Yeah, good point about a quicker Han cut and using different shots – that should be doable. But, in regard to the Leia references during the talk, they are gone for two reasons… A) the most obvious is that Leia hasn’t passed yet, so saying she’s gone obviously is wrong, but also B) Han talking about everything she stood for, etc. comes across as Leia being a little too full of herself (considering in this version it’s Leia doing a projection and talking about herself, not Ben not reliving a memory on his own). That dialogue works better in the original scene for the opposite reasons, but not in the way it’s been re-cut. Thanks for the feedback!
I did a similar cut removing all of Leia’s parts. The scene seems to flow so much smoother when it’s father and son. It has so way more gravitas removing that part, IMO.