The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (The Rise of Skywalker 2019) - Hal9000
The world of fan-edits has always been a fascinating one to me and one that I’ve never really taken the opportunity to dive into really. I’ve dipped my toes a little bit into it for franchises I really like such as Dragon Ball but I’ve never quite gotten so fully invested to check out say a fully fan-edited movie and that even goes for movies I disliked… until now. Now to preface this, I am a life-long diehard Star Wars fan and I’m actually someone who has really LOVED what this new era has brought… until The Rise of Skywalker. The Rise of Skywalker is an odd beast among the Star Wars movies because to be frank, it’s hardly a bad movie. It’s not even the worst Star Wars movie or the worst movie period. On its own, it’s a fun watch and I’m not gonna lie due to how I came into this by watching each of the previous movies in chronological order in the days leading to it? I can even see how this is as an ending to the saga… until I look closer. Then I see its problems like the breakneck pacing, the weird editing, the premise that borderlines on being fanfiction with how bonkers it is and of course, this film’s bizarre need to retcon and rewrite all the things The Last Jedi set up. That being said, the core movie has potential and no version of this has shown that better than The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant.
The best way to describe this version going into it is basically it’s basically the same movie but given a second pass and that second pass REALLY helps it out. Now this edit doesn’t fix every single problem nor does it magically turn The Rise of Skywalker into a perfect finale to the saga. What it does do is in my opinion provide the best possible execution of this story. The pacing has been fixed up considerably, the new VFX shots are integrated so well I had to double check my copy of the original just to make sure my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me. There are tons of little edits that make things feel more coherent and helps to unite every trilogy more as one large whole and for the ones that are just there for the sake of it? A lot of them are so well-handled that I’m hardpressed to care. This isn’t an edit that just goes “BLEGH! SEQUEL BAD! ME FIX!” and throws out everything for pointless fanservice, this feels like it was made by a group of fans who really wanted to make this movie the best it possibly can be. That being said, it’s not without its flaws. There is one scene towards the finale that I read about in the description and was so worried getting into it and… it was almost there. For the most part it was done well, it just maybe could’ve had a shot or two snipped out of it to make it absolutely perfect, it keeps a moment between Ben and Rey that I personally have just never been fond of anyway and the additional effect at the VERY end in an attempt to give that character more payoff just feels a little forced to me. I totally respect and get where the fan-editor was coming from and to give credit where credit is due, it looks phenomenal from a technical standpoint but it just doesn’t sit that right to me. That being said though? Those problems are too minor for me to really care.
All in all, this is a fantastic edit that I feel everyone should give a watch to. It’s not gonna win over everyone certainly but of course really the only way you can achieve something beyond this is if the whole movie was basically redone which is not gonna happen so if this is the best we can make out of this mess? I’m more than glad to say this is above and beyond what I ever could’ve imagined.
9.5/10