List five things you would have changed from The Force Awakens

1 - Give Finn a believable back story...or change him into a more tortured soul. I can't believe that someone indoctrinated into the Empire at birth, brainwashed, and trained for years (admitted by Finn) turns into a jittery chicken who didn't even bother to fire a shot before crumbling during his first engagement. I think that either his story should have been changed to either an Empire doing ad hoc propaganda recruiting of older males to replenish ranks to justify his quick change of heart...or... make him more hardened, tortured and then perhaps "regretful" - like that of K. Russel in the movie "Soldier" (which actually shows the demeanor of someone that was conditioned in the manner suggested by Finn's backstory).

2 - Where was Chewbacca's Wookie rage (or even grief) when Han dies?!?! They've been together forever, the two halves of a whole. Han dies...Chewy grunts kills trooper or two, detonates the bombs...then....nothing. Not even a "rrrrwwwwwwwwww.....sob". WTF. If he didn't care...then why did we? Remember how broken up he was at the moment Han was frozen. Did we really get that same reaction?

3 - Let get away from the CGI main toons. I though the original Greedo makeup was more believable (and tangible) than Maz and Snoke. I mean after Avatar...we just got lazy. I've seen serious effort on that show "FaceOff" to get good quality tangible makeup effects....it's possible.

4 - Even after the destruction of two D. Stars....they decide that bigger is better. Whatever...fine that's not the problem. Mother problem was that it took much more effort to break into the power station on an obscure moon in ep. 6 (requiring a village of Ewoks, a rebel strike force, and the theft of an AT-ST) than it did for a handful of jackasses to land on an Empire controlled super weapon and merely walk through the friggin front door...unchallenged. Didn't even need an R2 unit to bypass security. First Order can construct that monstrosity and still manage to leave the back door ajar.

5 - Can I reeeeeeaaaallly believe that the hardened, battle trained, iron maiden Captain Phasma decided to lower the shield of their brand new super weapon because she had a gun to her head. What happened to all that training, brainwashing and conditioning. The Stormtroopers that died in battle going up against X-Wings had more heart than she did. Didn't we really expect her to put up more of a fight...can we really take the First Order seriously if her and Finn manage to jack them up single handedly.

I'll keep it at five, but there was just too much wrong with this movie (full length backside saber strikes where you can live? A super weapon that depletes the sun for power...does the planet move? If not, what do you do when you run out of your one sun...only one I'm assuming or else I wouldn't expect ice on the damn planet)

 

I love Rey........The only new character I love in TFA

Daisy Ridley is great

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 25, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 25, 2015 ---

I love Rey........The only new character I love in TFA

Daisy Ridley is great

 

1. Remember, the village raid was Finn's very first mission. Sure it's still hard to believe that someone raised from birth would be able to break from the "programming" and mental conditioning... but you know, the cosmic Force awakened and all that.

2. Did you see the same movie? Chewbacca let out a "rrrrwwwwwwwwww", then proceeded to shoot Kylo (who, I might add, is basically like a nephew to him), which drew the attention of the stormtroopers, who he dealt with while he made a run to cover so he could detonate the explosives.

3. They wanted to do Maz as a puppet, but the designs for both Maz and Snoke were not even finalised when a lot of their material was filmed. You can blame Disney for pushing the movie into production too soon.

4. But they fixed all the major design flaws! The problem was all in the staff protecting it (it was all Phasma's fault, which was kind of ridiculous, as you pointed out in point 5). Honestly, had it not been for the weakness of Phasma, the Resistance would never have been able to destroy it. There was no exposed exhaust port or anything like that. It took the disabling of the shields, and a ground assault to create an opening for Poe Dameron to get inside.

 

...a ground assault of what, 5 people? Not to mention a half baked plan from faulty information that developed within a ten minute conversation within a group of 25 people? Kind of A-Teamish if you ask me.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 25, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 25, 2015 ---

2. Did you see the same movie? Chewbacca let out a "rrrrwwwwwwwwww", then proceeded to shoot Kylo (who, I might add, is basically like a nephew to him), which drew the attention of the stormtroopers, who he dealt with while he made a run to cover so he could detonate....


Who didn't get emotional when Vader died.....shouldn't we expect the same audience grief when Solo dies? Or at least wouldn't it have made the movie that much better? Just saying, the movies were originally timeless because of the connection you felt to the characters and the empathy you had...can you honestly tell me that they accomplished that here?

 

For mow, I just want to see next chapters. They may answer to some questions.
I didn't mind of cgi characters. Didn't get complains about Maz.
Snoke and fazzbools are ok.

 

I feel like they really glossed over destroying a few planets with millions + people dying
A bit more about the "republic" and why there were all in the same star system

 

If Captain Phasma had not been so easily persuaded, they would have never got the shield down, and the Resistance never would have destroyed it.

Also, the Resistance conducted reconnaissance of the base before they planned their attack. It wasn't just based on Finn's information. Their planning meeting basically starts with mentioning this:

POE DAMERON: The scan data from Snap's reconnaissance flight confirms Finn's report.
SNAP WEXLEY: They've somehow created a hyper light speed weapon, built within the planet itself.

It wasn't really "faulty" information.
The only "fauly" information was thinking that their ships alone could destroy the oscillator, and Finn saying he knew how to disable the shields.
Had they more time, I'm sure they would have tried figuring something else out.

Would it have hurt to add another 5-10 minutes to the movie? Probably not.
But I really don't think Chewie's reaction to it was inadequate. Leia's? sure... but not Chewie's.

The real issue is that his death was telegraphed so much, that they spend so much time building up to it, that the time to react to it is hardly noticeable...
But it's more than what Obi-wan got in ANH, so I really don't see why everyone is complaining now.

What do you mean? The senate was on one planet... and the Resistance liked to keep their fleet nearby. They had no idea there was a superweapon capable of destroying the entire system from halfway across the galaxy...

 

if i had to take 5 things :

- no CGI Snoke, why on earth did they not let Andy Serkis do his stuff with make up is beyond me.
- as much as i love his work, have the balls to say to Williams " rescore parts of the movie with some amazing themes"
- add some cooler starships in the final battle, seriously, X wings and standard TIE fighters is really playing it safe. if u see what designs they had in the art of book that they didnt use..... a shame
- better geography, first star wars film i watched where at times i had no idea what is where , that system starkiller base destroyed ? i gather the senate is not on Coruscant anymore or Coruscant changed its name. Say what u want about the prequels but from Mustafar to Kamino, its was all crystal clear storytelling.
- more scenes to let the film breathe, better and logical character beats.

 

They drained the sun. Not much left to save.

Also I a not sure the new weapon moves. It is possible that the it only has a few shots. They blew up the Hosnian system and they wanted to nail the resistance.

 

Hmm did they drain the sun from their own system? Doesn't look like the brightest move... (Ahah brightest )

I do think that it is mobile, like @ArynCrinn said

I thought that meant the planet it self, you think it's about the shots?

 

Actually you put it into better perspective with that post so i guess I kind of retract my statement, What I meant was that I found it surprising that the entire republic was a few planets nearby when the first order had been pushed out to the outer rim, I assumed they would be more spread out and with more planets, but I see your point

 

5 Things I would change:

1. Opening sequence would be a Resistance cruiser. We would see Poe's X-wing leave the cruiser and land at the village.
2. Sequence showing the actual Tie Fighter crash, and showing how Poe made his way back to the Resistance.
3. No: "You're Han Solo" dialogue from Rey
4. No: "Chewie likes you" from Han
5. More interaction between Maz and Solo.
6. There's more, but It's Christmas!!

 

1) The galaxy felt empty. Were talking galactic level powers here the resistance should have had more than 20 X-wings. There should have been more troops on starkiller base it felt abandoned. Troops should have come a long with Han and the gang when they infiltrated starkiller base.

2) Han's death it felt like harrison made JJ to do it so he could come back, I wanted an ot reunion. If han had to die should have been Episode VIII.

3) Some backstory on what the heck is going on in the galaxy. Why is there a resistance and a new republic, Leia should have explained this.

4) Kylo shouldn't have been defeated in the first film, Chewie or Han should have swept in with the Millenium Falcon and blasted at him forcing him to retreat. Or even luke could have shown up and had a brutal fight with kylo that he has to break off because starkiller base is in the process of blowing up.

5) Finn seemed a little too normal for someone that has been brainwashed since childhood.

6) needed more poe. Is he not going to be part of the new big 3 is he Lando type secondary character thats the feeling I got.

7) Slightly slower pace Finn, rey and Han could have had some conversation time so we could learn more about whats been going on and who these characters are.

8) Lor San Tekka or whatever his name is should have been a jedi and should have been killed after a brief lightsaber duel with kylo in order to up Kylo's credentials as a villian. Depending on what Rey's backstory/heritage is he should have been watching over or raising Rey.

9) Leia mentions that she knew Snoke and that he was influencing kylo what the hell is up with that?

 

I'm kind of reminded of the line in Empire Of The Sun where Christian Bale's character says 'I can't remember what my parents look like'. I can't remember half the plot surrounding that stupid star killer thing, probably because I absolutely hated that whole storyline and I can't remember a single piece of music from the entire movie! Maybe it's cos I'm from the generation that saw the OT first time round and my memory isn't what it used to be, but I can quite happily hum the theme tune from Avatar without any problem (not that I actually do, of course!)

 

1. Cut the whole Rakhtar scene. It adds nothing to the movie. We don't need to know that Han is still an idiot and while I love Bala-Tik and his Scottish accents in the undubbed version, unless they'll bring him back in VIII or IX it's completely wasted. Maz Kanata could have gotten that point across just as well.
2. shifted showing Han's exploits to Maz castle. See above.
3. Left in the scene where Maz tells Finn that she know recognizes a worriors eyes after the castle attack
4. Left in the scene where Leia sends Kor Sella to Hosnia Prime including all the Maclunkey shade she throws at the New Republic, because there always needs to be more Leia throwing shade, dammit.
5. The whole of the scene where R2 wakes up, including Rey mentioning that Kylo Ren said they had the other part of the map of the Empire's archives and Rey and Poe hugging it out and introducing themselves.

Movie might be the same length.

 

The novel makes it sound like it just fires from it's own system.
They make some deal about how it shoots through space, and not across it...
It sounds like whoever wrote some of the science behind it was trying to sound like they were smart or something.

They basically drain the sun from Starkiller's own system, and once it's depleted, they move onto a different planet and build a new weapon.
It's part of the reason why Hux needs authorization from Snoke to fire it. They don't want to just waste the sun.

The Republic is more than just a few planets... Coruscant, Corellia, Naboo, and the countless others, are all still there.
Starkiller only destroyed the Hosnian system... not the entire Galactic Core or anything like that.
The First Order only destroyed the Republic in the sense that they destroyed the senate and it's fleet that was gathered there.

1. That would have been unnecessary... you don't really get any more from showing Poe's arrival there. Opening with the First Order transports get's things happening sooner.
2. Understandably, they wanted to keep Poe's return a surprise... they probably shouldn't have put his X-wing scenes in all the trailers though. And sometimes, it is better that the audience know just as much as the characters. Honestly though, the story is about Rey, and the map to Luke Skywalker. How Poe got off Jakku is not particularly important to that story at all.
3. What was wrong with it?
4. Why not?
5. How about more from Maz altogether? I really want to know what Han told Maz about Rey... I really want to know what happened after they met her underground (why did Finn and Maz become separated from Han and Chewie? How did Finn lose that blaster?)... I really wanted to see what happened after the battle on Takodana was over.

1. Why would the Resistance have more than 20 X-wing fighters? The Rebellion only had 30 fighters total in their assault on the Death Star. The Resistance isn't as well developed as the Rebellion, because in the 30 years of relative peace and freedom from the Empire, people haven't sought to join their ranks in droves.
2. You wanted an OT reunion... but the characters are better off without one. Han's character should have died long ago. This movie needed to fix one of the biggest mistakes of the Original Trilogy (although, that mistake allowed him to have a better death than would have otherwise been possible).
3. There is some backstory to the galaxy.

"Luke Skywalker has vanished.
In his absence, the sinister
FIRST ORDER has risen from
the ashes of the Empire
and will not rest until
Skywalker, the last Jedi,
has been destroyed.

"With the support of the
REPUBLIC, General Leia Organa
leads a brave RESISTANCE."

And later on:
HUX: Today, is the end of the Republic. The end of a regime that acquiesces to disorder. At this very moment, in a system far from here, the New Republic lies to the Galaxy, while secretly supporting the treachery of the loathsome Resistance. This fierce machine which you have built, upon which we stand, will bring an end to the senate, to their cherished fleet. All remaining systems will bow to the First Order, and will remember this, as the last day of the Republic!

That being said, I think it would have been better to save the destruction of the senate for episode VIII or IX. Use the time in episode VII to establish the scenario where the Republic have become complacent in the treaty they made with the Imperial remnant. Make it clear that Leia was a lone voice of reason in the Senate, who had more or less become exiled from the senate, which lead to the creation of the Resistance. Have the Resistance face off against the First Order alone, and then in Episode VIII, Leia could have her "I told you so moment" when the First Order shows up in superior numbers and destroys the senate.
Things would have played out better, with more meaning, that way.

4. Why could Kylo be defeated in the first film? This trilogy is all about Rey and Kylo. The movie needed to show that Kylo Ren is not Darth Vader, and that Rey is our new hero. Having Luke show up to save Rey would have been stupid, and made Rey look pathetic.

5. Agreed, but like I said earlier... cosmic Force awakening and all that. Even Hux and Phasma don't understand how that happened, but Snoke and Kylo sure felt it.

6. They needed Han out of the way first. Sad, but true. There was no real room for Poe on the Falcon. Sure he could have flown it during their escape... but they really needed to show that Rey could inherit it at the end.

7. Rey and Finn are forced into helping each other... Finn just wants to get away. Rey is too trusting of Finn's story (because deep down, she wants a reason to leave Jakku). Han has no interest in them until they mention Luke Skywalker (because he wants to know where Luke is too). Maz sees through Finn's story. Rey feels somewhat betrayed, then has this huge burden dropped on her (the lightsaber), so she runs away from it. Finn feels responsible for what happens to Rey, so he decides to stick with Han and make up an excuse to go along. What else did you need to learn?

8. Again, they didn't need to "up" Kylo's credentials as a villain. He is not Darth Vader. He's a scared, conflicted young man who just doesn't have his stuff together yet. Cutting down a defenseless old man reveals his cowardice right from the beginning of the movie.

9. They were only trying to introduce the character here. No need to give away everything so soon. Obi-Wan Kenobi knew Darth Vader as well. Audiences had to wait 3 years to find out what that was all about... Leia even knew that Obi-wan fought alongside her father during the clone wars... that wasn't really explained for more than a decade.

 

I'm not disagreeing, I'm just saying that the design itself had no major flaws. It was all human error that allowed the Resistance to destroy Starkiller.
The whole situation in the movie was rather ridiculous, but it's nothing to do with the First Order repeating the same mistakes as the Empire.
The First Order's mistake was entirely different.

Again, I'm not saying it couldn't have been better... I'm just saying that there was a reaction from Chewbacca, from Leia, and from Rey, even if it wasn't played out in the movie as well as it should have be.


I'm actually quite hopeful about the next instalment though. Rian Johnson has had at least 18 months to plan and develop the script, which is a lot longer than the 3 months that JJ and Larry were given...

I actually disagree on this one... I felt more with Han's death than I ever did with Obi-Wan's.

All Obi-wan got was that reaction from Luke, which wasn't even as good as Chewbacca's, and then that brief scene on the Falcon where he's all "I can't believe he's gone." It just felt so forced... especially for someone that Luke hardly knew.