Overall I enjoyed this a lot more than TFA. I wanted to be surprised and not another reboot retread which is what I feared it was going to be based on the trailers, so I was pleasantly surprised. It touches on a lot of deeper things than the superficial and turns what was getting stale, onto it’s head and hands a clean slate over to do something even more original in the next one. The main focus now squarely pegged on Kylo versus Rey, given that Kylo has now surpassed where Vader was able to go.
The big sticking point with a lot of people is the Leia/Mary Poppins thing. I have to wonder if the way that ended up being done was after Carrie Fisher actually passed away and it was a nod by the production to see Carrie as an angel of sorts and they did that as a kind of personal homage. I would have preferred that she was buried under wreckage and we got to see her use the force to get it off of her and then make her way to the door. But, if it was done to make a subtle statement about Carrie - it will be hard to be pissed off about it.
If a fan edit were to ‘fix’ this - it might require some really clever reshot elements. It could be done by having a pile of twisted durasteel in what is left of the bridge suddenly moving and lifting up by itself and cut quickly to her hand on the door window. Makes the same point without the GoTG Starlord homage.
I think there are many huge missed opportunities in TLJ.
Hux could have had dialogue and scenes on the Bridge which better explained why he wanted this slow-speed sublight chase without sending TIEs and Destroyers to wipe out the remnant of the Resistance quickly. Toying with them in overconfidence in his twisted delight as revenge for Starkiller base and the loss of the dreadnaught could have served that purpose. Sadly there is no way to get that kind of explanation into a fan edit.
I would have preferred Akbar or Leia hyperspacing the Raddus into the Supremacy.
If I had one thing I absolutely was disappointed about - it was Phasma. Instead of dumping her in there for 5 minutes of pointlessness, why couldn’t Johnson have sent Phasma and a platoon of her troops to track Finn and Rose to Canto Bight and have their big showdown there? It would have expanded her role, maybe showed us why she is a badass. If the FO was taking over the galaxy, having local cops lecture Phasma about jusridiction only to be put down by her troops would have shown the ruthlessness by which they operate. I would have settled for the herd of the fathier/horse creatures stampede Phasma and her troops right when they catch and are ready to execute Finn for treason, rather than have that silly stampede through the casino. I’d be cool with Phasma ending up with hoof dents in her armor as Finn and Rose escape.
Also it makes no sense to have Maz in this at all. If Rose was from that place, why wouldn’t she know there are code crackers there at the casino? That would have made more sense than making a phone call to Maz while she was playing Battlefront II. Cutting her out of a fan edit is a no-brainer, except how do you explain why Finn and Rose go there?
My BIGGETS WISH FOR A FAN EDIT for those who have Adywan-ish talent:
A ten second addition via clever animation added to the showdown between Luke and the First Order.
After all the Walkers fire on Luke, and he emerges to brush his shoulder, the shot of Luke from the rear where he is almost in silouhette - with the Walkers towering in front of him - have Luke raise his left hand towards the Walkers, close his fist and bring his arm down to his side and have every single one of those Walkers brought down to their knees and then down to the ground.
Such a sequence would go a great ways towards better helping to explain why he had expended himself to the point of doing an Obi-Wan/Yoda vanishing act. And if that was actually done in the movie - I would have peed myself. I would be watching the Empire sequence of Luke being unable to lift his X-wing out of the swamp at Dagobah with whole new eyes, knowing what he would eventually become powerful enough to do at the end.
Just my .02 and fan edit wish-list for the talented here on the board.