List five things you would have changed from The Force Awakens

Now THAT would be one hell of a twist.

 

1) Han survives.
2) Han survives.
3) Han survives.
4) Han survives.
5) Han survives.

 

I liked The Force Awakens, but it s just my 5th favorite. There were things that I didn't like (Starkiller Base is one).
My list is:
1- Han introduction and The Rathtar thing
2- an explanation of Poe's survival.
3- The only thing that I really hate about the movie is that Resistance reunion when they are trying to come up with a plan. It looks like some The Flash scenes, where someone is explaining something and then another person completes the other's sentence.
4- Falcon's arrival on Starkiller Base.
5- More known aliens. It felt odd to not have species we've seen before (human, Chewie and Nien Numb don't count)

 

I really enjoyed the movie but I thought some thing could have been improved or rearranged to fit the narrative a bit better.

1- I would have changed Starkiller base to be a weapons factory instead of another death star. Have it function similarly to the star forge, and show how the FO was able to amass an armada so quickly. A Fleet of ships could destroy a planet just as easily as some super weapon.

2- Change Hux to be more like Grand Admiral Thrawn. I would then have Hux and Kylo play off each other more. Hux being more calm and collected using intelligence over raw power or fanaticism to win battles, while Kylo would be the rash emotional one trying to rely on brute strength or the force to get what he wants.

3- Give Phasma more screen time. She should have been the one to fight finn at maz's castle, and someone from his old unit should have been the one to drop the shield at SB. Had Phasma been defeated and disgraced by finn it would set up a nice revenge type plot. Also instead of Finn being all cocky on the SB I would show him being more regretful of betraying a close friend from his old unit. Have Han confront Finn on why he ran away in the first place, and have him be more of a mentor to finn in that moment. Then have his old friend call him a "Traitor" before they leave. I think that would give a bit more weight with the Kylo fight as the thought of being a traitor will still be fresh in finn's mind when Kylo uses that against him.

4- I would have given Rey and Finn more time on the falcon to figure out what they were going to do after they escaped. Prehaps show Rey starting to have more of a connection with the Force by choosing to go the Maz's planet, b/c she has a feeling that that is where she needs to go. Would be a better set up for the lightsaber calling to her if it was her choice to go there. Then when they arrive Han is already there and the whole Rathtar scene can play out as normal.

5- Give Rey and Leia more time together, have them talk about Luke, the Force, why he left, why she is afraid to see him, why she would send Rey in her place, something instead of just a hug.

 

I loved TFA. It wasn't perfect and like any of the other six films I can look past its deficiencies and immerse myself in the atmosphere.

1. The name "Snoke". It just doesn't sound Star Warsy to me and makes me cringe every time a character utters the name.
2. The way in which the film shrinks the galaxy again. One of the strong points of the PT in expanding the galaxy is ignored. A couple more scenes with the Senate or Senators giving further insight on that state of the galaxy would have been a small way to do this.
3. More of the familiar species. All the new ones were great, but many of the species in the galaxy are widespread and the only species that show up in TFA are humans and a Wookie? That does not make sense.
4. R2 being in a coma and then suddenly walking up. Cringe-worthy.
5. The map thing. Hey guys we can clearly see the missing piece and we're supposed believe that there are no other maps in the entire galaxy that have that missing portion?

 

Yeah, I didn't have a problem with the mind trick at all as much as Rey without a doubt beating Kylo in a light saber dual. They could have had her do well and escape(maybe by Chewie flying the Falcon right at Kylo making him have to jump for safety!) haha but it was really unnecessary that she actually punked Kylo that badly. I don't think it was so much a plot device as it was JJ wanting his only SW movie to be a complete film as a stand alone which is what brings me to my second complaint in blowing up another planet blower upper gun. I think Star Killer Base would have been a little better received if the Resistance failed and only crippled the weapon just long enough to escape. This would have separated it a bit from the two death stars the rebel fleet exploded in two other films. I mean FU*K!

 

HAHA the biggest difference between JJ and Spielberg is JJ wants to live out his childhood fantasies and put them on screen while Spielberg(like Lucas) is always searching for new ideas and challenges. JJ has the eye for what makes a good film, but makes films for himself.

 

I think some dialogues in the movie are way too "bureaucratic". There are many lines that feel a little off. A few examples:
"It was Snoke. He seduced our son" - Leia to Han;
"We shall destroy the government that supports the Resistance, the Republic." - Hux to Snoke;

 

1. Have Snoke not be CGI.
2. Explain how Rey learned how to use her powers so quickly.
3. Explain things a bit better in general. To many unanswered questions with just about everything.
4. No scene with the huge monsters on Hans new Freighter.
5. Have a more believable super weapon (Starkiller Base).

 

The way I see it, destroying the Republic wasn't the FO's original plan. I highly recommend this article:

http://spoiledbluemilk.com/2016/05/11/the-first-orders-original-plan/#more-6965

Taking these facts from Bloodline into consideration, the dialogue becomes less "bureaucratic"

TFA Script:

GENERAL HUX Supreme Leader, I take full responsibility for th--

SNOKE General! Our strategy must now change.

GENERAL HUX The weapon. It is ready. I believe the time has come to use it. We shall destroy the government that supports the Resistance, the Republic. Without their friends to protect them, the Resistance will be vulnerable, and we will stop them before they reach Skywalker. Snoke considers. Almost seems to die for a moment. Then:

SNOKE Go. Oversee preparations. ​

 

1. Han lives. And if he was to die, definitely not get killed by his own son. He should've at least gone down in a blaze of glory. I still wanted him not to die at all, though. He could've died in the next movie.

2. Not going backwards with Han's development as a person, i.e. not going back to smuggling with Chewie (unless it's changed that he somehow was smuggling for the resistance somewhat in the next movies or the books). It's somewhat weird to me that he was so able to go into the resistance base and go right to the forefront of the group, unless the resistance knew right away that he was Leia's husband (but there still could've been a trust issue there) or that he had been working for the resistance at some point.

3. Han and Leia being estranged.

4. Reunite the Big 3 before Han's passing.

5. Have Luke in the movie much, much more.

 

1. Another Death Star (Starkiller). I rolled my eyes when I saw this.
2. The Kanjaclub/rathkar scene. Know it introduced Han and Chewie, but didn't have to go that route. Could have added deleted Leia scene.
3. Lack of Captain Phasma
4. Too many characters squeezed in.
5. Maybe have a couple of quick scenes of Luke (although not reveal his face as in the force back) to add to the mystery, suspense.

 

1. Have Starkiller Base survive as an overall threat until Episode 9. They could of just destroyed that oscillator to put the whole base out of commission for a while. Did you see how big that thing was? How many special parts would need to be manufactured on an epic scale to replace it?

2. Remove the instantaneous space travel. This was also a problem with Abrams in Star Trek Into Darkness.

3. Move the well done Poe rescue and dogfight over Maz's castle to Starkiller base at the end of the movie.

4. Move the destruction of the New Republic to the climax of the film. This also removes the erroneous science of seeing an energy beam streak across the sky light years away in real time above Maz's castle. Just replace that with everyone looking up in horror as the 1st Order fleet arrives.

5. Hire a 3rd grade science teacher as a consultant to remove more erroneous science:

A. the Falcon's timing coming out of Lightspeed between the shield and planet surface
B. All the energy* of a star being compressed small enough to be contained within a planet's core

* I don't think anyone in the story group/ script writing process fully appreciated just HOW MUCH energy we're talking about here. Not only could the new weapon destroy five Alderaan-sized planets... "It could take out four trillion planets at once — every planet in the galaxy." See: The Physics of Starkiller Base for more details.​

C. Having said energy escape to create a planet/'Earth-sized' Star. There is not enough gravity to cause fusion. Jupiter is still too small.
​

Yes I know it's science FICTION. But the fiction can be less insulting to the audience.

 

There are lots of things I would have changed in TFA, but here are my top five:

1) eliminate the "kessel run line" and Han Solo correcting her. To me, it came off as Rey quoting A New Hope.

2) Include Tie Strikers and different looking spaceships for the First Order. As is, things looked too familiar, just painted black.

3) Edit out Maz Kanata's line "good question.... for another time" or reword it to sound less like filmmakers are purposefully holding back.

4) A scene showing Kylo Ren being taken off Starkiller base before it got blown up.

5) Starkiller base got destroyed too easily with too little planning.

There are other suggestions I have, but these are my top five.

 

1. Another Death Star (It was completely obsolete and unoriginal as blast)
2. Poe wrecking about 34 Ties in 7 seconds and of course Finn needs to explain to us that this is "a hell of a pilot!!"
3. Rey saying "oh right the force...now i´ll Blast u up with the force!" sO CHEESY.
4. Too much mystery...we don´t get any real update on the state of the galaxy. A handfull of planets gets destroyed and the republic is blasted up? I thougt there were thousands of systems?
5. Snoke seems to have no motive at all...i´m afraid they didnt figure out any backstory and just left it to rian johnson to clean this mess up.

 

1. Don't just have Empire vs Rebels 2.0. Have the threat come from a smaller source - like terrorists in the real world. A kind of Sith cult that is using new methods to spread evil across the galaxy. They had the base template with the KoR, the FO seemed pointless for me.
2. Reveal why Kylo Ren's fell to the dark side in this movie. A better reason on screen would've helped us realise he's not just a spoiled brat.
3. Snoke - not CGI please and not Emperor 2.0.
4. Don't throw too many characters at us. Combine Finn and Poe so we have a strong connection to the end battle - which shouldn't be another trench run by the wau!
5. No Death Star 2.0 that makes no sense. Have a Force weapon. Something that can literally capture the energy of the Force.

I could wrap all those points up by just saying: DON'T JUST RIP OF THE ORIGINALS!

(Also: No Tatooine 2.0, don't have Chewie and Leia walk past each other, explain Artoo's awakening and more romance/sexual tension).

 

This Is In No Particular Order:

1: More Phasma
2: Put Some Flips In Rey’s/Kylo’s Lightsaber Duel
3: Have Luke Ignite His Green Lightsaber At The End
4: Have The Resistance Just Set Up A Temporary Base On Takodana To Explain Why Finn Was Even There
5: Have Kylo Lose Some Limbs And Get Scarred Way More At The End