Hal, I was looking over your cutlist and liked the idea of cutting Luke saying “Nothing will change my mind”. It did sound a bit childish in theaters and you made a good point about connecting the two static shots of R2 so I tried it out and wonder what everyone thinks.
I feel like in this scene you could have gotten the same effect (sorrynotsorry Rian, I am not a film director, not stepping on your toes) by just having Luke frown and make a disgusted face (Hamill has a very expressive face) rather than Luke saying any lines.
There is a long standing debate about making a movie for a shock value and making a movie to stand the test of time and I feel like Luke’s line at this moment is just to deliver the shock value of R2-D2 one-upping him… but it only works once and after that it pulls you out of the scene.