Hi Hal, onto my next review.
For a long time, TLJ was one of my favourite films of the saga. I just loved its themes, its characters and discussions. Over the years I’ve looked at it more critically, and can no longer ignore its many problems, but I still feel that its themes and ideas are compelling. Thus, I quite enjoyed the conservativeness of this edit.
In terms of the larger changes, I felt the removal of the Fathier sequence was a very welcome cut, and makes the film feel far more efficient, both in its plot and in how it handles its themes. The other structural changes were similarly effective; moving the Luke/Yoda convo to just before Crait, after everything has gone wrong, makes it much more powerful. It always felt a bit too out of place in the original. I will say I found the musical transition from Kylo choking Hux back to the island a tad abrupt, though maybe future watches will help. I also felt that the cut from Luke staring after the Falcon and stepping offscreen to Finn and gang in hyperspace is a prime candidate for a right-to-left screen wipe, just from the direction of movement of both elements, though perhaps the shot of Luke is too brief to make it work.
The way you handled the humour was also very effective; I loved how you re-cut the opening joke with Hux and Poe (I always felt Hux’s delayed “Hello?” was the best part of the joke, brilliantly delivered by Domhnall Gleeson, and combined with his little speech playing on the tinny radio, ending the gag there makes it way funnier). I also appreciated that you didn’t remove the Force-leaf gag, as I never found that one cringey (I actually find it kind of endearing, and a meta-commentary on how counter-intuitive the mystical ‘Reach out with your feelings’ really is). The removal of the Caretakers was also welcome; they aren’t missed from the film at all. Though I do usually chuckle at the gag of the training rock obliterating their little wagon, just because it’s so well visually executed, they definitely detracted from the tone of the film and the scenes they appear in.
Another change I loved was the couple of deleted scenes you added to the first act (Luke in the hut and Finn getting his jacket back). They set off both characters’ developmental arcs on such a better note than before; we see that despite Luke’s grumpiness, his decision weighs heavily on him, and the brief talk with Finn and Poe establishes his hesitance to join the Resistance wholesale on a far more compelling note, making him seem less traitorous. The scene immediately felt to me a lot more like the Finn from TFA, which greatly helps his arc through the rest of the film. The quick deleted scenes later were also effective; the brief scene of the three in the lift was much more effective than the iron spaceship gag, and though I found the exchange in the shuttle a little clunky (hence its excision, I suppose), it was a good character beat, and solid development for Finn. I was admittedly hesitant at first for Phasma to have such an offhanded death after her dramatic return, but this is a much more effective moment, both for pacing and for Finn’s character.
Overall, I very much enjoyed TLJ: Legendary. It gives the film some much-needed fine-tuning, letting the underlying story shine stronger through the many cracks of the film’s clunky writing. I will admit that I think I enjoyed poppasketti’s TLJ: Rekindled a bit more, just because it goes a little further and has some extra teases of Palpatine, but I think I prefer a more conservative approach to this film than a hugely drastic one. Another great edit!