Works for me. Any disorientation from the lack of the full jump being there is compensated for by the lack of a pointless backflip.
I did notice something about the fight... there is just something all around odd about it. It's placement is odd... it's tone is strange... it's on-again-off-again fighting style is REALLY weird...
It may feel off because of the extensive use of doubles for Christopher Lee; the movement you get out of him isn't consistent across the fight. Gods bless him, he brings the right gravitas to the role, but at eighty or so they really had no choice but to do what they did. Even now the limber moves of his double don't ever completely match with his stiff, careful movement, but I'd rather have him in than out.
Also, to heighten the sense of Anakin's Anger, I placed a couple yells into the fight. two after Dooku says "You have hate, you have anger. But you don't use them." one is a long roar, and the second comes right after it giving it a nice "Raaaa-AH!" sound... as if dooku's lines might have done something...made him tap into the anger....
And it works, I might say.
Also, when he actually severs Dooku's head, I added another yell.
As does that.
Also, I removed that shot I wasn't happy with right after Palpatines line "It is only natural." Instead, I placed a shot of anakin, and moved the next shot forward. I split the next shot in half. The first half you simply hear under the new angle, and the second half you see and hear.
Yeah, that twigged, and works.
Anyways let me know what you all think. With or without music? With or without the moans? I also inserted a shot of Palpatine before Dooku force pushes Obi-Wan just to offset it slightly. Does it work? Any ideas with that?
I think possibly without at the start of the fight. Or maybe use that ambient background sound from Empire Strikes Back which they reused for Attack of the Clones. That noise was heard when Luke was in the carbon chamber on Bespin, and when Obi-Wan was looking down and listening to the Confederacy's little meeting from above. It almost doesn't register, but you get the same tense feeling from the AOTC scene as you do from Bespin.
As for the insertion of the closeup of Palpatine: yeah, that just about gets you there, I think. I've got another suggestion for a Palpatine closeup further down, but this is a good way to get around that continuity problem -- the audience doesn't have time to register where Anakin is because there's a sufficient break in the line of action so the eye doesn't have to follow it. One suggestion: I would've cut a little bit more off the start of Obi-Wan hitting the floor. In its present form I think that sequence of shots still suffers from the viewer saying to himself "Hey, Anakin's still waiting for the camera to get back to him and Dooku before he takes his next strike." The audience already knows Obi-Wan's flying through the air -- I don't think it would need to be given the full glory of the end of his flight. And it also raises plausibility levels a bit -- you can more comfortably accept the next strike coming without a pause. I don't know, give it a try and see...
I'm also wondering about cuting the line "I sense great fear in you Skywalker." I'm thinking of maybe just having it jump to him saying "You have hate...anger... but you don't use them." I think it will be more powerful that way.
I think that's more personal choice. I think frankly it exposes plainly the source of Anakin's weakness: the fear he has of the ones he loves dying. That's what he's been trying to stop for three movies. I would've left it in. Also, you might have problems losing the "you have" out of the "You have anger" bit, because Dooku's lips are visibly moving (if that's what you were trying to do...)
One other suggestion if I may on this otherwise excellent recut. The duplication of shots iof Palpatine in his chair -- the latter one, perhaps, could be substituted for a closeup of Palpatine, or a different one of him in his chair? To my untutored eye I don't think you quite get away with that same shot so soon after the last one...of course, maybe there's not enough to work with ...
6) I've played with Yoda Meditating to make it a conversation with Qui-Gon.
That'd be interesting. Someone else suggested doing 'flashes' of the future films, as a way of breaking up the available shots, and I like that ... even to the point of putting Yoda's visions in the same sort of thing as Anakin's own...
7) I'm creating a shot of the arrival of the Tantive IV to Tatooine dropping off Obi-Wan, and the removal of any mention of Leia.
The Tantive IV's arrival sounds good!
EDIT: Just realised I missed three other things.
(1) This one there probably isn't anything that can be done about short of flipping the entire film, but there's another bug that I couldn't put my finger on -- it's a continuity issue with Obi-Wan getting the walkway dropped on him. Dooku's using the wrong hand. That hand he's using the Force with has his lightsaber in it for the rest of the sequences. I can just about see the looks on Lucasfilm's faces when they saw that one: "Oh. Crap. He's using the wrong hand and we can't flip the shot because Dooku'll be facing the wrong way to the audience. Now what? Reshoot?" "Nah, leave it in. Nobody's gonna notice that."
(2) I might've mentioned this, but please, please, please consider taking out Artoo's flamethrower trick. Please. I hate it, Artoo doesn't use it anywhere else in the OT, and it doesn't make sense for two droids able to withstand short blaster fire to be taken out by a campfire.
(3) Thought about speeding up Anakin and Palpatine's conversation over Obi-Wan? It might sound more like an argument that way?