I have been an adamant supporter of The Last Jedi. I defended it against accusations that I felt were unfair, while having some criticisms of my own about the film. It is an imperfect piece, but I enjoyed it. However, the more I read about and see clips of the newly-released deleted scenes, the more I find myself getting frustrated by some of the choices that were made. In particular, the fact that a lot of Finn-related material was cut out.
CBR reported that according to commentary from the director, there was supposed to be more focus on Finn from the beginning of the film.
[…] optional commentary by writer/director Rian Johnson, reveals an early vision for the film that may have focused more on John Boyega’s ex-Stormtrooper Finn, literally from the start.
The Last Jedi was originally intended to open with Finn, as Johnson cleverly played with the franchise trope of panning from the opening crawl to the planet below.
The article goes on to discuss the fact that a scene between Finn and BB-8, with BB-8 “playing a hologram recording of Rey’s farewell, punctuated by a chaste kiss on his forehead and the words, ‘Thank you, my friend.’ But the tenderness of the moment is immediately undercut by Finn’s acknowledgement to the little droid, ‘All right, that was kind of weird that you recorded that, but thank you.'”
In a pure act of injustice, there was also cut Poe/Finn scene and of course, the Phasma/Finn showdown had a completely different lead up that highlights how Finn’s grown from a passive participant in the rebellion to the man who is willing to kill himself to save people. It’s a fantastic character arc, and while I enjoy what Finn got to do in the film, knowing that all of this was cut makes me furious.
To be totally frank the reason I tuned in to watch The Force Awakens was not because of Rey. I didn’t who she was or what she was going to become, and while I love her and her character, the reason I paid for my ticket was Finn. Not only did I already know John Boyega from the classic hit Attack The Block, but the idea of seeing a black former stormtrooper welding a lightsaber? I wanted that.
No shade to Lando, but I wanted someone who was going to be part of the main trio from the jump, and Finn gave me that. I loved his story as a child soldier who escapes the first order and ends up helping to save a rebel fighter. It was a great story and then his slow journey into becoming a brave hero. That was powerful.
I respect that Rey is our heroine, but that doesn’t mean Finn couldn’t get his more fleshed out hero’s journey as well. Especially since instead of getting that I had to sit through the extended Force G-Chats of Reylo.
When I was raging on Slack about hating this emphasis on Reylo in comparison to using that storytime for Finn, I was reminded by fellow TMS writer Teresa that Rey is the lead character and therefore the relationships that deal with her issues are going to be at the forefront. Which is a fair point, and I also agree with her that Reylo in the context of the film is not inherently ship-based the way Han/Leia stuff was in the original.
That being said, while Luke was being trained by Yoda, he wasn’t getting shirtless force messages from Han and Leia. In fact only when he senses they are in danger does he go towards them and leave his training. Rey goes Kylo because she thinks she can save him and because Kylo has framed himself in their conversations as a reassuring figure, taking advantage of her insecurities about her identity.
Building the connection between Kylo and Rey did not need all of those scenes. It definitely did not need, the now meme-famous, shirtless scene. We didn’t even have this many Vader/Luke scenes in the film where they were revealed to be father and son. I get the purpose of pairing the two characters up in terms of thematic purpose, I feel like it is discussing a larger issue that is very valid. Doesn’t mean that it needs to take up that much space. Especially because in the end it only establishes that Kylo Ren is an even bigger man-bear-child-baby than previously thought.
The battle in Snoke’s throne room was dope tho.
There is a balance not only in the force, but in storytelling that is necessary. I wouldn’t have minded these changes if all we were missing were some silly comedic scenes or even some more ship-bait moments between Rose/Finn. But to know that we lost a good chunk of what was going to be a better character story and a final showdown between Finn and Phasma, looking at what we did have, I see room for that.
I still love The Last Jedi, I think it is a great Star Wars movie, but it loses massive points in my book for pushing Finn to the side in favor of sad-boy Kylo Ren and his gaslighting of Rey.
On March 27th when the film comes out on Blu-Ray and DVD I will be certainly thinking about all the things that could have been cut, especially that milk scene.
(via CBR, image: Disney/Lucasfilm)
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