I’d rather see the version which had more Saw Gerrara as an actual character, and a finale where the group are actually together. It could still be a grey, lifeless marketing exercise but I’m not sure why he thinks this was an improvement.
I’m not sure why either of those would improve it. It sounds like the changes he made were narrowing the focus of the film and making the character motivations clearer. If anything, he didn’t go far enough.
Because those are character moments that are important for making me care about characters in a movie. As it stands I have no idea what Jyn and Saw were motivated by, beyond a few clichéd sound bites.
Well that’s under the assumption that those unused moments with Saw would provide his motivation, and that his motivation is necessary to the overall story. As is he’s ultimately not incredibly important to the narrative, so in my mind it makes sense to streamline his story if he’s out before the halfway point (and when there’s at least 8 other important characters that are still alive and relevant).