Welcome to the site, and thank you for the review!
When you say that the beginning of The Last Jedi is fine without the XXXX scene, do you mean that the information that the XXXX is clearly established (avoiding spoilers if possible)? That would be a relief, since that’s the only reason the scene went in.
Well, I think it is addressed in the crawl (if I remember correctly. It was loud distracting energetic crowd. So I was having trouble focusing on the words).
Edit by moderator…
lads - no discussion of TLJ scenes anywhere but the ‘TLJ Spoiler’ thread - and the ‘TLJ Fan Edit Ideas; with Spoilers’ thread - thank you.
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/Episode-VIII-Discussion-SPOILER-THREAD/id/18125
http://originaltrilogy.com/topic/The-Last-Jedi-Fan-Edit-Ideas-SPOILERS-INSIDE/id/57993