The Last Jedi What would you have done differently?

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

Here's what I would have done:

We open the movie with the Resistance base being attacked by the First Order, led by Phasma, kicking all sorts of ass.

Leia grounds Poe, saying he broke her trust, and it's lucky she doesn't kick him out of the Resistance. Poe goes with Finn and Rose on their journey to Canto Bight (Like in TFA, I had a problem with giving so much screen time to Poe considering he's so separate from the main characters).

On Canto Bight, someone points out the connection between arms dealers and the First Order’s increasing military might in the wake of the Empire’s downfall (Starkiller Base, etc). The First Order have devoted the entirety of their resources to military spending, and the free people, out of capitalistic self-interest, were more than willing to enable the remnants of the Empire to survive and regain power.

On Canto Bight, Poe and Finn have to engage in a bit of spy work, joining some of the games to find their master coder. They're dressed in ridiculous expensive outfits, not their Resistance gear.

On this mission, Finn deep down just wants to find and save Rey, and he's not the Resistance fighter Rose wants him to be. Instead of freeing the horsies, Finn, Poe, and Rose end up thwarting a First Order squadron who have come to take some of the slave children (to become Stormtroopers), and it's at this time that Finn really finds his calling, joining the Resistance for real, to bring down the First Order, to ensure no kid has to go through what he did.

We also see that Finn and Poe don't see eye to eye on everything when it comes to the Resistance and the First Order. Poe sees things in more black and white terms with a hate for the First Order, later revealed to be due to his tragic back story.

When Rey looks in the mirror and sees the line of herself, we follow the line back and back seeing Rey de-aging until we see a ghostly blue man in the line. We keep following the line to see that the man becomes a pale bald figure clad in black, eventually with a mask --- Darth Vader. She tells this to Luke.

When Luke talks to Yoda, he brings up Rey's vision of Vader. Yoda theorizes that perhaps the Force wasn't truly in balance as the rules may have been broken by Snoke, or as he was known in his first life, Darth Plagieus, a dark master who had the ability to create life, who died once before, but has seemingly cheated death by warping and manipulating the Force from beyond the grave to come back to life. Perhaps the Force is balancing this by giving new life to the Chosen One, extending the prophecy to account for this cheat, so to speak. Yoda ensures Luke that Ren was Snoke's doing, not his own. There will always be darkness, and light to meet it, but once the light thinks itself the darkness, then the dark has truly won.

When we cut to Snoke's corpse in the throne room, it's now implied that this is not the last we've seen of him. After Rey and Kylo Ren's team-up, and Rey realizes that Kylo Ren hasn't turned, they briefly duel, and Kylo Ren defeats her easily.

Leia is the one to pilot the cruiser, sacrificing her life. Luke senses her sacrifice.

 

[OutOfBoose]

I would set TFA not 30 years after Return, but MUCH further in time. Let the galaxy enjoy peace and prosperity for a lengthy period, give Luke and friends victory more weight and meaning. Let them enjoy happy ending. Let them become legends. Maybe new heroes should search for some legacy, left by Luke, that might help them defeat or understand the new threat. Maybe Leia establishes a dynasty and one of the new protagonists is 10th generation relative of her and an exiled heir to something. Man, just thinking about it makes feel so disappointed we're left with piece of **** fan service.

 

[FeedOnATreeFrog]

Yeah, ultimately I wouldn't have started the trilogy at this point either.

Or at least I wouldn't have the threat be the remnants of the Empire that the Republic just failed to defeat, sort of negating the end of ROTJ. Instead, I'd have the threat arise from there being a Republic and not an Empire, like...maybe before the Empire would deal certain dangerous groups with an iron fist (other sith included), but now, the floodgates are open. Instead of Nazi Germany, it's more like the Wild West. The former is worse, but the latter still has problems, different problems. And I don't think we needed to give our heroes a crappy future.

 

[Frodo]

Would have ditched Dern, Tran's, and Del Torro's characters and plots all together.

Phasma, and Luke would have lived through this one and died in the 3rd film

Keep Rey's parents a secret still

Focus on the quadrangle of Luke ,Finn, Rey and Kylo.

In the end , Rey would have turned to the dark side and fully bonded with Kylo in the cliffhanger now putting the burden on Finn, the reluctant hero and totally unprepared to have to pick up the slack and face the woman he cares and her new partner in part three.

Explore more of Finn's background and Kylo's seduction into the dark side by Snoke

Have the film be more about the tension between Leia and Poe with it in a sense mirroring her relationship with Kylo. Poe now being the surrogate Son that has replaced the real son she lost.

Ditch Hux and have Phasma and Kylo as the lethal combination leading the knights of ren .

I'd basically keep Luke the hermit, the force connection between Rey and Kylo, Rey still searching for answers, Snoke being overthrown by Kylo, and the characterizations from the film.

 

[Wise]

TFA should've been Episode VIII and set 35 years after ROTJ. Episode VII should've been about Luke's Jedi Temple and the failure there, the reason why Leia started the Resistance, the origins of the First Order. It's lame that we were shown this in a flashback and by loads of lazy exposition in TFA.

Last Jedi could've been a decent Episode IX with more setup.

 

[Captain Marvel]

I would've liked to have seen Luke survive to Episode IX (I'm sure he'll be back as a Force Ghost, but still).

Snoke would've survived, been the main villain of the trilogy, and been revealed as Darth Plagueis.

Rey would've kept trying to flip Kylo to the Light Side, while Kylo kept trying to flip Rey to the Dark Side. In the end, they would've flipped each other, and once again found themselves on opposite sides. Rey as Darth Plagueis's new apprentice, Ben Solo working with Luke again and trying to redeem himself.

Episode IX, Luke dies, Rey is brought back to the Light, Snoke is killed, the First Order is defeated, and Rey and Ben ride off into the sunset together. The end.

 

[sueb1863]

Snoke would've survived, been the main villain of the trilogy, and been revealed as Darth Plagueis.

I've got this sneaking feeling Snoke might have found some way to cheat death and might not be actually 100% gone...I mean, for somebody that powerful he was cut down pretty quickly and easily. Guess we'll see...

 

[Asharad]

I would have cut these characters and places from the story.
They added zero quality to the story.

Finn
Rose
Canto Bight
Holdo

I also would have cut the Mary Poppins scene. Instead Leia would use the force to heroically save the bridge crew.

 

[shinlyle]

The only scene that I would MAYBE change would be the Canto Blight stuff. Seemed excessive.

 

[Reaver027]

First i would cut the banter between Hux and Poe and make Hux a little more competent. I would also have the entire fighter force of the Resistance trying to buy time for the evacuation from the start.
Then we can move on to Poe's failure and losing most of the fighting force of the Resistance.
Have Luke not throw the Lightsaber away but giving it back to Rey. "I have lost this once, it does not belong to me anymore!"
Because of Luke's failure with Ben he went away to find the first temple to become a better Jedi /teacher. But what he found there made him realise that the Jedi are not the solution but part of the problem.
Then he teaches Rey why, while she is reluctant and learns about the Jedi way behind his back.
Cut the bad comedy with the milking and nun.
Then when Rey wants to leave to save Ben Luke realises that Rey has been reading the old Jedi scriptures and because of that he wants to destroy them once and for all.
After the talk with Yoda Luke realises that he has to help one more time to save the Galaxy from darkness.
Leia does not go Supergirl but instead is using the force to give the bridge crew time to escape and collapses after that.
Holdo tells Poe about the plan but Poe does not want to sacrifice any more ships because it was his fault that they lost so much. So he and Finn create a plan to disable the tracking device. Rose is listening in and offers to help since she is a hacker and belives she can do it.
Cut all of Canto.
Poe stages the mutiny to give Finn and Rose the time they need to infiltrate the Supremacy and disable the tracker. No BB-8 walker action. The plan fails and Poe is arrested.
The rest can stay the same.

I tried to keep the themes of the movie in tact while removing the biggest offenders for me not liking the movie. I think i am keeping the story in tact as well for the most part.
Sorry Phasma i don't spend much time on trying to you more to do. There could be an interesting scene with her while we watch Finn and Rose infiltrate the ship.

 

[hopeless]

For TFA
Kept Poe involved he recognises the Falcon calls Han once they're clear he picks him up in the huge freighter which is transporting supplies for the Resistance including fighters and some pilots.
He takes them to Takodana so he can contact Leia.
Snoke's First Order Loyalists in the Senate made a point of planting the means to track any Resistance ships especially supply ships which is how Kylo tracks them down.
Starkiller Base is so called because it recharges it's hyperdrive by drawing immense waves of power directly from the System's sun devastating anything coming between that star and SKB.
It then uses the energy to jump to another system intentionally avoiding inhabited systems to maintain secrecy.
It was built out of Ilum and was the prototype Death Star but because of the time involved they went with Krennik's suggestion as that project helped solve the various problems plaguing SKB.
It jumps into the Hosnian system as Leia is leaving aboard Home One she witnesses the destruction it unleashes.
She arrives at Takodana in time to help repel Kylo's raid with Han & Leia briefly reunite before Han, Chewie & Finn pursue Kylo after he captures Rey.
Both ships crashlands on the arriving SKB which raises it's shields as Leia is busy evacuating Takodana before heading onto D'Qar hoping to draw SKB away from more populated targets.
Finn having been based there knows where to go, but in the meantime Rey escapes on her own thanks to the crashlands freeing her and Kylo unable to do anything about it.
Rest of movie as is, Han is killed by Kylo whilst compelled by Snoke.
Chewie blows up the generator taking down the shields allowing the assembled forces (Poe, Resistance fighters along with the Pirates & Smugglers at Maz's Castle only going to show why you shouldn't bash a hornets nest!) to badly damage the recharger which turns the system into a binary star system cue end shot!

As for TLJ
The New Republic is in the hands of First Order Loyalists, with the fall of the NR the FO doesn't have to hide anymore and goes after the Resistance intent on eliminating them before Luke returns.
Since Hosnian Prime is gone they need to infiltrate the Supremacy the FO Flagship and delete the records the FO have on the Resistance and the Rebel Alliance so they can regroup without being constantly attacked.
Finn is sent to Canto Blight to contact a fixer who can smuggle them aboard.
He turns out to be one of the Knights of Ren who captured Finn specifically to draw out Rey.
Luke recognising what's going on warns her it's a trap but accompanies her aboard the Falcon allowing her to continue on whilst he reunites with Leia.
Finn turns DJ back to the light revealing he's Ezra Bridger and that Snoke was a former Jedi Temple Guard turned Inquisitor who took advantage of the Empire's flight into the Unknown Regions to usurp power.
Phasma intervenes when she recognises Rey as her niece during the brief distraction she serves Kylo kills Snoke becoming the Supreme Leader.
Finn escapes with Rey learning that the Resistance are using Crait as a diversion with the destruction of the Supremacy even though Ezra deleted the records the new Rebel Alliance heads into the Out Rim before Kylo regains control enough to continue the campaign to stamp out the Resistance.

Does that sound better though?

 

[Lilbaz]

I would have got timothy zahn to write the trilogy then got the best director i could to direct all three films.

 

[godisawesome]

Gonna do two posts and both just dealing with this movie, since I like TFA. The first one is operating under a restricture where the big conceptual ideas for Luke, Rey, and the Galaxy as a whole are kept. Honestly, while I can disagree with some of the core concepts there, Johnson executed them very well, and that's what the second post will be for. This also means my biggest change is restricted mostly to the Resistance fleeing plot and especially Finn's story, which is the one element I think is weak.

Modification for the Snoke, Rey, Ren, and Luke story

Spoiler

- Luke gives Rey a few more clearly exhausting lessons using the temple on Ach-To, mostly focusing on mental and spiritual discipline. While he really continues to beat in the idea of the Jedi being failures, we should see some of the basis for a Jedi Evolution in what he focuses on.
- Snoke isn't causing the link. Instead, the cave on Ach-To is, as well as visually showing other people and events from both now and then to Rey. Rey can talk to anyone with force powers, and thus gets one quick talk with Leia, looks over Finn, and when she reaches towards the First Order, Kylo reaches for her and creates the more autonomous connection.
- Rey can't find her parents using the cave (as much as I don't like the concept of Rey Nobody, I'm staying true to it) but she drags Luke reluctantly into the cave, and that's how we get the one scene Luke, Kylo, and Rey share. We also see the moment from the hut that broke Ben and Luke, but this time, Rey can see what Luke saw by touching his hand; instead of being told about darkness inside Ben, we see it. It involves Ren communicating with Darth Vader's ghost and shows him corrupting other students.
-The moment shakes Rey enough to make her seriously rethink becoming a Jedi, but then another presence in the cave talks to her, giving her a vision of Luke in ROTJ, showing the voices a calling out for help in the Galaxy so we can see the scale of it all, and finally showing that Snoke gave Ren the vision and is manipulating his mind... and he did it to Luke as well in the hut. Rey leaves not knowing she just talked to Anakin Skywalker
-When Rey goes to Kylo, she now has something beyond just compassion for him. She forces a connection, and he feels her anger for his actions against Finn, Han, Luke, and the Galaxy, thus giving him some hope for her turning, but then she shows him Snoke's deception.
-Thrown room scene plays out largely the same, but this time Rey denounces Snoke as a charlatan using Ren as a tool, and that aspect clearly plays a part in Ren turning on Snoke.
-When Luke dies, he immediately shows up on the Falcon to promise Rey it's not over.

New Galactic War Plotline

Spoiler

-The Dreadnaught scene is kept, as is the ambush in space, but here, the lead Resurgent Star Destroyer gets its shields lowered by one of the few smaller craft deployed against it, ruining the chance of the FO following them.
-Ackbar also survives the bridge being damaged thanks to Leia grabbing him, and he sees the Star Destroyer's shields are damaged. While the Resistance evacuates and is decimated by the FO, he does the hyperspace ram, which is established to work because of the lack of shields.
-There is no slow speed chase. Because it's stupid.
-Holdo takes over, and her conflict with Poe is rooted in believing Leia was coddling him. She digs into him, and orders him to earn back her respect by fortifying Crait.
- We also see the First Order deploy its ships across the Galaxy and actually see the take-over, as well as the class dichotomy here: while most civilians are ready to fight back out of hate for the Empire, there's enough tepid apathy from the upper class that it has to go underground.
-The Supremacy is also seen acting as a mobile base, not just a Star Destroyer dropping over a few recognizable planets and deploying Star Destroyers from its shipyards.
-Hux locates the base on Crait, and the Supremacy arrives to crush the Resostance in the end scene, but now, the minor victory is Finn and Rose damaging its engines to allow the Falcon to escape at the end, as described below.

Finn's new plotline

Spoiler

- Finn was going to get deployed to infiltrate the First Order, like he did, but with a point being that his knowledge would allow him to navigate through their world.
- Finn would team up with Rose because... reasons (I presumed technical expertise to sabotage the Supremacy or help steal a vehicle), and he would have to put up with the exagerrated version of his heroism throughout the story, eventually, of course, becoming his own legend.
- Finn would seek out DJ, a smuggler in First Order space, in order to get the materials to complete his infiltration. The stop on Canto Bight would be very short and not take up that much time; Finn was going to spend significant, non-action scenes with the First Order.
- While Finn, Rose and DJ start to complete their missions, with DJ's possible threat being made clear and even making Finn wary, they run into some people who knew Finn. Since the FO covered up that he defected to prevent it from spreading, Finn now gets awkward bonding time with old friends.
- PS, the above rumor actually came with a suggestion that Tom kriffin' Hardy would be that Stormtrooper.
- I presumed they would of course expand on the implications of Finn being an enslaved child soldier, because why the hell wouldn't you? (Oh, poor dumb me.) He'd find himself conflicted with his old friends and viewing the FO through new eyes, now getting righteously angry at the FO's kidnapping of small children.
- DJ would inevitably sell them out, Phasma, now with some context for her relationship with her men and Finn in particular, would order the executioner Stormtroopers to behead not just Finn and Rose, but also his old friends-- can't let that defection infection spread!
- Luckily, Finn and Rose prepared ahead of time, activated an explosion fueled distraction that's takes out the engines, and start a riot with (very few) Stormtroopers vs Stormtroopers in the hangar of the Supremacy.
- Finn faces Phasma, but now filled with some clearly righteous fury at her for being the personification of the system that raised and brainwashed him, and beats her, like he does in the film, but now when he leaves, there's an element of inspiration and mythos that we see has entered First Order ranks...
- The film ends with the Resistance on the run, yes, but Finn now has stepped up, and while he may not be a Force user, he's damn cool!

 

[batman1]

I would have maybe replaced Kathleen Kennedy.

 

[Obi-Ron]

More Artoo. And where the heck is Billy Dee Williams?

 

[Deck Rickard]

I wouldn't have made the entire film revolve around a low speed chase.

 

[FunkMiller]

More Artoo. And where the heck is Billy Dee Williams?

This. Felt sure he’d be the one to answer the distress call at the end there.

 

[Spider-Fan]

I may have trimmed Canto Bright down slightly. But that is all I really can think of.

 

[idiot09]

In the end , Rey would have turned to the dark side and fully bonded with Kylo in the cliffhanger now putting the burden on Finn, the reluctant hero and totally unprepared to have to pick up the slack and face the woman he cares and her new partner in part three.

If Rey turns to the dark side...that means she encourages and is okay with the whole trying to kill Finn, Leia and the rest of the Resistance right?

Also if you have Rey and Kylo in the First Order, when you have literally no Jedis in the resistance, isnt that a bit outmatched?

 

[Longshot777]

First FIX that Superman’s digital mouth and then have more public reactions, media and military involvement during the JL vs the aliens. Finally have Superman make a more memorable entrance when he saves the JL from Steppenwolf like what he did in Superman 2 when he entered and said, “ General would you like to step outside “.

Oh sorry wrong movie.

I actually loved The Last Jedi, where I’m shocked I’m in the minority.

But I would shortened that Casino planet and just give Snoke some backstory but that’s it.

But Rian basically made it now that the Darkside will always be which is fine with me now.

Who is Snoke?

He is the Dark Side of the Force like Darth Sidious before him.

And now Kylo Ren is the Dark Side of Force. And it’s his story and not Snoke’s.

So I get what Rian was trying to do and I get it now.

 

[Galactus123]

Spoilers! There are many things I would have done differently but the biggest thing is the ending. I wouldn't have killed Luke. That was a really bad decision. I was excited to see him in Episode 9. Force ghost isn't enough.

 

[FunkMiller]

If Rey turns to the dark side...that means she encourages and is okay with the whole trying to kill Finn, Leia and the rest of the Resistance right?

Also if you have Rey and Kylo in the First Order, when you have literally no Jedis in the resistance, isnt that a bit outmatched?

They’ll play with her falling to the dark side in ep 9, no doubt, but she won’t be going full Dark Helmet at any point. They’ve reached the ‘All is lost’ moment at the end of this film, I think. Rey is the hero of this story.

 

[FunkMiller]

Spoilers! There are many things I would have done differently but the biggest thing is the ending. I wouldn't have killed Luke. That was a really bad decision. I was excited to see him in Episode 9. Force ghost isn't enough.

For what story reason? Not your own preference to see him twirling a lightsaber and killing fools (which admittedly we would have all liked), but what good reason for this story could you give to have him stick around?

His role as a living and flawed human being was rightly and well ended in act two. We’ll get something different in act three.

 

[Galactus123]

For what story reason? Not your own preference to see him twirling a lightsaber and killing fools (which admittedly we would have all liked), but what good reason for this story could you give to have him stick around?

His role as a living and flawed human being was rightly and well ended in act two. We’ll get something different in act three.

He coud have trained Rey. It would have been better if he had died in the next movie. Also yes I wanted to see him more. He didn't even leave the island. It was a huge wasted opportunity.

 

[FunkMiller]

He coud have trained Rey. It would have been better if he had died in the next movie. Also yes I wanted to see him more. He didn't even leave the island. It was a huge wasted opportunity.

He can train Rey as a force ghost though, yes?

And he did leave the island, in the best way possible - by doing the single most powerful thing anyone has done with the force in the entire Star Wars canon.

I think his arc of failure being redeemed with that sacrifice was perfectly done.