, Snoke and Ren did have a difference of opinion... Ren was more focused on finding Luke, while Snoke was more concerned with stopping the Resistance from finding him first. Which is exactly why he ordered the use of Starkiller on the Ileenium system, where the Resistance were hiding out.

How did Lor San Tekka have the navigational chart to find Luke? Good question. We may just have to wait 17 months for that answer...

Kind of like how Obi-Wan puts a lightsaber in Luke hand, shoves a helmet over his face, and tells him to deflect the shots from that remote?
Or how Luke managed to use the Force to grab his lightsaber without having been trained to do that?
No one ever complained about those.

As for Rey's lightsaber skills, she been fighting off thugs and would-be thieves for years. Kylo Ren hasn't really been dueling people. He's been using high his lightsaber to cut down old men and cut up electrical systems on ships. It's not like she even starts off strong (the problem with going from a staff to a saber)...
And if the Force can guide Luke to deflect shots from a training remote, the Force can guide Rey in a lightsaber duel.

Feel, don't think. Trust your instincts.

I don't know if the First Order "rule" the galaxy. It took another year of fighting for the Rebel Alliance to overthrow the Empire after their victory at Endor. The First Order suffered a significant loss in TFA as well.
It's not like citizens across the Republic are just going to surrender...
TFA has left another power vacuum to be filled. I think you'll find that Leia will gain a lot of new allies.

 

addressing your first point - Leia is Ben's mother, there is going to be some awkwardness there between her and luke, that is why she sends Rey... well it's Rey that had to go all along anyway. I think the overall trick of the movie is that it's not Rey starting some whirlwind adventure, it is actually her that Luke is waiting for, rather than for them to find him. I promise you this will become clear in VIII. gut instinct.


I thought Leia had sent Dameron Poe for the map or part of the map . . . not Rey.



We don't know that she hasn't had any real training yet. what's with this satisfy-me-instantly generation we live in now? I would say its heavily implied she has had training but suppressed memory.

From the flashback that was shown of Rey as a child, she seemed old enough to remember whether she had any training with the Force. Yet, I have not seen any indication that she remembered. So . . . I'm going to have to stick with my opinion that she struck me as a borderline Mary Sue.



the similarities to A New Hope are forgiveable if you look at it this way: the death star technology is the "nuke" of the star wars world, and it's already gone, having acheived its plot point of taking out the new republic, meaning the first order from the end of the force awakens rule the galaxy, where they do not at the start.


Yeah . . . that doesn't really work for me. Sorry. And how do we know that the First Force or First Order now rule the galaxy? The Republic still has a military force. And a new government can be established elsewhere. And now, the . . . villains have to deal with the New Republic military and the Resistance. Speaking of which . . . this whole scenario is a little confusing to me. Is this like the Vietnam War in which the U.S. supported the South Vietnamese against the North Vietnamese?


I simply found the movie somewhat entertaining, yet disappointing overall. That's just me.

 

- I am mixed between this....but this is what went through my mind as soon as it happened:
When Han is stabbed, he reaches out and touches Ben's face...and I expected him to say, "I love you, son" and Ben reply, "I know"
- More C-3PO ...or at least more of him upon the awakening of R2-D2...in a sense...when that happened, I realized that R2-D2's real name is "The Force" J/K...
- More Poe (I understand he was missing for the plot....I'm mostly just saying I can't wait until E.VIII to see more Poe...Oscar Isaac blew me away on his performance. Daisey, Adam, and John were fantastic...but Daisey was over-hyped IMO [although still absolutely fantastic...and blown away this is her first feature performance]...and Oscar Isaac is a phenomenal performer...No negatives to any of them...they all were fantastic...can't stress it enough...but Poe Dameron really stood out to me...and before this movie, the x-wing and pilot scenes were the least appealing to me...still loved them...just my least favorite parts.
- On the village massacre, I would have added a small amount of more resistance and allow a scene to show some badassery of the commonly-agreed overhyped Captain Phasma. I wanted to see her Boba Fett the frak out of some rebels...even if it were just a 10-second fight....you know like a Poe Dameron-esque Takodana scene...of just pew pew pew, holy balls she is awesome! Instead we get.....Captain Phony
- The Map...and I'm surprised nobody has complained about this. I have seen nitpicking about Rey's clothes being too fancy (wtf?), and various other 'plot holes' which weren't plot holes, but rather ignorant people who either don't remember Star Wars or feel the need to gripe. (Surprisingly haven't seen many complains that in 30 years, lasers go from burning a hole in your chest to throwing you 50 feet back). The map piece was just a missing puzzle piece. They acted like they needed Artoo's piece...it wasn't a piece at all...it was the entire map with a TINY little section missing...they already had the destination on the map piece...and they somehow couldn't figure out where in the galaxy it was? I understand a galaxy is BIG....so it could be any planet of hundreds of thousands...but the way it was presented...I didn't buy it....I would have just presented it as a code that would merely show the plotted course on Artoo's map, and not a piece that actually shows the destination in question.

 

There was some Phasma cut from the village, as seen in the trailer...
The village scene I really wanted to see however, was a part in the novel where Finn is still dazed, turns a corner and comes face-to-face with a villager, who he then let's go.

 

Let me start by saying I love, love, love, LOVE TFA. It's, for me, 2nd best after ANH (I know, I know, put the tar and feathers away), but there are a few things that could have been a bit different:

1. This is the biggest for me, when they're planning to hit the Starkiller base, they're all spit-balling on how to get through the shields, and Han says,"We disable the shield!?" Okay, it's just the way he said it, really bugs me, and I don't know why. I'd have preferred he said something more scoundrel-esque, like "Okay, yea, I know how this goes", and then face palms, or something equally Han-worthy. We all would have gotten that reference immediately. But hey, I'm no director and I respect JJ Abrams vision.

2. I would have liked to have seen more grieving from Chewie. Poor guy just lost his best friend, a man who's like his brother, and we only see him in one scene for like 3 seconds after they return to the resistance base where he's really busted up about it. Han and Chewie are like the quintessential buddies that exist nowhere else in film, except for Harry, Ron and Hermione maybe, but Han and Chewie are way, way cooler. I'm not saying I want to see him writhing in pain, but a little more woulda been appropriate. Just sayin'...btw, if I'm being too emo about Chewie's lack of emo, just let me know...my girlfriend and I curled up in a ball and cried to each other when Han got shanked by J̶a̶c̶e̶n̶ Ben.

3. When Rey "acquires" BB-8...really, she just jacks this robot from Tito and he doesn't even fight her? That's 60 portions you just lost pal.

4. Finn could have at least shot a few rounds over the villager's heads; standing there like a mope while your buddies on either side of you are lighting 'em up won't get you invited to the barracks poker game later on that night.

5. The dialogue between Poe and Finn when they are reunited back at the resistance base, Poe tells Finn, "You completed my mission." Every time, I swear he's gonna say, "You complete me."

Other than that, the movie is uh-maaaaazing.

 

2. Chewie and Leia needed a scene together following Han's death. Instead, Leia completely ignores him... there's not even an indication that she is intentionally giving him some space. Whatever Han told Leia about Rey, it must have been pretty important for that to happen.

3. Teedo was going to scrap BB-8 for parts. Rey also has somewhat of a reputation, he probably didn't want to have to fight with her.

I actually like the way they changed some of Rey's motivations in the final cut, because in an earlier version (and in the novel), she was a bit hypocritical. Rey claims that Teedo doesn't respect anyone after she steals the functioning droid (in top condition) from him, and then takes BB-8 into town the next day with the intention of selling him to a junk deal (Unkar Plutt)... how is that any more respectful?

4. I think in that moment, you wouldn't be thinking about trying to keep up appearances...
A prior scene, which is found in the novel, where Finn turns a corner and comes face to face with a villager would have set that up a bit better.

 

I wish there had been some sort of cue, even something as simple as a light coming on, the indicated R2 had reactivated after encountering BB-8. That whole subplot seems too coincidental... too dumb luck. Dare I say too JJ?

 

Delete this stupid starkiller base, the movie was awsome but i hate this stupid f***** 3.!! deathstar, physics were simply ignored, god this thing is so stupid cant say this often enough.

The first part of the movie was full of atmosphere, why dont make this longer and delete some actionscenes and this dumb starkiller base.

Maybe instead of the starkiller base they could have show a huge training academy for stormtroopers and show some scenes where they kidnap childs from their family and the training.

 

I don't know what was already listed, but some of my ideas:

• Have Finn fight CPT Phasma and not some random riot StormTrooper on Takadana.
• After killing Han Solo, Kylo Ren dons the helmet and keeps it on. Have him say something like, now your son is truly dead.
• Have Luke say something at the end. Maybe something like, "It's you" or "Rey" or "You're here."

 

The laser beams travel faster than light. Who says the effects can't be seen in "real time" across the Galaxy?

 

1. Predictabilty. Seen it all done before and better in the OT.
2. The OT cast was underused, especially Luke Skywalker and his two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO. Leia looked tired. Chewbacca had enough time to expand the depth of his character. Han Solo gives a good performance, but still doing the job of Freighter Pilot/smuggler after 30 years?! Han also doesn't make it to the end of the film, which puts a huge distracting downer feeling into the rest of the film and eclipses the destruction of the Starkiller Base. So when Starkiller is gone, I didn't really care. Nobody applauded or clapped when it blew up.
3. Starkiller Base. Did we really need a third variation of the Death Star? No. Please invent something newer and more original than a big shooty moon/planety thing. The conclusion of the film with Starkiller base being destroyed gave me no sense of joy or relief whatsoever. Seen it before twice already.
4. Ridiculously lame new arch villain Snoke, who is basically a large hologram. Has absolutley no sense of threat or menace. Basically the Wizard of Oz.
5. Pace of the film was too fast. Very little time to think about a scene and where the story is and might go. Probably purposely designed that way to disguise the fact its a safe soft reboot of the franchise which heavily borrows/reuses elements of Episodes IV and V. Presumably done to please fans of the OT with nods of nostalgia and also to educate new younger fans with a tried and tested plot and earn safe money from ticket sales.

 

2. The OT cast have had their story. One of them had to die in this movie in order to fully pass on the torch. Luke and Leia still have too much importance in the Galaxy, so Han was the logical choice.

4. On the contrary, I'm already more interested in Snoke than I ever was about the Emperor. In the Original Trilogy, Palpatine was a pretty shallow character.

 

I just saw it for the second time and this bothered me.

I would have that no name stormtrooper with the coolest weapon in the movie that fights Finn with the lightsaber be Captain Phasma. They made her character seem too weak. It was Gwendoline Christie. She could have been so much more badass. smh

 

Have finn fight Captin phasma and win.

 

I'm just saything this should have been her.

 

1)Spend more time on the First Order ship with Finn BEFORE he defects. Allow us to see more of his struggle and let us get a taste of what life is like as a stormtrooper. Give us a moment in which Finn is in a room of stormtroopers once their service is done for the day and they ALL remove their helmets., thus emphasizing their individuality and stressing that the "bad guys" are all flesh and blood underneath. A little more interaction between Finn and Phasma during these moments would have gone a long way too.

2)Show me at least one other character that Rey interacts with on Jakku other than the jerk she bargains with for credits. Does she live in complete isolation? Does she have any friends or rivals?

3)For me the film was never as good after our characters left Jakku. So I would have had the film linger there longer as we got a better look around the planet and learned more about the history of the great battle that took place on that world. If you are a casual moviegoer you would not truly understand all that went down on this world. Also I would not have had Finn and Rey either meet that quickly or interact that quickly (they could have bumped into each other one day giving each other quizzical stares with BB8 not around but interacted the following day).

4)Let the story breathe. JJ didn't allow this film to take a breath. It was all a rollercoaster ride and that proved to be a detriment to character development, world building and character interaction. I think people universally agree that the monsters in the cargo scenes could go, opening up more time for the development needed.

5)And for even more opening of time simply scrap the whole Starkiller Base aerial battle. It did NOTHING for the movie and simply seemed derivative.

 

That's what happens when you have to write a script to fit specific story beats, without having enough time to trim things down before filming.

Arndt submitted the plot outline in August 2013, J.J. and Larry took over the screenwriting in October, they finished their first draft 6 weeks later in December, and then started filming in April 2014. The movie really needed an extra year of development, but Disney wanted it made. In fact, Disney originally wanted the movie released in the summer, essentially leaving the team with 2 1/2 years to get it written, shot, edited, and ready for theatrical distribution.

It took George Lucas 16 months to produce the first outlines and draft for The Star Wars, 8 months to complete the second, then another 7 months to complete the third, a further 5 months to complete the fourth, before finally completing the script in March 1976, more than 3 years after he began. Even on The Phantom Menace, George Lucas took about 2 1/2 years to write the script.

It's really not J.J.'s fault. If anything, the problems lie with Disney/Lucasfilm.

Even Guardians of the Galaxy had about 3 years of writing and development before they started filming... and that uses mostly existing characters.

 

1. less "inspiration" from previous movies.
2. NO DeathStar 3.0
3. slightly different lightsaber combat
4. No Finn-riot stormtrooper fight. Too... childish, added purely because teenboys like such dumb but "awesome" actions. Dropping your blaster to get into melee - it's stupid beyond belief.
5. better explanation of Resistance and Republic's political decisions.
6. better costumes. In my opinion final Leia's costume was terrible.

The ending is perfect.