I voted liked it, btw.
Thoughts about the Trevorrow alleged script, based on what I read here:
https://collider.com/star-wars-9-colin- ... t-details/
1. Duel of the Fates is a better title - although not a good title. Most star wars titles aren't very good regardless so that doesn't matter much, but Rise of Skywalker is one of the worst.
(as an aside, I really didn't like that ending. Rey adopting the name skywalker for herself was fine, especially given the way the movie walks back TLJ elements although her relationship with luke was troubled. Calling herself Organa would have made more sense. And returning to tatooine made no sense. Leia wasn't from there, and Luke didn't like it there)
2. I like that the opening crawl focuses on the First Order's consolidation of control, punishing dissent, and silencing communication. This works much better for me than a pivot back to the returning emperor, who wasn't needed (Kylo should be your main villain), and comes from out of nowhere. If the prior two movies provided any sort of hint that Palps was behind this, even ones you could go back and read into the story, it would work better. But this is a villian ex machina, and one that wasn't needed when Kylo Ren is around, and arguably the most interesting character in the Star Wars universe.
3. I like that the story seems to give Finn more to do and adds Rose back in. I liked their dynamic, and I wasn't a fan of adding new supporting characters, almost none of whom had much to do or time to be fleshed out - and we had enough principle characters that they werne't necessary.
4. A heist to steal weapons feels like exactly the kind of thing a scrappy rebellion should be doing
5. I like that uniting the galaxy to fight is a major plot arc, rather than something that lando and chewie do off screen in an impossibly short amount of time
6. I love the idea of Finn leading a group of defecting stormtroopers - this ties in so well into his existing story and the ground the films have covered about who becomes stormtroopers, and why. Something similar made its way into Rise of Skywalker with the horse people on Endor, but that never felt like an organic part of the story - just an interesting idea that you'd have to explore in supplementary material. And it also happened independent of Finn, rather than having him spark it in some way
7. I like the idea of Rey deciding to continue to train a new generation of Jedi at the end of the film, which makes Luke's propehcy that he will not be the last jedi much more powerful
8. I get what they were trying to do with Kylo in Rise of Skywalker, and his redemption worked as well as it could have in that story and without Carrie Fisher to play her obviously intended role. But Star Wars rewards redemption way too easily, and Kylo is probably a better character if he isn't redeemed - that Rey never gives up on him says more about her.
9. Not sure I like Kylo killing Rey's parents
10. I like all the Jedi trying to redeem kylo in the end and failing - I'm fine with the mystical assists - I would have preferred to see force ghosts of the characters I really knew and cared about - if that's what it would have been - over the extended universe name dropping we got (which was fine as it goes except it is muddled by the confusing emperor stuff).
11. As the article points out - this makes the central conflict the battle for Kylo's soul, which is what this should have been. And I like that it has the guts to seemingly not redeem him.
These all seem like great choices. Not sure what Poe is doing in all this based on the notes that are here, but I like this a LOT more as story beats. Maybe the dialogue wouldn't work, and Abrams probably gets better performances out of the actors and shoots a better looking movie. But I wish he used this script.
