I am aaaactually on the fence on this one. While I think my reason for doing something different makes sense, Hal’s edit is so smooth, and if that’s the way the film had been released initially I don’t think anyone would have thought it was anything other than more of Poe being a bad-ass. So, I’ll definitely consider it!
I’m an advocate for this as well! In my hypothetical hybrid cut involving yours and Hal’s, Hal’s version is the one I prefer. I also lean towards keeping Space Leia, but that’s been debated to the point of exhaustion so no need to say anything more on that matter! 🙂
Out of curiosity, will this edit be subject to change after Ep. IX comes out? For example, I ADORE your version of Finn’s sacrifice, but if Finn and Rose have any sort of romantic relationship in Ep. IX, somehow tagging on what Hal did which includes the kiss but gets rid of the cringey dialogue would help with keeping consistency between the films. Does that even make sense? Hah.
Same goes with Phasma - if she truly is dead in Ep. IX, doesn’t that make her death in XIII a little anticlimactic? This one’s not as big of a deal to me, but I thought I’d mention it! It might have even been brought up on here before.