List five things you would have changed from The Force Awakens

1) Han and Leia still together physically. They were still married.

2) Han, Leia, and Luke having a reunion scene.

3) A parting kiss between Han and Leia.

4) Han lives.

That's it. One track mind. I liked everything else.

Oh yeah, what Unseen said about making Han and Leia ANH Han and Leia. Really stupid on the writers part...And Luke being self-exiled. Ridiculous nonsense...

 

Only 5 changes in the whole Movie? Despite really liked the movie i think the room to growth is enormous, depending on each one preferences.

What i defenitely would change.....

1. No New Death Star/Star Killer Base, no super weapons at all, an invasion on the system Jakku and a huge battle to free it.
2. No Map to find Luke and no R2 Magic awake, after Han being death and a massive innocent massacre Luke come to help the Resistence and saves the day.
3. More, much more dogfights between Tie Fighters and X Wing and Y Wings, by the way we need to have more B Wings.
4. Create a fight/Riot in the Maz Cantina, the whole scene needs something happening for now it's just a couple of cool characters just standing around.
5. Let's redo the whole Han Cargo scene, if you go with the Ratars forget the Space Gangs and create an alien slashing scene, if you go Space Gang forget the Ratars and just play a simple gang shootout scene, but make it good and in the way introduce Han to the movie properly (this is easily the movie weakest scene)

but on other hand i can't forget about:

+ Lor San Tekka should fight and had action time, he could even be Kyle Katarn
+ Phasma as is a complete waste of screen time, make her really bad, bossing around and killing everything or just kill her
+ Forget Snoke and bring back Palpatine to the "Revenge of the Sith"
+ Missing a scene with Darth Vader, a powerfull flashback would be great (it's the first SW Movie Without Him)
+ Forget Motion Capture to Maz, Lupita could play a much better character on its own (amazing voicing over saved the bad mc job)
+ Cameron Poe should had much more screen time
+ Poor ending with Finn "Comatose?", why don't take their hand off in SW fashion or a gore and bloody result of the battle (Disney?)
+ No known alien races in the SW (Weequays, Tweleaks, Jawas, Quarrens, etc.) and whats the point of bringing Ackbaar or Nien Nunb as have them as set decorations?
+ No Lando Calrissian? We all missed him. And what about Boba Fett or any one of the original Bounty Hunters (Bossk, 4-Lom, Dengar, IG 88).

 

I definitely spotted a Twi'lek in the background of Maz's castle. In the back, just as we walk through the door.

 

Returning to this thematic i would sacrifice all the changes we could make for one simple change................

Having Rey using her Force Powers in her daily life in Jakku, daredevil acrobatics and object telekinesis, then the force mind suggestion on the junk traders or the guy picking bb8, and if we mix some jedi staff figthing moves in the casbah fight; that would definitely established the character and what her could do, the later Rey Force sequences in the movie will feel so much more natural and would give the whole character a much more solid background.

Come on, just imagine this little piece of change, demonstrating the use of the Force was something completely natural to Rey, would make the whole movie a little bit better/believeble.

 

5 things? That's all I get??? Fine. Loved the movie and will see it many more times. HOWEVER;
1: More Maz. Because she reminds me of E.T. Minus the elongated head.
2: More insight about Kylo. Because he's awesome and I'm biased toward the bad guys.
3: Who the frack is Rey? REALLY?
4: Do we honestly need to end the entire movie with a minute of Luke? Screw you guys...goin home!
5: Last but certainly not least, must we have yet ANOTHER damn death machine? Just stop it. Done and done.

 

Finn needed to be saved at least 3 times while Rey only needed saving once. The one time Finn saved Rey, he ended up looking bad by being knocked out and then looked stupid when he asked her if she was okay when he was clearly in worse shape. Rey had to save Finn 2-3 times, and Chewie had to save him once. Also, Rey gets to save herself (Starkiller Base) and solve her own problems (accidentally releasing the rathtars). This imbalance causes Rey to look too competent in battle while Finn not so much.

For no real reason at all, the film forced Finn to use a lightsaber, resulting in him looking stupid and needing to be saved - twice. Finn was not established as Force sensitive or trained with the lightsaber. He has no business using this Jedi weapon. This was only done because Disney's marketing made Finn a red herring in order to make it a surprise that Rey was the real Jedi. Also, his poor lightsaber skills are negatively contrasted against her awesome performance.

A character who regularly needs to be saved by others and almost never gets to look cool saving people would be friendzoned by most lead female characters. He's no Poe or Han Solo. Finn has his moments here and there, and the dude is brave and has heart, but he feels more like Rey's sidekick than a true lead. I hope VIII treats him better.

 

1) First first first - the shot of everyone on Takodana watching the Starkiller destroy Hosnian Prime. That was just weird and rather dumb. I can look into the sky during the day and not see any celestial bodies other than the moon. Maybe on other planets it's possible to see something else, but to be able to see a laser blast streak across the sky and destroy a system halfway across the galaxy is too much a stretch, even for Star Wars. There either needed to be an explanation or some other device for conveying the destruction. The way the novel describes the weapon and how it destroyed the planet was MUCH cooler.

2) Rey needed to somehow know the mind trick was even a thing. Maybe she'd witnessed Kylo Ren do it, or read about it in a book. But to just intuitively know that not only could she doi it, but that it was even within the realm of possibility was another stretch too far.

3) The plan to disable the Starkiller. Could we do something other than Han disables the shield while X-Wings attack and a few fly down a trench and into the superstructure to torpedo its weak point? Because I feel like we've seen that.

4) Music. I was worried about this months ago, and I'm sad to say I feel I was right. The score is one of Williams' weaker efforts. Granted, a weak Williams score is still orders of magnitude better than almost any other composer's, but I didn't leave the theater with any of the music in my head. The Empire Strikes Back's score is maybe the greatest film score ever written. From the walker assault to the asteroid field to Han & Leia to Yoda's there, it's perfect. This score had no instantly memorable melodies. The X-Wing attack was cool, and Rey's theme was interesting, but nothing... epic.

5) Too fast. I recognize that Star Wars is inherently a fast franchise, but much of this film didn't feel propulsive so much as it did choppy. I think letting certain dialogues flow a little more naturally and the editing to be a bit more realistically paced (Poe getting out of his X-Wing during the opening battle is a good example) would have helped it to not feel so rushed.

Overall, my biggest problems with the film have to do with the Starkiller. I just think there were many other possibilities for conflict that wouldn't have recycled what we've already seen twice before. It felt too derivitive for me. Luckily I loved the new characters and their personal conflicts far more than the Starkiller plot, and hope the next films will express a little more originilaity in the overarching plots.

 

I never had a problem with Anakin being nine years old and Padme being fourteen in "The Phantom Menace". Is there some aversion people have to the female being a few years older than the male in a romance? Or was Lucas expected to copy how he had established Luke in "A New Hope" by making Anakin in his late teens in the 1999 film?

Do people really want originality for these movies? Or did they want Lucas to simply rehash what he had created in the first trilogy?

 

1. They've tried explaining it as something to do with the sub-hyperspace nature of the weapon. It travels faster-than-light, so that it's effects can be seen across the galaxy "in real time." Still a bit weird, but it's better than nothing.
3. But this time, getting the shields down wasn't enough. Han and Chewie also had to create a hole in the structure for the X-wings to get inside. They took the complexity up a level!
I think the real problem is that with everything else they wanted in the story, they didn't have much of a choice when it came to Starkiller.

The problem is more to do with child actors. They're just not very good, especially when paired with Lucas' inability to direct actors. Telling an experienced actor to repeat a scene "faster and more intense" is bad enough, but at least you can get lucky if you've got the right actor for the job. That same kind of direction with a child actor is just going to lead to disaster.

That being said, 9 years old is still a bit young to make some of the characters actions believable. Had Anakin been 14, with a 19 year old Padme, I think it may have worked better. And now that I think about it, Ezra Bridger is about 14 years old in season 1 of Rebels, and he's closer to what Anakin should have been in Episode I.

 

1. Pacing. The pacing went too fast at times. I don't feel we spent enough time on Jakku to understand where Rey came from or care about why she'd want to go back. Even if it was to wait for her family. In ROTJ I cared about Luke telling Han that he used to live on Tatooine because, you could feel the effects of him growing up there from lines he had with Biggs during the Death Star run. Even Anakin I cared more about his home and leaving his mother. Rey didn't really have that because, we didn't spend any time understanding who she was or her surroundings.

2. Finn and Rey easily using a lightsaber. Finn I can understand if it's true that the First Order trains their troops in combat for the lightsaber. Rey, I don't fully understand because, it took Luke losing to Vader on Bespin to finally have a better grip on what not to do. Unless Rey had prior experience at Luke's Jedi Temple but, even that's pushing it.

3. A better explained and expressed introduction of Han and Chewie.

4. Captain Phasma's ease in not fighting Finn and Han. She just did as they told her to and that felt like the end of it.

5. The misconnect on how Poe survived the crash and got back to the Restiance.

 

1) Agree, the effects could have been done differently for this scene. Seems like it was written to show off some fancy new effects of the laser beam off the planet and streaking through space.
2) Disagree. An earlier poster mentioned that Kylo was essentially doing the same thing to her, entering her mind with the force, and she finds she was able to resist and also enter his mind, hence never as powerful as Vader statement. She then tried it on a weaker mind, the trooper. When I think of it this way I find it much easier to believe she can use the mind trick. Kylo just taught her.
3) Agree. They drop the shields and decide to go back and do more damage? Shields are down torpedo away.
4) Disagree. While not Williams best, the finale jedi steps is very emotional. My only gripe is there was really no music at all for Kylo and Solos chat on the bridge. They were probably going for dramatic effect with the silence, but it would have been fitting to hear some sad variation of Han and Leias theme playing quietly.
5) Agree. The pacing was fast and for the most part it fit the movie, however I'd of like to of seen more Maz, Poe and Rey meet at some point, at least a eulogy for Han or something. Explain why Leia hugs Rey when they never met? Is it a my husband died to save you kind of hug or what? I feel like they cut out a little too much to make it a fast paced action type movie.

All in all I'm happy with what I got and want to know more. Well played JJ, well played.

 

1. Funny you talk pacing and the introduction to Rey... her introduction is one of the slower parts of the movie. The movie does a fantastic job at conveying her loneliness and isolation... but not so much her desire for belonging. What could have made it better, was the deleted scene where she watches a mother and child boarding a ship to leave (and then suggesting that she watches that ship leave when she is home).
2. Rey being able to use a lightsaber makes a lot of sense... a lot more than Luke. She's been using that staff to fight off would be thieves for several years.
The only issue I really have, is that when she wields the lightsaber, she starts using thrusts and not wide sweeping slashes as you would expect from a staff user.
3. What more explanation do you need? Han had lost his ship a long time ago. When Finn and Rey stole it, it activated a transponder that allowed him to find it. He dropped what he was doing (delivering rathtars to King Prana), and went straight to Jakku to reclaim his ship.
4. Agreed.
5. That's book material that isn't too important to the plot of the story...He wakes up, bumps into some trader, and get's transport off Jakku. In the words of Maz Kanata "a good question, for another time."

3. It wasn't that simple. Remember, they attacked after the shields were down, but they weren't able to cause any damage. They had practically given up until Chewbacca detonated the explosives, creating a hole in the structure which Poe was able to fly into.

 

Technical nitpicks and random thoughts:

1. Have Poe and Finn take out the tractor array instead of "the turbolasers". Seriously that SD is so stuffed with weaponry that taking out two turrets shouldn't do a thing.
2. Up the "noone is falling for you anymore old fossil" angle of the gang scene and change the Rathars to something delightfully oldschool and practical; hint that Rey is unwittingly using the force to time the door slamming shut.
3. Use the arrival at the resistance base to set up the cold war geopolitical landscape of the universe briefly - especialy make clear that the First Order literally struck the hosnian system from "off the map".
4. Have Kylo find the Falcon and sit in its cockpit, let him decide against destroying the vessel to build up ambiguity before the encounter with Han.
5. Extend (!) the battle over starkiller base to include character drama ( maybe one of the pilots sacrificing his life to fly inside and destroy the oscilator, Nien Nunb for example) - telegraph that Han and the gang *have to* blow the darn thing up from the inside more clearly.

 

I will list just two things:
1) The Starkiller base sequence was rather unnecessary and too much similar to ANH, fortunately there was another thread going in the backround with the main characters. The superweapon could have been left out and the last mission could be a mission to save Han and the others. The SK had one real purpose, the FO could destroy Hosnian Prime, but this could could have been also done with a single attack maybe.
2) I think the role of Phasma could be more interesting if she tried to convince Finn to go back to FO. This way her role would be more different and had her own purpose. There are already two leader in the FO, we get to know, but this way Phasma would be more personal to Finn, as she was his direct commander, she could be have bigger effect. It would be an interesting scene when she tries to convince him that the FO was his home and he can't leave this easy.

 

Good answers. You really explained things better. I really just need to see it again to fully understand things better. It's not seeded in my brain yet like I-VI. I wish they had included that deleted scene with Rey. It would have helped but, think a reason they didn't is because of the vision. Seeing herself as a little girl really showed and conveyed the same thing. Overall I think I am more used to a slower narrative build up and understanding of my surrondings. The Air Taxi scene in TPM is a good example of this. You give the audience an idea of where they are before you jump right into the plot. The ending of the film is a good example of this too. I hope Rey's training with Luke doesn't feel rushed. I'm sure we will dive into characters better in Episode VIII and it sure will make TFA better. Overall I can't complain, I did enjoy the film. I just hope things are a bit slower paced next time around.

I'm really intrigued by the Maz quote and how she got the lightsaber. A part of me wonders if she received it from Snoke ...

 

I was thinking about this a lot yesterday, after reading a friend's critique of the story. He's a Hollywood script doctor and has a few actual credits, so I get his angle.

Anyway, in ANH the mysteries - Clone Wars, the "dark times", "no one to stop us this time" - all hint at a continuity that allows you as the viewer to create your own narrative. In TFA, those mysteries are more weird coincidences that might have a back story, but you know that will be doled out over the next two movies or in other media. Why is the Falcon on Jakku and why are Han and Chewie in orbit around Jakku? Who left Rey? Who is Snoke? They're don't tease the imagination so much as they instruct you to wait it out for the official story.

That bugs me.

For all the criticism of Lucas' abilities as a writer and director, the original Star Wars is a work of art. TFA is an element of a franchise. It just feels less like a completely creative endeavor and more of a money-making one.

Still a pretty good movie, don't get me wrong. It's comfortable. I just long for the new NEW thing.

 

Seen it thrice now, given it time to settle. Got way more than five. Here's a few for shiggles.

1. The space 'battles'
There's no narrative in the battles. If the battles were to be kept, the TFA crew should have studied the battles in the OT (or perhaps studied them harder). Each is a mini-story with escalation. ROTJ, for example: It's a trap - survival/heading for the medical frigate - surprise in store - take some of them with us - red group/gold group - SSD - DS. TFA crew seems to have thought this is what they were doing with Han/Chewie's bombs ultimately being what lets Poe finish the job, etc - I actually facepalmed in the theater - but this is nowhere near the level of the OT's meticulously crafted battle narratives. You can break down the Hoth fight in a similar way. Ditto ANH's DS run.

Also - and I've mentioned this before - crack space pilots should not sound like these actors sounded. You mean to tell me you went out of your way to copy the OT note for note in most places and didn't pick up on this? Actually, we're talking about JJ "85 percent of the film has to sound like we're going to either be really late for something and/or die in two seconds" Abrams, so I'm not that surprised.

2. Han uses Chewie's bowcaster apparently for the first time ever in TFA.
Which is completely fine. And then he keeps borrowing it. Which is also fine. And each time, he acts pretty much like he's never seen it used before. Which is also- Wait, what? Han and Chewie have been together how long?

You can solve this with a simple line implying Chewie made some upgrades, etc. But did they do that? No. My 'I can't believe the writing is this bad' brain decided to attribute Han's inexplicably poor memory not to JJA's bad writing, but rather to what was clearly a genius bit of writing: Han's undiagnosed Alzheimers, which would also explain-

3. Rey, meet Han Solo. Han, meet your niece-
-oh, you know, the one you presumably know about. What with your son being involved in her disappearance and all. (This one kind of doesn't count as of now.)

Now, if Rey really is Luke's daughter, you're telling me that Han 'I never met a hunch I didn't act on' Solo wouldn't take one look at this girl; desert planet (heck of a coincidence, sure), great pilot, great instincts, presumably looks like her mother, definitely about the right age, orphaned, and go: 'You know what, kid? This is probably the longest shot in a galaxy twice as long, but-' Or at least bring it up to Leia? Especially after bumping into Ben and having that conversation with Leia about their son still having light in him, oh, you know, maybe enough light that he didn't kill his cousin, whose body was clearly never found (on account of her kind of sort of never having died, right?), so it would be completely natural for Han to act on that hunch? Just a line or two, even a cutoff, like Han going, "Hey, one more thing-" as Leia gets called off to work. 'Han never got to tell Leia that one more thing. What could it have been? Something about Rey, maybe?'

That last is an example of actual audience engagement, which the below post tries to get at.

 

1. Starkiller Base is instead of a planet/deathstar the new "Super Star Destroyer" next to the new "Victory" class star destroyer (which I think is the new standard one) with the planet killing weapon on board the ship, more classically designed than a ball. some sort of converted destroyer.

2. No Trench Run

3. Starkiller Base Gets Disabled Rather Than Destroyed

4. Snoke not CGI

5. Riot Trooper Fighting Finn is Captain Phasma

 

First of all I think it's a really good movie. But there are some Things I would change.

1) why oh why all those dame lens flares. I know JJ often uses them in his movies. But I really don't think lens flares belong in a star wars movie.
2) the big 3 don't have a moment in the movie. So sad. and that led me to
3) why oh why kill of old Solo, by the hand of his spoiled son. There are no way Solo can return, he got stab by a lightsaber and fell in the core of a planet that was going to explode.
4) the movie was to speedy. some Places there need some more dialog, more nerve, ect. the Rathers at Hans Ship. they look creepy but before you had a feeling that there was danger the falcon was in cyberspace.
5) Snoke why was it need that he was CGI. He was a bloody hologram

 

The first two are actually explained in the movie.
The Falcon ended up on Jakku changing hands from owner to owner.
Han and Chewie were tracking the ship ( once it powered up presumably ) - Han says that is why they need Maz' help since if they could track the Falcon, the First Order might be able to too.

The other two are deliberate blind spots to be explored later in the trilogy.