The Force Awakens Scene Edit

Replacing the Hosnian Cataclysm

A few weeks ago we got our first glimpse at the last film in Star Wars' Sequel Trilogy. These movies have been divisive, and for the most part, there have been good reasons. For the most part, I've really enjoyed the movies Disney has released, especially the two primary films. That isn't to say they're free of problems, however. Largely, they've had some really strong ideas with some poor execution. Once Rise of Skywalker releases I want to go through the trilogy in full, evaluate how it failed and succeeded, and how one might execute those ideas differently. As a tease, I present you with a take I've had in my head for some time now, rewriting the midpoint of The Force Awakens and the destruction of the Hosnian System at the hands of Starkiller Base.

I think the Force Awakens is easily one of the more accessible of the Disney movies; it's fun, adventurous, and for the most part, it keys into nostalgia by giving fresh life to old ideas. This catering to nostalgia has also been criticized, to some degree, as a crutch for the film. For the most part, I would disagree; I think the first act is certainly familiar, but the new characters and situations bring a fresh new energy to the franchise. The Force Awakens largely holds up on its own - that is, until the introduction of Starkiller Base. The problems I have with Starkiller Base deserves an entry of its own, but in short, the film tries to replicate all the beats that A New Hope and Return of the Jedi created with the two Death Stars, and it does it without understanding what made those beats so effective. In particular, it tries to replicate A New Hope's midpoint, that is, the point at the center of a story where the plot tends to pivot in a new direction and forces the protagonist to shift focus. In A New Hope, this midpoint occurs when the Death Star destroys Alderaan, the target of the protagonists until now. This dramatically affects the plot - the crew of the Millennium Falcon arrives in the Alderaan system to learn that their destination has been entirely wiped out, after which they are swiftly captured by the enemy. If the shift in the structure of the film is not enough to show the audience the gravity of the situation, the reactions from Leia and Ben Kenobi to the situation give us a more personal connection to the loss of Alderaan. And everyone's reactions to the Death Star show just how massive of a threat this new weapon is.

Starkiller Base's destruction of the Hosnian System receives no such gravity. While it is framed with stunning photography and a stellar performance by Domnhall Gleeson, the scene itself fails on multiple levels. The audience, for one, doesn't really know what exactly the Hosnian System is. A New Hope repeatedly emphasizes for us that Alderaan an important destination for the transmission of the Death Star plans and that getting there is our primary hope for destroying that station. But The Force Awakens never really attempts to explain why the Hosnian System is important. We are told that it is the seat of 'The Republic,' but the political situation of the film is kept so vague that it's hard to judge what exactly that means. How does destroying the Republic affect the Resistance? Is the entire Republic destroyed? And why does the writer choose to destroy this new system, when Coruscant functions identically and is actually a planet the audience may have a connection with? Not only is the Hosnian Cataclysm an event that is confusing and poorly explained, but it is also almost immediately brushed off. Finn hurriedly announces that the system has been destroyed, but that's kind of all the emotional response we get. This event mostly seems to serve as a means to tell the audience what our characters already know: Starkiller Base is bad and should probably be dealt with.

Despite the spectacle of the Hosnian Cataclysm, it's actually not the important part of this sequence. Immediately after the cataclysm, the First Order attacks Takodana, aiming to capture BB-8 and Rey. Are the events linked? Were they planned in coordination? Kylo Ren watches Starkiller Base fire, and then immediately appears on Takodana. The movie seems to want us to relate the two events, but they don't actually seem to have any connection. In any case, Kylo Ren's subsequently kidnaps Rey during the Battle of Takodana. The kidnapping is met with an intense reaction by Finn, featuring a long sweeping pan and one of the greatest musical swells in the movie. Here, the plot pivots - suddenly the focus isn't on getting BB-8 to the Resistance, but it's on saving Rey. The stakes are now personal. This is the actual turning point of the sequence, and it excels in that space. Everything with Starkiller Base is simply window-dressing to this shift. Now, strictly speaking, this isn't the midpoint of the film’s runtime, unlike Alderaan's destruction. These scenes transition us from the second act into the third act – functionally, however, the Battle of Takodana fulfills the same role as the midpoint, raising the stakes, making things personal, and changing the game. But then, why the focus on the Hosnian System's destruction? Why the elaborate Death Star replacement if it isn't actually important for our core plot? The emotional emphasis is on the events on Takodana, and the rescue of Rey, Starkiller Base, and the Hosnian Cataclysm are simply dead weight added on top to, I don't know, make it more 'Star Wars-y.' But in he end it fundamentally brings down the movie.

The Hosnian Cataclysm fails in one more significant way. As I have alluded above, the political situation in this movie is kept vague, at best. Secondary materials inform us that the First Order rose from the ashes of the Empire, and when the newly formed Republic couldn't official stand against the First Order, Leia headed up the Resistance as a separately funded entity. That's all a little strange and convoluted, but okay. The vibe I get with the First Order is essentially that they're kids playing Empire. Kylo Ren is impatient and abrasive, Phasma is ineffective, and Hux definitely has nepotism vibes. The fanatical quality Hux's speech exudes helps all of this, but it's never really doubled-down on through the movie. A lot of people have just interpreted the First Order as incompetent, rather than an obsessive new generation. The connection between the Republic and the Resistance is even less clear in the movie, but it's clear that damaging the former affects the other drastically. I say all of this because this scene should make all of this clear. This should be the big moment where we see just how bad the First Order is, and clearly, the writer wants us to learn a little bit about the Republic and the Resistance as well. Don't forget that the proceeding Battle of Takodana is the first real look we get at the Resistance. But it all fails. The cataclysm has no emotional impact and it doesn't affect the plot, and so we don't really learn anything interesting about the First Order except that they have a really big gun that we need to blow up. Han Solo will later present the situation using essentially those words. Starkiller Base and the First Order aren't fearsome, they're just bothersome. And we certainly don't learn very much about our political situation.

So, if we're going to clean up this scene, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. We need to coalesce the destruction of the Republic with the Battle of Takodana, uniting our plot points and our character points while also streamlining the midpoint. Also, we need to double-down on this moment as reflective of the First Order, the Republic, and the Resistance. There are other, smaller elements I will be hitting, but these are the big two that need work.

The Scene:

To start, our goal going into the scene is wrong. Han Solo takes Rey and Fin to Takodana to meet Maz Kanata and arrange transport to D'Qar. We receive some loose explanation that the Falcon is probably bugged, which has never stopped Han before. While I like Han's hesitance to get directly involved, I think the motivation here is muddled. So, my first change is that we don't go to Takodana - we go to a visually identical planet, Yavin IV. The movie seems to want to avoid directly retreading steps, but as a planet with a decent amount of history, I think Yavin IV fits well. Here, the Republic has set up shop in the old temple, and have an assembly set up in the main chambers. Han hopes to leave the information in BB-8 with the Republic, and then to move on with his life. But as we step into the assembly, we realize that the discussion is absolutely deadlocked. Every major political figure in the Republic is here, and they're all arguing. Here, we can have some much-needed exposition on everything. A Resistance representative (perhaps Ackbar, or perhaps even Holdo, to give her some establishment prior to TLJ) is arguing for a move against the First Order, but a Republic bureaucrat is arguing that the First Order isn't worth their time. The films as they are strike this weird ground where no one seems to care about the First Order, and yet they have this massive fleet and the resources to build a Death Star equivalent. I think the implication is that no one really knows the depth of their resources, and so the First Order is brushed off as not a threat. In this scene we can have Finn stand up and talk about how horrible and big the First Order is, and how they're rapidly growing, only to be ignored by the council. He and Rey are dejected, but Han takes it in stride. "This will go on for a few hours," he says. "I'm getting a drink." So, he abandons the debate, and Rey, Finn, and BB-8 follow suit.

Yavin IV is not only a seat of some political power, but also a hot tourist spot, so of course there are cantinas and the like around. And so Han takes us to Maz's Castle. It definitely looks like the sort of structure you'd see on Yavin IV. Han can express disgust at how locked the Republic is, and Maz can comment on the importance of the Resistance. We can have a lot of the same beats; Finn's hesitance to get involved against the First Order, Han's hesitance to see Leia again, the splitting of the group. Finn's motivations will have to change somewhat, but they already seem a little inconsistent in the movie - rather than suddenly deciding to run, I think it makes more sense for him to decide, "alright, BB-8 is safe now, my job is done. Now I'm getting as far away from here as I can." Rey is still called to the lightsaber and freaked out by the vision. Everyone divides.

As Finn is walking towards a ship, he passes by an engineering crew heading for the old temple. About a dozen of them are stepping off some sort of cargo speeder, all carrying large crates. Fin nearly runs directly into the leader, a blonde with short, cropped hair. He walks past and the camera lingers on her face. Keen viewers will recognize the actress as Gwendoline Christie. We cut away, probably to Rey's vision and her running off with BB-8 following. Then we cut back to Finn, about ready to leave on a ship when he glances back. He makes eye contact with the pilot of the cargo speeder as it passes by. To his surprise, Finn recognizes the pilot. He steps away from the loading ramp of the ship, stunned, and begins running back towards the temple.

Cut to Hux standing on the bridge of the Finalizer, giving orders. "Are you in position?" he asks, and he receives an affirmative over the comm. He turns to one of his bridge officers and asks if they have a connection. The officer replies that they do, and a twisted grin forms on Hux's face. "Patch me through," he orders.

In the assembly chamber, the debate is still going strong. The Republic refuses to act without absolute surety. Suddenly, a large hologram of Hux appears in the center of the room. He gives a version of the speech he gave in The Force Awakens, declaring that the Republic is weak and the First Order will reign supreme. We're setting Hux up as an arrogant radical, and here we see just how much the First Order believes their own propaganda. Meanwhile, we pan back into a side room of the temple, where the engineers are unpacking their crates. The crates don't contain engineering supplies, the group is pulling out rifles and sections of white armour. The blonde leader sets a crate on a counter with a heavy clang and opens it up. Inside is a chrome stormtrooper helmet. Rey is in the jungle. Her head perks up and she spins to face the temple, eyes wild. She senses something is coming.

Hux's speech reaches its climax. The assembly is astonished, who does guy think he is and what right does he have to make these claims? Someone mocks him, says that the First Order is weak and doesn't have the power to back up his assertions. Hux laughs snidely, "the world will see. Today is the last day of the Republic! And the dawn of the First Order." The hologram fizzles out, and twelve stormtroopers march into the assembly, lead by Captain Phasma. Before anyone has time to react, the stormtroopers open fire on the council. It's a massacre. A few representatives duck for cover, but the stormtroopers begin moving around and picking off stragglers. We see Ackbar, or someone with an equivalent level of fan-adoration, struck down in the gunfire. Finn rushes towards the chamber, rifle in hand. (Side note, Finn should have his gun in this scene. Han explicitly tells him to keep the rifle in the scene before, and he has it on D'Qar, but suddenly in this scene, he "needs a weapon" and Max hands him the lightsaber? What?) He gets in sight of Phasma and the troopers, but freezes, initially unwilling to strike down his former friends. They have no such compunctions, however, and open fire on him. He's forced to back up, and find cover deeper in the temple. Meanwhile, Maz and Han are retrieving the lightsaber in a scene similar to the one in the original movie. The roof begins shaking. Outside, Rey watches the TIE fighters swarm in. They fire on the temple, and the people outside. It's an all-out attack.

Finn flees the temple and meets with Maz, Han, and Chewie as Rey fights off the troops chasing her. This is all pretty much the same. Maz gives Finn the lightsaber, but he's pretty indignant towards it, opping to keep his rifle. Troops are landing, and Han and Chewie begin shooting, and have their interaction with the bowcaster. Finn leans up against the building ruins, and sights down a few stormtroopers. He takes a deep breath, and looks at the chaos around him. Calming down, he looks back to the enemy soldiers, and exhales. He begins firing away, putting his training to his use and taking out stormtroopers. Meanwhile, as the troops in the temple go to join the battle outside, a couple of them drag a young kid to Phasma. Phasma grabs the child's jaw and examines him/her. The kid resists, and when she lets go, the kid spits at Phasma's feet. "Yes," Phasma says, mildly amused. "Send this one to processing." The stormtroopers nod and take the kid towards a landing craft as Kylo Ren's shuttle touches down.

The battle continues. Kylo Ren approaches Rey. Finn sees Phasma across the battlefield and takes a few potshots at her. Like in The Last Jedi, the shots merely glance off her armour. Phasma slowly turns to face Finn. "Ah," she says, "FN-2187. The traitor." Finn realizes his rifle isn't going to do much, so he tosses it aside and activates the lightsaber, albeit fumbling slightly. Phasma turns back around, dismissively. "Deal with this scum," she orders, stepping back towards the fight. Finn is surprised and shouts after her but FN-2199 spins in with his baton and duels the deserter. This goes the same; even against a fellow stormtrooper, Finn is quickly overpowered in hand-to-hand combat. He is knocked down, and then surrounded and captured like Han, Maz, and Chewie. In the film, Han saves Fin here, but that doesn't make a lot of sense since they're immediately captured anyway. In any case, the situation seems dire, when Poe and the Resistance fly in, cleaning up the fight. Kylo Ren captures Rey and whisks her away on his shuttle as the rest of the First Order pull out. They have their goal, and their message has been made. Leia lands and unites with Han, but the conversation quickly turns dire. Han mentions how he saw Kyo Ren, and announces that the Republic leaders have been massacred. Leia grimaces. "Then it's up to us," she mutters. "We should head back to the base and regroup. Come with us, we'll need you."

Conclusion:

So, that's the sequence. We have a clearer understanding of the political state of both the First Order and the Resistance, a defined and personal understanding of just how far the First Order is willing to go and how fanatical they are, and we have a more invested stake in the conflict against them. They are clearly bad, and have captured Rey, who Kylo Ren obviously believes can lead the First Order to Skywalker, and thus must be retrieved. While the Hosnian Cataclysm told us the First Order was 'bad,' the massacre here gives both the audience and the characters a more up-close look at their brutality. Apart from their cold willingness to mow down unarmed politicians, we see them kidnapping children. After all, it's pretty much implied that the First Order has some sort of ideological brainwashing going on in the stormtrooper ranks. We also have a closer look at Finn and his relationship with his fellow stormtroopers, especially Phasma. This should be a fundamental dynamic in these films, but it's kind of pushed aside. So, here we see the next step of that dynamic; Finn has a clear vendetta against Phasma, but she just sees him as something that needs to be cleaned up and really isn't personally concerned in the matter. This is in sharp contrast to Finn, who is growing further and further involved. Ultimately, this should be Finn’s scene. He hasn’t had a lot of them in this franchise. With the audience, he realizes the extent of the First Order’s brutality, and learns that he has to take a stand. He doesn’t always succeed, but he’s trying. More than that, it helps justify Finn so quickly taking to firing on people who could have once been his friends, a question never really addressed in the film. With Rey incapacitated, Finn should be our drive as we head into the last act, but he always feels kind of passive in the movie. This sequence should give him a clear drive moving forward – both his immediate desire to save Rey, as in the movie, but also his broader turn against the First Order. That’s what a midpoint does, it changes the game and it changes the stakes. Finn can’t be content to run anymore. It’s time to fight.

That’s my rewrite. This is the sort of thing I think about a lot, so I’m hoping this was interesting because I hope to put up more as this blog continues forward. Enjoy, and comment as you will.