I hardly recall the original version; only that it was quite disappointing.
I like what you've done with the basement section, quite impressive. You can hardly see Tim Robbins in the background. The only giveaway is the transitions (Fade Vs Cut) and the rythm that is higher than the rest of the film, but it does merge in well and I guess if I hadn't been aware that that section was edited, I probably wouldn't have noticed.
I was also quite surprised with the ending and can't recall being such shots in the original cut. It comes out quite well.
I liked your credits, it's been a long time since I sticked around untill the end of credits.
That brings me to the only two remarques I would have :
- Why keep the Boston sequence as a dream at the end ? I don't feel it surves much but I might be mistaken.
- The end of Justin Chatwin (Cruise's son) is kind of short, but I don't remember how the original one was. You probably did as good as possible with the available material.
I also watched Matrix Dezionized a couple weeks back, and was also quite impressed.
My comment will be kind of shorter since between seing the original ending and your version, I've been threw an "accident" which resulted in partial amnesia.
I'ld summarize my memories of the original ending by saying : All that for that !
I basically liked your version and was glad to see Lambert Wilson was still in as was the motorway scene.
Apart from a few sound cuts that were noticeable, your edit was pretty much seemless and Less was definetly More !
So to round it up, i'ld say : Keep up the good work and great thanks from France !
PS: I made disc art for all the edits that didn't contain any. I would be happy to provide them to you, if you wich.