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).
Personally Saw and Galen were the only interesting people and they were wasted. They just die and we’re supposed to… be sad? I don’t get it.
Reading Catalyst made me wish we got more of the Galen/Orson dynamic, or at least we saw Orson motivations fleshed out a bit more. I don’t think we really needed more Saw, I think his whole deal as radical rebel is easily understood. I wish there was more in regards to the ethics of the different methods of rebellion, but I don’t think we necessarily needed to see that through Saw, though I certainly would’ve appreciated a better understanding of his impact on Jyn’s character.