Hal, I’m very excited to see your edit! I’ve made this account just to reply to your post. I really dug your edits of the prequels. Please consider these revisions of the film…
-Luke shouldn’t shout about the “sacred texts” after Yoda burns down the tree as it doesn’t make sense for Luke to be upset about something he was literally just going to do!
-Cut the irons on the Supremacy. It felt like more parody humor, which didn’t make much sense to me. It was like from a Lego Star Wars video game.
-Rey should never directly say anything like “who are my parents?” She has never wondered who her parents are- she wondered WHERE her parents are. It seems as if Johnson and LucasFilm forgot that Rey isn’t concerned with who her parents are. We are. The audience cares about who her family is. Rey cares about when they’ll come back, and what happened to them. The film confuses the audience’s questions with the characters’ questions. She might as well had looked at the camera and addressed the thing we were all wondering… It was kind of ridiculous.
-No weird look from Finn at the camera when BB-8 rescues them in a small AT-AT. Rose and Finn give each other a look as if BB-8 saving them is crazy, but it’s so overwhelmingly self-aware it took me out of the movie. Possibly the weirdest part of the movie, maybe even more so than Leia in space if I’m honest.
-But removing space Leia is important too. It’s really bad.
-Maz Kanata’s scene should be removed but if it must stay, please remove the reference to the pendant man and how they apparently hooked up. That was awful.
-No humor with Hux and Kylo on Crait. It takes so much away from the tension of that scene.
-No awkward, prolonged milking of the sea cow.
-Less of making a point out of the wealthy who make money off war.
-Less making a point out of animal cruelty. We can make political statements but making at least four is a bit much. Let’s bring it down to two.
-Remove the line about “saving what you love” from Rose, and cut the sudden kiss she gives Finn. It’s weird.
-The film can show the children talking about the legend of Skywalker, but can end with the Falcon flying into space. Johnson has commented how the Falcon flying into space was almost the last image of the film. It works perfectly.