The Rise of Skywalker: Ascendant (Released) — Page 409

Jar Jar Bricks said:

jarbear said:

I dunno why we get so much over explaining of things.

That is one, of many nags, in TLJ during Rey’s Force Cave Scene has her voice over. That whole scene, while visually interesting, doesn’t really keep my interest or engagement since we have a literal voice over describing everything.

Sometimes, silence speaks volumes.

Can you imagine if Luke was describing to Yoda what he saw in the cave in ESB and that dialogue was placed over that sequence?

Sounds like a Special Edition change lmao.

JJ & Rian: Yes we can.

I think just “…for my grandchild to come home” and “I never wanted you dead, I wanted you here.”

Both of these are removed to make Palpatine’s machinations a little less convoluted or hard to follow. Irrespective of whatever justifications or explanations from subsequent material, the idea is to make his plan something like this:

He lures in Kylo Ren, enlisting his help to eliminate Rey. He threatens Kylo that if he ties to kill him he’ll possess him. Kylo does not kill Rey and comes to be redeemed into Ben Solo. Rey then comes to Exegol. Palpatine decides to prey upon Rey and tries to get her to willingly become a host for his spirit.

It makes… more sense than the theatrical at any rate. We are given no reason not to believe what Kylo and Rey come to understand, that Palpatine wanted to kill Rey as a child and eliminate her as a threat.

It is unclear to what degree this change reverts the story to an earlier version (sort of like Anakin in my ROTS edit) or creates a new sequence of thought. And honestly, I don’t think it really matters either way.

A while back, someone (I think Jar Jar?) suggested adding Luke’s line from a trailer or something “We will always be with you,” into the scene somewhere. I’ve been thinking more about that line, and I think it would work really work well before Rey leaves the hut. Cut her exchange about “I can’t get to Exegol! I destroyed Ren’s ship!” “You have everything you need.” Just have her stand up, share a look with Luke, and head out. Somewhere in there, slip in the “Always be with you” line.

And because we all love reading essays on the slightest change, here’s another!

• It’s always struck me as a weird beat in the film. Rey finds her motivation to face Palpy, thanks to Luke. Then, she functionally loses her motivation (“Never mind, I actually can’t go because I definitely destroyed a ship.” (She doesn’t even know that the other Wayfinder actually exists, let alone that it’s ten feet away.) And then Luke immediately says “You didn’t destroy any McGuffins.” And Rey’s like “lol, okay. Bye.” That’s how you write tension, folks.
• It changes Mark Hamill’s final line in a Star Wars movie from something purely mechanical to something with both emotional significance and thematic relevance.
• It ties to the previous statement about “A thousand generations live in you now”; plus it connects to Luke’s next appearance, now even more so with the new Force Ghosts.
• It’s a fitting farewell from Luke/Star Wars to the audience as well.

Everything with Ahch-To is wrong in this movie. God.

EDIT: I also agree with Creation about the Hux spy slapstick and the “earn this saber” stuff. All of it can be cut down/out.

And Creation, we actually discussed a while back how all of that stuff with Zorii can be corrected - and the trilogy’s continuity can be improved - if we just cut it to “Babu only works with the crew. That’s not you. You, you’re the one they’re after.” I believe that was vetoed for some reason though.

Let’s see. I tried removing the line “I’m the spy” and personally found it sort of abrupt. The scene is pretty darn abrupt to begin with, and that’s a non-fan-editing-friendly aspect to the whole movie. It’s a dumb line, sure, but… I guess I feel it’s better to leave it in and prevent it from feeling super rushed. I don’t particularly care for Poe’s SNL response, but it was the same story. I could imagine the camera holding longer on Hux after he says “We don’t have much time” followed by a slight musical sting before cutting away. I dunno, perhaps stretching the shot might not be terrible. (Nevermind. Just checked and there are NO extra frames on that shot at all.)

I never had an issue with the Kijimi dialogue. MR did a good job with the scene for his purposes, but I don’t really care to remove the backstory to Poe that is communicated. And I’ve been talked out of removing the “Not that you care but I think you’re okay” line twice.

I assume that the continuity error is just that, and they perhaps hadn’t figured out what they wanted to do with the saber while filming. I suspect the real reason is that they wanted to make use of as much Leia footage as they had, and receiving and handing sabers is what they had. This doesn’t really bother me; it’s a technical error, but not a thematic one.

^ I have a hard time imagining that the “we will always be with you” line would fit in well in that moment in the hut. But who knows, it’s hard to say sometimes before trying it. I don’t mind the line “You have everything you need.” It speaks to the wayfinder superficially, and confidence in Rey’s inner resources more substantially.

Besides, his final line in the film is still “The Force will be with you.”

As for line removal topic, I kind of have a hard time with Luke: “1000 generations are in you” line. We do know … that’s not how that works with Jedi. Granted, he may be saying that in a symbolic sense, but we literally see later that Palps says the lines “I am all the sith” and have that whole transfer silly thing.

So to me … it’s like … another retcon of the movies before it that is factually incorrect.

Again, he may be not saying it as literally having jedi in her or whatnot, but with the whole silly Sith thing later … it makes it sound more literally.

Anyway … that’s just me.

Oh yeah, I don’t have a huge issue with “I think you’re okay” myself. My issue is more with the quipping about the spice running when they should be sad about Chewie’s apparent death, as well as retconning Poe’s backstory in a way that adds nothing of consequence to the story or character. It’s so blatantly superficial and-

(…Happy thoughts, Sherlock. Calm down.)

The lack of any extra frames or padding is a constant problem throughout the film’s pacing. The professional cut feels like a hatchet job. I think it’ll work better if it just cuts to “We don’t have much time,” even if it’s a little rushed. I’d rather a bit rushed (in yet another scene) than an abrupt halt and a massive tonal conflict. But I guess that’s more of a personal preference thing.

And I know Luke had an extra line in voiceover; but I was thinking more of a line said by the character in person, you know?

Jarbear, I always interpret that stuff as metaphorical. “I’m as powerful as all of the Sith!” “The Jedi are with you in spirit!” It’s garbage, but it’s not the worst thing in the film, imo.

Are we able to cut the wide shot with Luke and adjust his dialogue to be:
“…someone who would finish her journey. We’ll always be with you, but this is your fight. You’ll take both sabers to Exegol.”

I can’t remember if I suggested this already, but something I’m planning on trying is cutting the Hux-Spy thing entirely. Tweak a few lines here and there, do some careful (but doable) edits in the Falcon on Fire scene, and just cut out the part where they’re re-captured on the destroyer. They rescue Chewie, bust out, and pop back up in the Falcon.

Sure it doesn’t give Hux much to do in the film (aka, the Rose Treatment), but I think it helps make Hux a more consistent character from the last two movies, and it helps correct a lot of pacing and tonal issues in the bargain. It’s a fairly radical change though, so I’ll understand if it won’t fit in Ascendant.

DZ, I think that would work well, but I’d still like to remove/replace the “Everything you need” line if possible. It just doesn’t carry the same weight to me.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Hot damn this is actually an insanely good idea. I have the audio line if anybody is up for it? I’m willing to lose the whole 1000 generations for this.

EDIT: Don’t think there is enough footage for this unfortunately. Wish it could work though.

We really only need to extend footage for the “a thousand generations live in you now”. The “but this is your fight” can still be the shot of Luke. Maybe a shot of Rey could be recycled?

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Jar Jar Bricks said:

EDIT: Don’t think there is enough footage for this unfortunately. Wish it could work though.

Scrap this I actually have a proof of concept for this idea I can share here. Works pretty well; Luke’s mouth movements match the end of the line.

Yes please!

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Jar Jar Bricks said:

EDIT: Don’t think there is enough footage for this unfortunately. Wish it could work though.

Scrap this I actually have a proof of concept for this idea I can share here. Works pretty well; Luke’s mouth movements match the end of the line.

Awesome! Can’t wait to see. I love when ideas become a reality. As sucky as this movie is the collaboration has been amazing in this community!

I’ll entertain a proof of concept, for sure, but I really don’t at all mind the way it already is. I agree that that wording you describe above works a bit better on paper.

And that’s what I meant above: there is no extra padding whatsoever on the “we don’t have much time” shot to be able to interpolate.

Jar Jar Bricks said:

Here we go:

https://youtu.be/gOn3Vy6tICE

So the key is matching Luke’s mouth movement with “you”. Really sells the transition of shots. Unfortunately, you have to remove a portion of the overall shot in order to include the line.

NOTE: There is an audio pop and sudden music transition. Ignore that, this is just a proof of concept.

Seems just a little wrong to have the camera move a tiny bit before settling on Luke. It’d probably be better to keep more or the shot or lose more of it.
Could you send me the raw line itself? I can try mocking this up as well to see how it plays in practice and decide yay or neigh. (Both of those were spelled wrong on purpose)