Update on this edit and trilogy as a whole can be found here.
I finally got around to watching this, and just like the last edit, I absolutely loved it! The things that really stuck out as great were the Training montages, music edits, slight tweaks, and giving original scenes entirely new contexts. For example I loved the Order 66 soundtrack you played at the end of the Kylo and Luke Duel, it really fit imo. Giving the guards lightsabers will always be cool, and it fits more in line with Legends materials like The Force Unleashed. The Mandalorian Season 2 soundtrack in the Luke and Leia scene fit perfectly, and I really love how you end Luke’s journey.
That’s wonderful, I appreciate the positive feedback. As I’m reviewing my film from top to bottom again, can you think of any other story adjustments that would help with the plot?
There is one complaint I have though, I feel that Rey went from “YOU’RE A MONSTER!” to “There’s good in you” To quickly, I think that would’ve been fixed by adding back the last two Flashback sequences. I can also I understand why you didn’t add them, I personally feel like they show a very Human side to Luke, but I know in this edit you were trying to place the blame more on Kylo and less on Luke.
That may be a good point. I can’t include anything that destroys Luke’s character as Grand Master, but I will see if there’s anything else from those flashbacks that I can use to help smooth out Rey’s transition of opinion of Kylo, or perhaps even cut out one of those lines to keep her consistent.
Other than that I feel like this edit is perfect for my tastes, Green Saber Luke, World between Worlds, and the tease for the next edit at the end are all awesome. I hope to see TROS edit soon!
Well I am excited to improve upon my first release here and get out the final version to make it even better.
I saw the edit and it’s like the edit to episode 7. It’s really amazing and the best version of TLJ is see so far. The new beginning on the island and all the changes with Luke and Rey are amazing. The trainingscenes over the voiceovers works so great. The best thing - Luke isn’t grumpy, will not die and is a good master. I love it. The idea that Kylo shoots the ship with his mother and Luke help her to survive is the best solution. And I can’t believe how you turn Holdos sacrifice in a amazing Luke moment. I don’t hate Holdo, but that over the top moment fits awesome for Luke Skywalker. I love it so much. The final fight between Kylo and Luke is much more emotionally with the short flashbacks. Especially the short scene between Leia and Luke with Leias purple lightsaber. That was the best moment. All the other scenes are really good edited. The most unnecessary funny moments or other bad scenes are gone. The complete new scene at the end is really a surprise. The new music parts at the end there a little bit too loud for me. A really great edit. Can’t wait to see episode 9. Love it.
Thanks a bunch for the review, Mario! I am happy that you enjoyed it. I will be taking another pass at the audio transitions/levels and adding even more content and scene changes in my final release later this year.
Hi, I watched your edit. I’ll be honest, I saw the original movie in the theater and find it pretty bad, and I haven’t seen it since. That said, I have to say that while I liked some of the changes you made, I still didn’t like the movie. Nothing wrong with the changes you made, though. At the end of the day, I think the original movie has so many problems that not even editing can save it for me, unfortunately.
Haha, I can understand that. I am at least honored to have received your first re-watch!
What I liked in your edit:
Luke saving Leia was great;
I liked that you took out unnecessary parts of Rose and Finn’s storyline;
Luke got to be a lot more likeable in your edit;
I liked the addition of Palpatine’s voice at the end, but I think it could have been edited better.
Glad to see that the major story changes worked out for you at least, fixing Luke was my #1 priority. I will be taking another crack at that Palpatine ending as it was just an idea in the beta release, but I think there’s potential to invest more in it to help the payoff.
What I didn’t like:
In your edit, Luke uses the force from distance three times (once to save Leia, once to break the Imperial ships, and once to fight Kylo Ren). For me this plot device was kind of repetitive in the movie, and took the impact of Luke’s “force projection” sequence at the end. I found the second sequence where Luke uses force from distance in your edit to be a bit unnecessary, and since you used scenes of Luke’s sacrifice to assemble this sequence, his sacrifice became a lot less emotional for me towards the end of the movie;
Would you suggest cutting out Luke intervening in one of these moments to instead have the original plot device occur? I remember when I went to see TLJ the first time, I was fully expecting to see an incredibly powerful Luke, putting his full knowledge of the force on display for us to see for the first time. I tried to recreate that expectation in my film, really giving the audience a chance to sit in awe at his power. I thought my edit accomplished that pretty well, but maybe you didn’t like that version of Luke. Did you not think a powerful Luke is a good idea?
Luke’s Theme From The Mandalorian Series didn’t work for me in your edit;
Would you be able to offer any more details about why? What did it make you feel that distracted you?
I found the sequence in which Rey tries to lift the rocks in training with Luke a little confusing. At first I thought that sequence of everyday images was really her training with Luke over time, but at the end of the scene it is shown that time has not passed, as she is still there, with her hand in the floor. I simply don’t get it;
This is a common time lapse technique used in film making. You are seeing future events occur as the present tense scene plays out. It is to be understood that the events in the training montage actually occur chronologically in the future (after the present tense scene ends), but as the audience we are seeing these events out of order with the present tense voiceover overlayed on top of the present tense scene. Perhaps watch it again with that understanding and see if you make more sense of it this time around.
In my opinion, I think it would be good to cut the scenes involving Finn and Rose’s storyline a little more. I thought the movie was starting to drag about half the screentime, and I think a lot of that is due to the lack of action mainly because of Finn’s storyline (and a little bit on Poe’s storyline as well).
Do you have specific scene cutting suggestions that you think would help? I’m not aware of anything else that can be cut without losing important dialogue and development.
What I didn’t like about the theatrical version that you kept in your edit:
For me Admiral Holdo is the worst character in the original film, and in your edit she is still very annoying. The truth is, I just can’t see her usefulness in the movie, and to me it would make a lot more sense if Poe simply took over the leadership of the resistance after Leia was knocked unconscious, and Holdo was cut out of the movie completely;
I think a major purpose of her character is to be annoying. Annoying characters are realistic, as I know many annoying people in my life haha. We would lose a huge amount of context about what is happening on the ship if I cut her out of the movie completely. I don’t think a purposely “annoying character” being annoying is justification to remove them from the film entirely.
To me it’s stupid for Kylo Ren to “know” who Rey’s parents were, and for her to simply believe him without questioning how he knows this information in the first place. In my opinion, this line could simply be cut from the movie, because it doesn’t make any sense in the overall context of the plot.
It would be helpful to understand why you think some of these things. You saying it’s “stupid” for Kylo to know that isn’t really an explanation of why you don’t think it works in the story. What exactly is stupid about that? I think it is a perfectly reasonable thing for Kylo to say in the moment and in line with his personality. Just having some trouble understanding the why behind some of your comments so that I could better address them.
And that’s it. In spite of the criticism, I really think you did a great job in your edit, cutting the worst and highlighting the best of TLJ. Thank you so much for sharing your edit with me.
Thanks! I would love to be able to dive deeper into some of your concerns to see if there is a way that I could improve the edit even more. Post here if you have any suggestions that you think would make it better.