Re: Star Wars TFA. Warning spoilers and I hate it!!! Haters and Lovers Welcome
I've tried to read the other responses (there's a ton) so hopefully this isn't redundant, but my number one "rewrite" would be to have Starkiller base built up to be some ancient Sith artifact lost on the edge of space that Kylo Ren discovered via holocron or ancient manuscript. Its existence would be what inspired the construction of the first Death Star, as Sideous wasn't in position to search for the original, or didn't believe it existed.
Ren and the First Order would then find it in a semi operational state, but starving for energy as all of the local suns have been drained. That way we can have tension as the Resistance races to sabotage Starkiller before it gets a chance to eat any suns and destroy a system. I would still have it begin to drain a sun, as the imagery of the light fading during that whole battle was cool, but seeing those planets get destroyed and having absolutely no idea who anyone on them was just didn't have that great of an impact. If Starkiller came to the Republic's planet, or Maz's planet and began to eat the sun then it would have been higher stakes IMO.
I personally like Kylo just being a wannabe, it shows how powerful fanaticism can be paired with a bit of raw ability and an unsound mind. Not to get political, but it seems to be a similar mentality to a lot of young men who leave their "western" lives and join terrorist cells. They are hurting for belonging and empowerment, which they are given without the knowledge to back it up. I don't think we'll ever see him redeemed, because how could they forgive him, but at the very least he may serve as a strained ally towards the end of the movies and assumedly his life, because I believe he absolutely needs to die helping people if they are going for a "redemption" arc.
When it comes to Rey and her immediate abilities: She has lived an empty life, scratched out from a harsh world, with no attachments beyond the idea that her family will come, which she even admits she has let go of. That to me says that she is the perfect conduit for the Force and its will to flow through. A natural survivor and fighter, all it took was a little nudge and the entirety of the Force and its strength was able to express itself through her. I still think she has much to learn, as it seems the Force ebbs and flows when drawn upon, but I have no gripes about her facing off against a very injured Kylo and walking away from it. Even Finn's brief battle wasn't too unbelievable as he was a trained soldier, and it was a VERY brief fight on his part.
Other things that bothered me was the lack of focus on a main character early on, it reminded me of the PT. I thought we shouldn't have met Poe before the landing party attacks the village, and just have Kylo ask for him (he's not there) and then slaughter the village. I know we would miss the blaster bolt and it would leave BB8 unexplained, but it was just a jarring way to open the film IMO. After the night massacre (no Poe) cut straight to Rey scavenging, maybe even have her notice the fire from the massacre, and have her find BB-8 trapped in the scavenger's net because he was hiding nearby waiting for Poe to return.
I could take or leave Leia honestly, she wasn't bad, but I just wasn't exactly over the moon with her presence.
Han's death should have been in a more intimate location, and not over a big CGI hole. I think they should have all been a lot closer to each other, because as it is I feel like Rey, Finn, and Chewie could barely see Han and Kylo, so it lacked that emotion for me. If Han's body had just fallen to the ground instead and then the base started to crumble, leaving the others unable to retrieve it, we would have just as much finality without that bad shot of him falling into the light. I really didn't care for that scene.
Someone brought up (maybe here maybe not?) that the "traitor!" trooper should have been Phasma with a personal vendetta against one of her own soldiers who is now helping the enemy. That way she gets some "badass" cred during the fight while building a rivalry with Finn and gaining some development as well.
Overall I liked the new players much more than all of the ham handed OT callbacks, hopefully they can learn from the criticism and go a fresher direction for 8 and 9, and I also hope we will see a more "untethered" or spiritual Force in this series, vs the scientific "power levels, midichlorians" kind of junk.