Might be tricky with the mouth movements but could you try making “just” and “Rey” closer together? Even if it’s just a frame or two. I think that’s the thing that’s bumping for me.
https://vimeo.com/414395138
pw: fanedit
Gave this another shot, cutting 1 frame like you suggested, and I think the line flows a bit better now. I also finished the morph effect instead of contacting the youtuber since I’d have more control of it that way. Thanks Chase Adams for sharing! That channel also released a quick tutorial on how they did it, which is incredibly similar to what I did, for those interested.
I see your point, Hal, about this feeling like a subverted expectation! To me, it’s what I always wanted her to say, because it’s her making peace with who she is (whether a nobody or a Palpatine). But perhaps it would work best in a Rey Nobody version.
To be honest, I always liked the ending myself. I love hearing the bells as Rey rides down the sand again. I like seeing BB-8 following along with her (theirs was the first relationship I clung to), as she literally buries the past. This is the kind of epilogue stuff I enjoy.
I could see BB-8 riding along with Rey just for this little mission, and Chewie lending her the Falcon for it. I didn’t get any sense that this was a final settlement for Rey, or that she and BB-8 wouldn’t see their friends again. It came off to me like a short trip to pay tribute and give closure to a place that connects herself to the past, to Luke, reminding her of her own overcome struggles in a similar world.
I think if the rest of the movie were better this ending would have gone over very differently, but I could be wrong. Maybe it says something about me, but I like ending in quiet desert isolation, a book-end to where we began in 1977. Big victory celebrations feel cheesy to me, which is why my least favorite endings are ROTJ and TPM. In TROS, I was happy to have both the celebration/hugs as well as the somber ending.