Star Wars: The Force Awakens - 8 Scenes The Movie Desperately Needed

By Sam Hill / January 20, 2016

It has become increasing apparent that with Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams cut a lot out of the movie, trimming it down where possible and losing anything that he felt "slowed the pace"; promotional shots show scenes that weren't in the film, action figures exist for characters who never even appear, and in some cases the filmmakers have openly talked about changes in the edit. This article isn't concerned with those deleted scenes, though: the focus here is to suggest scenes that were never even shot or written that seriously needed to be included in the movie. Scenes that would have fleshed out the narrative and enabled audiences to understand the characters better; scenes that might've nudged Episode VII a bit closer to perfection. Because watching the movie, there is a sense of hurriedness - almost as if Abrams was afraid to slow down for a second and let audiences contemplate anything that was happening. In retrospect, The Force Awakens might have been better suited taking it's time somewhat, allowing for some of the following scenes. In other cases, it's genuinely bizarre that certain, incredibly important scenes were left out of the movie. Scenes like...

8. Finn Talks To That Stormtrooper Who Dies On Jakku Before The Massacre

During the opening scene on Jakku, Stormtrooper "Finn" is part of a task force sent to recover a map from a mysterious old man named Lor San Tekka on the orders of Kylo Ren. During the ensuing battle, though, a random Stormtrooper is killed, and Finn - who refuses to fight - appears to be seriously affected by this, as though he was close to the person under the mask. The moment feels wasted, though, because we - the audience - have no idea who said person is. It would have been far better had there been a scene beforehand in which Finn could have exchanged some words with the other Stormtrooper. And it needed only to be a brief exchange, really, set in their ship before it lands on Jakku; perhaps Finn and his unnamed ally could have talked about their nerves, given it's their first ever mission, or the scene could have been used to showcase how Finn is wired somewhat differently when contrasted against a more "brainwashed" Stormtrooper.