I just wanted to share my thoughts on the film and what things could be considered for future edits. Obviously these are very early thoughts and I definitely think more rewatches and getting involved in the discussion and analysis of the film is necessary. Sorry in advance for the long post.
TavorX said:
Also, I would LOVE to see someone fanedit podracers into the scene where the initial space horses are revealed.
I think a lot of hardcore fans were half expecting to see podracers! I can’t remember if it was another thread on here or on reddit, but someone made a pretty good point that podracing is kind of like the NASCAR of the Star Wars galaxy, so it probably wouldn’t be a sport the super rich would be into.
It seems almost universal that something needs to be done with the Canto Bight sequence. If someone wanted to cut the entire fathier chase sequence, they could potentially cut from DJ opening the cell door, to Finn and Rose heading to the door, then cut to their ship flying away, implying that they just followed him along and escaped together.
The problem for me, is that there are seeds that are planted into the Canto Bight sequence that holds a strong message at the end. Even though everything Finn, Rose and Poe did failed, what they did still helped light the spark of hope in the galaxy, which we see through the Force sensitive kid at the end of the film, who is wearing the Rebel ring that Rose gave him. There is a strong theme of failure in the film, and I worry that cutting too much would take away from that. Though it never hurts for someone to try and see how it feels. You could still keep broom kid at the end and just cut the shot of the ring, to keep the implication that hope is never truly gone. Or one could just end the film on the wide shot of everybody in the Falcon. Maybe there could be a good way to just trim the fat of the entire Canto Bight sequence rather than removing entire segments from it. Btw, some people seem to think that that kid is important and will play a part of IX or Rian’s trilogy, but I honestly believe his scene was just symbolic, rather than setting up some future character.
I think the floating Leia was a cool idea and I personally like it, but obviously something about it doesn’t work to have such a large negative reaction. Like someone said earlier, maybe there is a better way to cut this scene. And I think we should see how they handle Carrie’s death in IX before we implement a death for her in TLJ. There are definitely a few moments she could have died, so I think the options exist, and if they handle her passing poorly in IX, we would have already thought of some alternatives.
I think Rey being a nobody was a great idea and making her related to someone would kind of hurt the message that greatness doesn’t have to come from greatness. I know that doesn’t really explain her raw abilities, but in my mind, everyone’s connection to the Force seems to be amplified comapred to past Force users (even broom kid), so after being dormant for 50 years, besides flowing through an existing few, it is now rushing through everyone. If some kind of explanation still felt necessary by the end of the trilogy, I would, at most, possibly consider editing the vision sequences in TFA and TLJ to imply that Rey was the new incarnation of the Chosen One. Not necessarily a reincarnation of Anakin himself, rather a new person ‘chosen’ by the Force, but that could be an option. Kylo’s obsession with Vader would be ironic in that case, but could turn out weird if something does happen between him and Rey. I think it would tie the trilogies together nicely. The new trilogy would parallel the prequels, and just how Luke helped his father fulfill his destiny as the Chosen One, he is helping Rey fulfill hers. But this is just an initial thought, and I would like to see how Rey is handled in IX as well.
I personally loved Snoke getting killed the way he did, as it makes Kylo Ren a much stronger character for it, but I do think some kind of explanation of where he came from would have been nice. If they don’t really explain anything about him in IX, I think editors could consider ways to touch on his background in some way, either in the TFA crawl or Rey’s force vision maybe. I really believe he is just a powerful Force user from the Unknown Regions who was biding his time, but when the Emperor’s theme started playing in Snoke’s throne room as he was torturing Rey, I really thought for a second that they were going to play the “Palpatine clone” card from the old EU. I think either of these theories, or the idea of him being Darth Plagueis, could be implemented with some subtle hints in the films. I think it is important to consider which of these ideas benefits the saga as a whole the most, though, because II personally don’t think they all would work.
Someone mentioned this earlier, but I also have a bit of problem with Luke almost killing his nephew. I think it is implied that Luke saw the future and for a brief, desperate moment considered killing his own blood to save the rest of his students before quickly realizing that was a mistake. But I don’t think it is as clear as I would have liked, because it feels like it goes against everything he learned in the OT. If it were a younger Luke, he would have rejected the idea of Ben falling and would have had faith in his nephew, just like he did his own father. But maybe that was the point. I liked how they did Luke’s story overall, and I think Luke will be back as a spirit to guide Rey in rebuilding the Jedi, but I think this moment needs to be given some thought.
Also, I don’t think the Yoda sequence should be removed! I agree that Yoda looked off but I honestly think we’ll get used to it given time.
I liked the humor in the film, but at times there was a bit too much, so I do think trimming jokes should be considered to help keep the tone from jumping around. A little nitpick is Phasma, I definitely think her scenes in TFA and TLJ should be edited someway to make her feel less like a punk.
Someone may have mentioned this, but I don’t think anyone in the film said, “I have a bad feeling about this.” I don’t necessarily mind this because this movie was all about screwing conventions and burning down the idea of what we think Star Wars has to be, but if someone wanted to implement it in their edit, I think the easiest way to do it would be to make 3PO says it at some point. I’m sure there is a recording of Anthony Daniels saying it somewhere.
HelloGreedo, a Star Wars youtuber, said at then end of his review of the film, “When I woke up this morning, my very first thought when my head raised up from the pillow was, ‘Man, I want to see a Last Jedi fan edit.’”
Looking forward to what deleted scenes will become available to us in the coming months. I’m excited for all of your ideas for this film and the back and forth. It’s fun to talk to you all.
