The Last Jedi What would you have done differently?

[Havok83]

I felt the film felt too long. There were several times that I thought it was going to end but it kept going. I would have cut the entire Rose and Finn sequence especially since that plan ultimately dint work and felt pointless. I would have reworked Finn and made him more useful elsewhere

 

[Grootster]

Luke leaves the island with Rey halfway through the film or earlier, we have Rey, Luke, Leia, Poe, Finn, and Rose all together as a team during the climax.

I'd flesh out the hacker subplot and devote more screentime to it (not necessarily to the Canto Bight portion). Give it a proper payoff.

Replace the finale with something other than a battle with bigger versions of walkers on a white planet.

Oh...and Admiral Ackbar crashes the transport into the Star Destroyer instead of Holdo. (Seriously, the spaceship is even called The Raddus!)

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Of course I honestly think the storyline is so flawed after TFA that nothing would really be my ideal Star Wars movie. If I could redo the whole sequel trilogy, I'd:

Start off with Luke running a functioning Jedi academy. He's married with kids (I'd actually prefer new characters, not EU names though). He's overthrown the Jedi code from the Prequels because he realizes it's flawed and hypocritical.

Han and Leia are married with kids...and together (Han hasn't returned to smuggling.) They're both part of the New Republic. Han and Chewie would die sacrificing the Falcon.

No Empire 2.0 or Rebels 2.0. Just the New Republic vs some entirely new threat, maybe an invasion from outside the galaxy or something.

Luke's child/children as the main lead and Han/Leia's as the supporting character or a villain. (Or maybe Luke's as a villain...I'm not really picky here).

 

[Greens]

Luke leaves the island with Rey halfway through the film or earlier, we have Rey, Luke, Leia, Poe, Finn, and Rose all together as a team during the climax.

That would have been great, to see Luke interact with the new heroes and devise a plan. This film is about tearing down the legend of Luke, but in the end he still fulfills that view people have of him by ceremoniously appearing on Crait. It would have been cool to have him down in the trenches, thereby showing people that he's just a man after all and not untouchable.

As long as we're being bold and risky, I think a good way to develop both Luke and Kylo would have been to open the movie in the PAST. Show us Ben's training and how he started to turn on Luke. This gives us a nice contrast between the post-Jedi Luke we all wanted to see, and the broken down Luke as a result of Ben's turn. It also brings more depth to Kylo's internal conflict. Through the thick veneer Snoke's manipulation he regrets what he did but he deludes himself into thinking he's on the right path. He kills Snoke like in the movie and makes the same offer to Rey: let's leave all of this behind us and start anew. It's a desperate plea from him, an attempt to atone for his sins but he goes about it the wrong way. He can't control himself. Rey refuses and that sets Kylo off on a path he can't turn back from. In order to prevent the movie from running 3+ hours cut Rose, cut Canton Bight and the whole code breaker subplot. Bring Finn and Poe together.

We would still have to see what happens when Rey hands Luke the lightsaber. To give that some extra weight, make it so that during Ben's training he knows about Anakin's saber. Obviously Luke has told him all about the events of the OT. Where is it now? Luke promises that if he finishes his training and does right by him, they will track down the saber together and it can be his // or Luke knows Maz has it, whatever the hell (Remember, Kylo said: that's MINE or something to that extent in TFA when Rey used the saber). Perhaps his fellow pupils become a little jealous of him, because he's family and he gets special privileges. Snoke can use that later on. Rey hands Luke the saber and that sends his mind into a whirlwind of emotions. That's the saber he promised Ben, the student he failed.

And now I've run out of ideas.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Instead of having Leia fly back to the ship through space. I would've had her use the force to keep herself in place on the bridge, up against the door or something until someone could reach in and grab her.

 

[Batgort]

1. explore the Luke being cut off from the force

2. follow up on the "i'm afraid now" on the power and dark side hole in the ground to be something meaningful

3. Change snoke's throne room on a ship to look like a ship, and not a trendy sushi bar.

4. Some actual Luke training Rey

5. Some actual light saber fighting w/ Kylo and Rey

6. Rework or cut the casino planet side quest

7. More "jump and chase" like in The Walking Dead, not a slow mo speed chase.

8. No marry poppins Leia, just write something different where she needs the force - like trapper under a bulk head that fell

9. Cut the Luke Milking scene

 

[Chudah]

1. I didn't like Mary Poppins Leia at all, BUT...I think I would have been more okay with it if someone had acknowledged how crazy it was at some point. The crowd can't be the only ones who are thinking WTF just happened?!? The fact that it happens and is completely ignored makes it that much more unbelievable to me. At least have someone like Poe be like "what the hell was that?" Or a short scene with Leia after she's woken up when someone asks her what happened and she's like "I don't know, I just knew that was what I had to do."

2. Truncate the Canto Bight storyline. Leave the casino scene in as a sorta Cantina homage, but the whole chase scene was completely unnecessary and distracting. DJ should've broken them out and stole a ship, getting them back to the fleet without any other wacky side quests.

3. Admiral Ackbar should have survived the bridge bombing and been the one to fly the Raddus into the Star Destroyer. What better homage to Admiral Raddus than to have Ackbar save the day on the ship named after his kin. Also, I totally would've been okay if one of the First Order officers called out "It's a trap!" right before it happened! That's a joke I'd get behind 100%.

4. I know this is a big one, but the battle on Krait should've been left out of the film. To me the climax happened with the battle in the throne room and Holdo destroying the First Order fleet allowing the remaining resistance ships to escape. What should have been the denouement of the movie ended up being another 30 minutes of action, and it was too much. I realize that would've removed Luke's big moment, but sometimes awesome ideas need to be left on the cutting room floor for the good of a movie. They still could have had Luke force project to Leia at the end to show that he's come back around again, which would have been a nice bookend to the film.

5. Alternatively, if Krait were kept in, Finn should have died destroying the canon. His character had done nothing of substance throughout the entire movie other than get more Resistance fighters killed. Going out in a heroic sacrifice would've redeemed him as well as serve as a fitting, albeit heartbreaking, end to his entire character arc. Having Rose fly in and steal his moment was insulting. I was ready to mourn for him, and then NOPE! Instead of feeling relieved I was left frustrated. Finn dying would have truly been a BOLD move (I really don't think the movie is as bold as a lot of people claim it is). Not killing him was the safe way out. And that Rose kiss was TOTALLY unearned. UGH!

 

[writer0327]

Nothing much. I actually love the film the way it is, but there are some things they could have done better.

More Poe and Finn. These guys are supposed to be friends, but we don't see them much as friends.

I love the Finn/Rose subplot and some of the issues it tackles, but it went on too long. Shorten the Canto Bight scene, maybe just after they get to DJ, wrap it up quicker without a long chase through the casino.

Less General Hux. Not a big fan of the character, seems like he's good comedy relief, but not much more.

Do something else with Phasma. She's not completely useless, give her more agency within the story.

 

[Clark-Kent]

Some of you TLJ fanboys would scream at what I'd do to this movie! lol

I'd of cut out some of the humor that was more slapstick than SW. I'd also of made Rey a descendant of Kenobi and revealed Snoke to be Darth Plagueis. Oh and then I'd of had Kylo's injury from Luke severe enough that he was taken back, and a reveal that he was put in the Darth Vader mask.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Not much... But:

Spoiler

I think the Canto stuff would have benefited from it being Phasma chasing Finn and Rose and not the local PD. It would have added urgency to it and given Phasma something else to do besides show up near the end. If Finn had been the Moby Dick to her Ahab then that would have been good for both characters, which were not served as best as they could have in this movie.

 

[spider-neil]

I would have dropped the Laura Dern character and I would have made Leia be the one who makes the sacrifice. The Mary Poppins scene was stupid.

I would have given Finn a task he actually succeeds in completing so his involvement in the movie has consequences.

I wouldn't separated Finn and Rey for so long. Their chemistry was the best thing in TFA.

I would drop the casino plot entirely.

I would have consolidated all the main action down to three main set pieces.
If you have too many all or nothing stakes in a movie then you become desensitized to finale.

Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

I would have dropped the Laura Dern character and I would have made Leia be the one who makes the sacrifice. The Mary Poppins scene was stupid.

I would have given Finn a task he actually succeeds in completing so his involvement in the movie has consequences.

I wouldn't separated Finn and Rey for so long. Their chemistry was the best thing in TFA.

I would drop the casino plot entirely.

I would have consolidated all the main action down to three main set pieces.
If you have too many all or nothing stakes in a movie then you become desensitized to finale.

Other than that I wouldn't change a thing.

I think [BLACKOUT]the whole point of the film was about "failure"
so I don't think under any conception that Finn or Poe or Rey were supposed to succeed in what they set out to do.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[spider-neil]

I think [BLACKOUT]the whole point of the film was about "failure"
so I don't think under any conception that Finn or Poe or Rey were supposed to succeed in what they set out to do.[/BLACKOUT]

That may have been the aim of the film but for me I was thinking, 'well,'that' was a waste of time. Anything that is a waste of time and doesn't have a pay off should have been cut. The movie was long enough as it is.

Finn was horribly under served. If he was going to be under utilized they may have well have left him in a coma and given the screen time to under developed characters or made the movie shorter.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

That may have been the aim of the film but for me I was thinking, 'well,'that' was a waste of time. Anything that is a waste of time and doesn't have a pay off should have been cut. The movie was long enough as it is.

Finn was horribly under served. If he was going to be under utilized they may have well have left him in a coma and given the screen time who developed characters or made the movie shorter.

Again though, [BLACKOUT]what Johnson wanted to have as a major element was that the heroes, all of them, needed to learn from grand failure.
And this isn't new to the world of Star Wars at all. I mean, after all,
it was a waste for Luke to prematurely end his training and go to Cloud City as he didn't play any part in actually saving his friends. Lando took care of that as best he could. He didn't defeat Vader, he lost his hand and nearly was killed or captured by the Empire and the Sith. [/BLACKOUT]

So I don't have an issue with things not culminating as they did in either ANH or TFA.

 

[spider-neil]

Again though, [BLACKOUT]what Johnson wanted to have as a major element was that the heroes, all of them, needed to learn from grand failure.
And this isn't new to the world of Star Wars at all. I mean, after all,
it was a waste for Luke to prematurely end his training and go to Cloud City as he didn't play any part in actually saving his friends. Lando took care of that as best he could. He didn't defeat Vader, he lost his hand and nearly was killed or captured by the Empire and the Sith. [/BLACKOUT]

So I don't have an issue with things not culminating as they did in either ANH or TFA.

Fair enough. I still think Finn's time could have been better served. And if you have characters with obvious chemistry it's wise not to keep them separated for 3/4 of the movie.

 

[Captain Marvel]

I'm torn on that. On the one hand, it did feel like a waste of time. On the other hand, how often have we seen in movies when the wrongheaded leaders make a bad call, and it's up to the plucky heroes acting on their own initiative and against orders to save the day? So to see the plucky heroes acting on their own initiative and ignoring orders... only to find that their leaders actually knew what they were doing and had a good plan, and their own plan ended up screwing things up rather than helping, was actually a nice change of pace.

 

[Mike Murdock]

If I were making this movie, I would have done virtually every scene differently. This movie was contrary to expectations in virtually every way. That being said, just because I disagree with the scenes doesn't mean I hated the movie. In fact, I loved it. If the question is "knowing the final product, what would I have changed," the answer is very little.

The only real change I'd make is:

Spoiler

Don't kill off Luke, but maybe kill of Leia. This isn't a concern about this movie but how to go forward. Mark Hamill can come back (and likely will regardless), but this is the last opportunity to give Cary Fisher a sendoff in the fil).

 

[Albright]

The promo was all about teasing Rey being corrupted by the dark side and Kylo redeeming to the good site again. It would've been a real page turner if it actaully happened and the ending would've been as dark as Empire strikes back (even darker) and made you desperately wanna see the next film right now (not for me right now).

Rey and Kylo haven't made any improvement after. They are exactly where they were at the start of the movie:
- Kylo has lost a fight against a more powerful Jedi (both Luke and Rey during the confrontation in Snoke's throne room)
- Rey's power with the force has been awaken, but she can't control it fully. The jedi training didn't help at all and she knew all along, that her parents left her for poor reasons.

In the end of Empire Luke is broken after learning who his father is and that he failed against him, not believing his masters Yoda and Obi Wan.

 

[Batgort]

Yes, everyone is basically in their same starting positions at the end of the movie, then at the beginning with few minor exceptions.

 

[Havok83]

When it looked like the resistance was being killed off and Kylo made the offer to Rey to join him and rebuild and start their own thing, she should have taken him up on that offer

 

[Spider-Fan]

Rey and Kylo haven't made any improvement after. They are exactly where they were at the start of the movie:
- Kylo has lost a fight against a more powerful Jedi (both Luke and Rey during the confrontation in Snoke's throne room)

Winning a fight is not character growth. Kylo goes from being someone being torn apart by the light and questioning himself, to being perfectly at peace with himself now that Snoke is gone. That is a complete 180 from where he started.

- Rey's power with the force has been awaken, but she can't control it fully. The jedi training didn't help at all and she knew all along, that her parents left her for poor reasons.

She knew it but didn't face the truth. Here, she faces the truth and can now move on with her life and forge her own path no longer defined by her abandonment. Again, 180 from where she started as a lost student.

 

[Batgort]

When it looked like the resistance was being killed off and Kylo made the offer to Rey to join him and rebuild and start their own thing, she should have taken him up on that offer

Yes! That would have been a real twist.

We got a lot of stupid twists, like hey we have a plan after all, or hey the bad slicer is really a bad slicer.

 

[Matt]

1) Cut the casino planet subplot. If there was no way to work Finn into the main plot, just leave him in a coma and use him in Episode 9. Creating a 30 minute segment that had no really relevance or meaning only slowed the film down and led to its worst scenes.

2) Don't use Hux as comic relief. When in the original trilogy did we laugh at Vader, Palpatine, or Tarkin? Heck, when did we laugh at Sidious, Maul or Dooku for that matter? Villains are not the right choice for comic relief as now there is no real threat from a guy who can be outsmarted by a plan that basically boils down to "I'm going into a tunnel and getting really bad cell service!" Are we supposed to take him seriously as a threat to the Resistance or as a true competitor to Ren for control over the First Order? I don't see how that is possible at this point.

 

[Grootster]

3. Admiral Ackbar should have survived the bridge bombing and been the one to fly the Raddus into the Star Destroyer. What better homage to Admiral Raddus than to have Ackbar save the day on the ship named after his kin. Also, I totally would've been okay if one of the First Order officers called out "It's a trap!" right before it happened! That's a joke I'd get behind 100%.

Why didn't this happen? Sometimes I think the fans come up with more clever stuff than the people paid to make these movies do.

 

[Delwin]

Definitely having Ackbar instead of Holdo would be much better. The conflict between battered admiral known from OT and young hotshot would have put more weights to the issue.

 

[mikeboydus]

I would have had Rey and Kylo basically switch places and removed the Spaceballs like humor.

Rey would be terribly distraught after her experience with Luke and learning her parents were no one, while Kylo becomes tired of the constant abuse by Snoke and then Leia sacrificing herself pushes him over the edge.

Instead of Kylo killing Snoke by himself, I would involve Rey as well, where they both fight him. In the course of battle Rey embraces the Darkside, while Kylo liberates himself from it after he hears his mother's voice, i.e. Leia is now a force ghost.

They kill Snoke, but at the end of the battle Kylo realizes Rey has completely given into the Darkside. He pleads with her, but she's far too gone. She tries to get him to join her, but he refuses.

A large battle follows with the First Order trying to kill both Rey and Kylo, while Rey and Kylo duel on a more psychic and verbal level. Rey shows incredible force power, devastating the First Order, and then finally fights Kylo in a one on one duel among the ruins and destruction.

Kylo finds himself outmatched and fighting defensively against Rey. Exhausted and wounded he realizes he will not win and just as he is about to be struck down by Rey, Rey is hit with a massive shockwave powered by the Force.

A silhouette appears in the smoke and flames, Luke Skywalker emerges not wielding a lightsaber. Rey goes into a rage and tries to fight him, but he avoids every strike, while using the Force to humiliate her, eventually taking her lightsaber from her. He tries to reason with her, but fails. He then uses the Force to create a devastating shockwave that shatters the ground and hits Rey. She is flung over a hundred meters like a ragdoll, landing unconscious in a broken heap.

Luke takes Kylo with him and leaves Rey to die from her injuries. After they depart, some familiar Darkside music kicks in as a dark shrouded figure stands over Rey's broken form. I would leave it ambiguous to who this is. Is it Snoke? Is it a genuine Sith lord?

The film would end with Leia's funeral and Kylo beginning training with Luke to become a Jedi Knight.