AspiringCreator

krausfadr said:

AspiringCreator thanks for the review (I still need to read the whole thing). 5.5 stars is definitely fair as this was one of my first edits. I’m honored someone would take the time to write such a detailed review. Maybe one day I will restart this from scratch and get rid of the whole Corellia plot. But first I want to see what Spence does. Hopefully his will be definitive for me.

EDIT: read the whole thing now and thanks again. Very fair critique. In later revisions of the edit all audio transitions got moved into wrong positions after having to try and replace source files in a dying Premiere project. They had to each be manually fixed and perhaps that contributed to some of what you didn’t like. If I do anything else on TROS it would be starting anew in Resolve.

I hope I wasn’t too harsh. I tried to be as honest as possible while making sure not to discredit the effort that went into it. Also if you do go back to it? That would be awesome but if you don’t that’s also great. The fact you put in the effort to taking this finished movie and edited it into something so different is insanely cool and some of the stuff you did with it blows my mind.

The Rise of Skywalker Resurgence (2021) by Krausfadr

WARNING: The following will contain spoilers for Resurgence and The Rise of Skywalker. If you haven’t seen either movie and wish not to be spoiled then please stop reading now and do so. You have been warned.

Once again returning to the world of fanedits revolving around Star Wars and it’s a revisit in many more ways than one since this is an edit I’ve already spoken about in detail that had gotten an update that for a good while I was fairly certain wasn’t gonna happen. Resurgence is a very interesting attempt at reediting this movie. While some projects opt to just chop out just about everything to squeeze this into an hour and a half and others opt to play it like Ascendant and instead treat it as if The Rise of Skywalker in its current form just went through a second pass in the editing room, Resurgence aims for a restructure that attempts to push the controversial Palpatine revival towards being the middle of the movie while refocusing everything to be more on Ben and Rey’s story and maintaining consistency with both of the previous entries and the previous version did that I’d say very well though it was certainly not without its hiccups. Some of these problems included the seams being pretty noticeable overall in terms of how scenes were shuffled around, the sentence mixing to craft some of the new lines was a little wonky, there was a bit too much humor chopped out of it and the fanservice got a little out of hand. Though like I said, it was done well with some scenes, ideas and lines being so great that in some ways it comes even closer to being that ideal take on this movie than Ascendant was and with both receiving updates? I thought it was worth taking some time to revisit these and see how these enhance not just the original movie but also how they improve upon things from the previous edit. This also gives me an opportunity to review this a bit differently from how I did things the last time since rather than going over general thoughts and listing positives and negatives? I want to go through each act and cover what I liked and disliked which means, I’m spoiling this edit rotten so as the disclaimer noted? I’d like to ask that people please watch the original movie and the edit first before continuing on.

Act One

The first act in the original TROS is by far one of the biggest hurdles to get through when it comes to that movie. From the moment the crawl begins to at least when we get to Ochi’s ship? This is where it is very clear that the film was rushed to get to that December release date as the pacing is simply far too fast with very little room being left for anything to breathe. To be fair this was a criticism levied at TFA too but a watch of both I feel shows a very clear difference in how both are crafted. TFA feels like a thrill ride, one deliberately designed in a way that keeps things moving while making only the most necessary stops and pauses. It tries very hard to not waste any time on elements that would just drag the pace down and would be unimportant to the story. This was a return to form for the series and they make that very clear. TROS is a spice addict rushing to get their next fix who is currently on their seventh cup of coffee because they also happened to stay up for two days straight.

And it is with this act that I unfortunately have to begin with negatives. I never like being negative when it comes to fanedits because these are labors of love that have to deal with a lot of limitation. Editing a movie already sounds like one of those very challenging tasks to engage in in the first place but to do so with a fully finished movie where you are limited in terms of scene counts, dialogue, what has been put in trailers, what deleted scenes are available (And most importantly, the state they’re in when they were released.) among others is truly insane and these editors deserve nothing in that department but applause for undergoing a task like this which I’m certain for most people would just be way too tedious to endure, especially when it’s being done with a movie as messy as The Rise of Skywalker so let me be clear right now that all criticisms I make is not done from any place of malice or unfair expectations. Before we get to those though, there are positive elements I do want to point out here to be as fair as possible. For one thing, the crawl is very well done, it fills us right in on how things have been, it keeps it to the most relevant of information and is just overall a lot better than the original which just dumped on us that Palpatine is back with no build-up. I also really love the idea of restructuring the movie so that the reforging of Kylo’s helmet and the conference scene happen at the very beginning. Restructures are always so tricky in that you have to be mindful of more than just what scenes you choose. You also have to keep in mind that the flow of certain scenes are in part determined by their position in the movie which is reflected in their pacing and how they’re scored and so in terms of choices for what scene could be at the beginning? It makes the most sense to have it be these two scenes. I also really like the idea of changing out the destruction of Kjimi with the destruction of Corellia. It not only is a nice way of bringing in Kylo’s “let the past die” mentality but if one considers the first five Star Wars movies under Disney’s ownership to be the equivalent to Phase One of the MCU? It’s a great way of tying Solo into this and making this feel like a cohesive package. I also really like the focus on making Rey’s struggles with the Dark Side more pronounced like with her interaction with the serpent on Pasaana where unlike in the original movie, it is not her healing it that makes it go away but rather it senses the growing darkness in her and it leaves from fear which comes complete with a nice usage of the Imperial March and stunned silence from everyone else. I also generally like the idea of Palpatine’s reveal being moved towards the middle and the way the interaction between Kylo and Palpatine plays out is well done and sells not just how tense this meeting is but also the alliance is not simply Kylo being Palpatine’s puppet but rather a case of him using Palpatine for his own means which of course the man can also manipulate because he has seen this song and dance before. I also like how it keeps some of the more insane elements of TROS like the lightspeed skipping which I always felt was a very fun action beat in the original and I really missed it when watching Ascendant which just stripped it out entirely and finally, the fact it gives the Knights of Ren voices is awesome. I especially like hearing the mention of how their bond will never be broken during the reforging scene and the very grim comment about Chewie when they come across him. It’s not much but it really does wonders in selling these guys as genuine characters and not just a pack of Darth Mauls where you are required to read EU material to give them the gravitas and impact they need.

That being said? Notice how I pointed out more that I liked the ideas behind the the first act and haven’t really mentioned the execution that much. That’s because in terms of that aspect? It pains me to say that feel it is significantly sloppier here than it was in the previous edit, starting with the pacing which is way too fast. So many little scenes and dialogue exchanges have been cut to try and trim the fat which in of itself is not a bad idea but the problem is so much fat has been cut that it starts digging into the meat. Case in point, while the opening is a very nice idea? The problem is that we really don’t get many opportunities to breathe during these opening scenes and a lot of the cuts here feel they were done a lot more haphazardly than in the previous version or Ascendant. In particular I noticed how a lot of the cuts were to simply remove bits of humor and fun dialogue exchanges, sometimes to the point where portions of a scene get cut and there’s a jarring transition to some other location. Now on the one hand I get it, there are a good portion of people who really aren’t that big on the humor in these modern Star Wars films or even the MCU as there is this sentiment that it’s a little much or that it’s kind of cringe-inducing. But for me personally, I really like when Star Wars is quippy and fun for it not only feels reflective of those pulp action serials that George Lucas took inspiration from for his original films but also I feel like it helps give Star Wars its personality and while maybe a snip or two was needed with TROS? This feels like such an overcorrection that harms the film more than it helps it.

Though that’s not the only issue the snipping causes. For instance, in the conference scene where we have talking with a board filled with high ranking FO officers? We get mentions of Exegol, those that are living on the planet and the fleet as if the FO already been to the planet and has them already which is compounded further when we see the Star Destroyer fly up to Corellia and we see it both has the red markings and the red clad engineers. This is frustrating for a few reasons. First to nitpick the movie a bit, Kylo Ren at this point has had his helmet reforged and the whole point of the destruction of Corellia is to emphasize that this is the man committing to killing the past which is fantastic… though the problem is that reforging the mask in a way is kind of a symbol that Kylo isn’t aiming to kill the past. Now I genuinely am not sure how this could’ve been feasibly avoided because the movie really doesn’t offer much wiggle room but it still kind of bugged me. As for other complaints? This introduces a small continuity gaffe where we get the impression that Kylo and the First Order have obtained the fleet already only for them to then be introduced to it by Palpatine later in the movie with the music and all the framing of those scenes indicating this is supposed to be a reveal when now it just kind of isn’t and it makes previous lines that implied they knew about Exegol before seem kind of ludicrous since it meant they somehow missed Palpatine while getting this fleet.

Moving on, Kylo’s dialogue when Palpatine talks to him is also kind of wonky and while it’s cool to see where the Mustafar scene was moved and how it now has that gorgeous shot of Fortress Vader? Because we see the scene where TIEs are flying around Mustafar’s orbit? It makes the later scene where that is flipped way too obvious. Now being a fanedit, I also want to mention that I’m aware this is made in part for people who have seen TROS already and therefore they know Exegol and the fleet already. That being said, bear in mind if you think about this from the perspective of being Episode IX, at this point we have not seen Exegol and unlike other instances in Star Wars movies where events are mentioned but never seen? It’s a very big deal here and while we know there is a time-skip? Even movies that do that tend to try and ease the audience into the new stuff and unfortunately structure-wise this hurts the edit considerably. It results in the feeling that I either accidentally bumped the skip button on my remote and went back again or that the movie itself is skipping and unfortunately it just keeps that feeling the whole way through this act.

Act Two

Thankfully once we hit the second act? The movie finds its footing and keeps on a pretty steady pace overall. Granted this is nothing new since the same went for the original TROS where while the first act was way too fast and pretty clumsily done? The second and third acts are considerably better paced and here? I think there are a lot more positives such as how scenes are cut which feels so much more natural and like it’s done in service of the story. This is also where a great deal of changes are made in regards to certain twists that this movie has with the most pressing matter being Rey’s heritage. Now speaking on the original movie, I generally didn’t mind the reveal that Rey was a Palpatine… somewhat. Idea-wise? It reeks to me of a rushed attempt at giving the film the illusion of having more depth than it actually does by contriving a twist that tries to simultaneously respect TLJ’s decision to have Rey be a nobody while appeasing those who did not accept that explanation and it effectively pleases no one. Of course TROS has the reveal scene itself and simply cutting it out I have a feeling would’ve created more problems with me not really even being able to see how one could’ve edited around this so a reveal needs to be here and the twist that was implemented here is chilling, plays well into what has been seen in all the movies and it has been built up to very effectively.

In the first act through Rey’s visions, we already get the idea that there is a growing darkness within her and a worry of her becoming a Sith. We then get an effective showcase of how understandable those fears are when Rey scares away the serpent with the clear implication being it senses the Dark Side within her. We then get an effective mid-point climax to that when the Force struggle between her and Kylo over the ship happens and she ends up shooting out Force Lightning that’s strong enough to destroy the vessel, showing just how powerful this darkness is. Then we get Rey’s Force duel with Kylo and here is where I have to say the dialogue mixing here is solid across the board as it takes it from being Kylo simply teasing the audience about Rey being a Palpatine and turns it into Kylo poking and prodding her about an aspect of the truth he heard back on the Supremacy a year ago that he has discovered, an aspect she knows about and in turn something that has caught Palpatine’s interest. Then it gets to that encounter just before they’re ready to escape and we get the reveal. Her parents did sell her for drinking money and in her anger and sadness at that moment? She had killed them. Now this is a moment that was present in the previous version of this edit and it was only held back a tad by wonky sentence-mixing which the editor would inform me was an issue that occurred during the final rendering. Here though? While my ear was trained enough to pick up on the oddities? It is so negligible because overall it sounds so natural but even if it didn’t? This twist works so well. One could argue maybe that there didn’t need to be another layer but to me? This properly builds off Rey being a nobody while in turn adding more weight to the very real concern that Rey could turn which is an issue we saw beginning in TLJ and now we get its fever pitch here. It also works because it is something Kylo could feasibly tell Rey that would be a surprise. Keep in mind, Rey knows about the Force but she only truthfully knows about it in terms of stories and it was her training with Luke that helped set her on the path of truly understanding it beyond just the idea of lifting rocks and influencing the weak-minded. It also gives Luke’s fear over her heading straight to the Dark Side in the previous movie more weight because now we get an idea of how the Dark Side is in a sense kind of ingrained in her and it helps to inform why she’d eventually come to the conclusion that she’d need to exile herself like Luke did because at first of course she’d consider the idea that she’d need to take down Palpatine and how that’s all that matters but once her darker side just keeps coming out, it makes sense then that she’d come to fear what she could do and decide that it’d be safer if she’s out of the equation.

Another thing I want to point out here is that with all the natural cuts comes some really good choices in the form of cutting a great deal of Maz Kanata’s dialogue and most specifically her line regarding Leia knowing what she has to do with the scene instead being cut to where we can infer what she’s doing purely through her actions. Now look I love Maz but if there is one problem I had with the ST as a whole? I personally feel Maz as a character served her purpose in TFA and that she was fine as a cameo in TLJ and that is where it should’ve stayed. Maybe, just maybe the film if it was reworked more extensively could’ve given her a larger role but honestly I feel she should’ve just been relegated to a cameo, maybe at the end when everyone is celebrating the fall of the First Order because she just was not needed here. At most she provided very useless exposition here and some very unneeded fanservice so less of her is honestly a good thing and as a result? It improves upon Leia’s death because the edit also chops out her line to Leia which I thought I was going to end up disliking but the scene is now more poignant. Hell on this watch my eyes actually started watering a little. I also have to note here that by cutting out Rey using Force Heal for the first time with the serpent? It makes the moment in which she uses it on Ben have in a way a lot more impact. Now there is a small issue with this one could bring up and that’s how in the original film the first time it’s used does a good job of introducing us to the ability and its concept while here it comes kind of out of nowhere but honestly I think it still works. For one thing, Force Heal has been a thing in so much Star Wars media that it’s pretty easy to accept it. As an ability it just makes sense for the Jedi to have and visually the idea of it allowing the user to give some of their life-force to another is still conveyed and in a way, one could consider how it works now comes in parts since we see Rey heal Ben and later we see Palpatine steal life from the two of them before finally ending with Ben giving his energy to Rey

That being said, this still has a couple of problems that need addressing. For one thing now that the Palpatine twist is removed? Luke noting that there are some things stronger than blood feels a lot more… odd. I don’t necessarily see how it could’ve been done differently necessarily but it still feels very weird. There’s also still some weird editing where scenes go faster than they should be and you also get an issue that involves one of our returning OT cast members and that’s Lando. Now I’m gonna be frank, I personally feel Lando’s inclusion in TROS was a weak inclusion anyway. Whereas Han, Luke and Leia felt like believably aged versions of the iconic trio and not like a group of out-of-touch boomers who are unable to accept that time is passing? Lando felt like he was just the same he always has been and really seemed unnecessary to the whole proceeding. Granted I understand some of it is due to both the rushed production and also Billy Dee Williams himself being not in the kind of state to where he could do a whole lot but even so, this just always comes across to me as more a glorified cameo for the sake of fanservice than it does an actual integral inclusion and the solution Resurgence comes to for attempting to fix this is… well it’s both a hit and a miss. On the one hand, it does chop out lines that has Lando just state that he’s not cut out for this so it gives you the idea he’s just more involved to begin with and it makes for a pretty satisfying bit of editing where after Poe says to Leia’s corpse that he’s not ready, it cuts right to Ahch-To where we see Rey is having a crisis of her own instead of lingering so that Lando could give advice to Poe. On the other hand, it makes his appearance at the briefing more sudden and awkward and it also really highlights just how unnecessary he is. Speaking of awkward, the edit also cuts out a good chunk of Poe’s speech to everyone and just leaves it in silence for a good couple of seconds too long until he suddenly speaks again which considering we don’t get idle chatter and sounds of everyone preparing for this battle and the way Poe’s dialogue comes back in? It sounds like Oscar Isaac momentarily forgot he should be giving a speech and that he noticed and picked it up again moments later. It takes what should be a triumphant “Kriff yeah! Let’s go take the First Order down.” kind of moment feel very awkward. But aside from that? This is still the point where the movie really picks up steam.

Act Three

The third act is in this instance what I’d consider to be… in the middle as far as quality is concerned for this edit. In terms of positives, this has some of the strongest positives I can give it. The moment where Lando flies in with so many ships from Star Wars’ history is awesome and all the call signs that are being thrown out really adds to the moment and makes it so much cooler. I love the dialogue the Knights of Ren have with Ben, especially lines like “You’ll join your father soon.” and when Ben gets the lightsaber, I really love the added joke to emphasize the shrug by having one of them say “That’s just not fair.” and what I think was a pitched down Wilhelm scream when one of them gets tossed. I quite like Palpatine just quickly tossing Ben to the side. On the one hand… it’s kind of a little too quick considering he is so important to this trilogy but on the other hand, I love the idea that Palpatine is just so done with Skywalkers and their nonsense that he’s willing to just take him out and get this Sith revival train rolling. It makes it seem like he genuinely learned from ROTJ and that’s something I can respect. I really like the… idea of the enhanced involvement of the Force Ghosts and when they’re shown at a distance, it’s a really cool effect and even if I’m bugged slightly by the close-up shots we get if only because it’s obvious it’s old footage? It’s still a nice idea at least and I even like cutting out Palpatine’s line insulting Rey’s origin as a scavenger since “I am all of the Sith!” is a great enough line for it.

But this is also where the fanedit’s biggest missteps is in. As Luke Skywalker stated, with powerful light comes powerful darkness and in this case? Indeed for the really good decisions made there are a ton of really awkward ones that are there to match it. The pacing kind of goes up and down. Some of it’s understandable as I get it’s editing out the “Rey Palpatine” stuff and there’s only so much you can do with that but in terms of other moments? The scene where the ships come in is edited really awkwardly to where the Wedge cameo and the added “FOR SKYWALKER!” shout wind up having way less impact than they should, there are a lot of odd cuts that are there clearly to speed scenes up and they’re done without much regard for flow and in one instance it messes up a music cue and then… there’s everything involving Palpatine’s death and the Force Ghosts and I want to start with the former because it’s easy to get through. It includes a classic Star Wars music cue at a point where it really throws off the music and from there we get such a rushed clash between Rey and Palpatine which cuts down tons of scenes and it even takes out Rey’s “And I… am all the Jedi.” comeback and instead replaces it with a sharp “NO!” which to me was such a bad call. I know there are mixed opinions regarding “I am all the Jedi.” as a line, especially when considering the movie came out a few months after Avengers Endgame and felt like it was more just trying to ape the famous “I am Iron Man.” moment and doing so very haphazardly instead of being its own thing but I feel when you have nothing there? The moment loses quite a bit of impact. This is Rey vanquishing the Emperor supposedly for good and yet with how the scene’s edited, it feels so off and like it’s just the Emperor being taken down for now and that he’ll back like a villain from Saturday Morning cartoons. Then there’s the Force Ghosts and here it’s indicative of a problem I feel this edit and Ascendant both grapple with to varying extents and that is the utilization of fanservice.

Fanservice in of itself is to be expected when it comes to fanedits and legacy sequels like the Sequel Trilogy and it’s not inherently bad. When done well, fanservice is that nice little reward for longtime fans who have dedicated so much of their time to these series, hence why the term is called “fanservice” and to be fair? This edit has some good instances of fanservice and in the case of Ascendant, near-perfect use of it. For instance, the quick shots of Han’s death we get from Kylo as the mask is being reforged? Those are brilliant uses of it as it gives us an indicator of what’s going through his head as he prepares to do the unthinkable with his father’s home planet. I also love the imagery of Rey standing up with the Force Ghosts faintly being behind her. It’s pushing things a little bit with the close-up but otherwise that’s fanservice done very right as it’s very subtle and it feels like it’s only adding to the moment rather than taking away from it and like careful consideration has been given to when it should show up and even the moment I said is pushing things I kind of forgive because… well this is Episode IX. This is supposed to be the finale to the Skywalker Saga and at least from what Lucasfilm and Disney have said? There seems to be this indication that it also could mean the end of the numbered episode films so I already know I’m gonna try to be more lenient when things get a little fanservicey. However, there does exist a point where fanservice can be pushed too far and I feel it is important to keep one thing in mind. Fanservice being unnecessary is not in of itself a reason to not use it. What you should consider is if the moment itself works without the fanservice and how said fanservice could enhance it. View it from the perspective of an audience member who isn’t in the know about fanservice. If it doesn’t add anything and instead comes across as just being thrown in for the sake of getting a rise out of the audience and is more distracting than great? Maybe that’s a sign the fanservice should either be tweaked or just plain removed. Case in point, having the scene where Han fell into the chasm in Starkiller Base fade in over the destruction of Corellia is an example of that. It’s incredibly distracting, adds nothing to the impact of the moment and instead takes away from it. The sentiment that Kylo is killing the past is already made very clear just through various filmmaking choices and editing, throwing this in just feels like it’s trying to be even more obvious for the slow audience members in the back and get a rise out of the people who saw TFA. As for the Force Ghost moment? Seeing them raise their hands and getting close-ups of them while they’re doing it is a big problem.

I get the idea being presented here and it’s a cool one. It’s showing generations of Jedi getting involved and it gives us a more visual take on what Rey wanted when she said “Be with me.” and the idea that all the Jedi reside with her. That being said? I feel this is an instance where less is more. Having the Ghosts be with her faintly appearing is more than enough to establish that the Force is with her, that generations of Jedi are with her and that they have her back as she ends an evil that has caused them so much grief for good and in a way if I have to justify them appearing in close-ups? It emphasizes that these people are seeing Palpatine off as he is put down for good, this monstrous puppet master that once ended the Jedi Order and orchestrated events which resulted in the demise of several of who those Jedi deemed to be friends and allies in a moment that he thought was going to be the grand return of the Sith was actually them being put down for good and he has to live with the knowledge that not only will the Jedi continue to live on but as an extra kick in the teeth, he is ended by just some scavenger from a backwater planet who will no doubt be the beginning of this next generation of Jedi. Them doing more disrupts this to a considerable degree. This is Rey’s moment, the ultimate test of the next generation as it puts down an ancient powerful evil for good. Luke and Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan and Yoda? They got their moments, they had their movies. They are what Rey has grown beyond and seeing them play a pretty significant role in Palpatine’s defeat in my honest opinion takes from that idea more than it gives.

And unfortunately… that extends to the very final scenes. The kiss between Ben and Rey is still present and while I am not super for or against those two getting together? I really did not feel this was an earned kiss and while I respect that in terms of structure the scene can’t easily be cut? I just have to point out that it’s still not preferred for it to be here and neither is the editing here where it cuts to Leia becoming one with the Force after Ben gives his smile. I still don’t get if visually that’s supposed to imply that Ben and Leia went together or if Ben’s alive. Whatever the case, it feels super clumsy to me and takes away from the moment. Now there are positives to quickly run through. Seeing Bespin again was really cool, the cutting of Poe’s non-verbal request to kiss Zorii worked as did cutting out Lando and Jannah even if it really demonstrates how odd Lando’s inclusion in the movie was in general, I love the move of the holochess scene to the end and I like that we don’t have Rey looking to Luke and Leia. Her still giving herself the name of Skywalker is weird but at the same time I always liked the idea in the sense that it feels like it takes some pages from takes of the King Arthur legend where King Arthur becomes a title that various people would borrow over the years so the idea that Skywalker takes on that same status works for me. But… oh the inclusion of “Be with me.” and Yoda’s dialogue from ESB coupled with how I think the footage of Rey and the old woman are flipped really take away from scenes that really work best when they are quiet and intimate and thus instead of ending off on a very high note? I feel it kind of… well it doesn’t ruin the ending, it’s more like as the movie makes the landing it sprains its ankle badly and you just can’t help but notice it attempting to keep a straight face despite being very clearly in agony.

Verdict

Overall, I feel like the new version of Resurgence is sadly a mixed bag and much more so than the previous version. Plenty of the issues that older version had are still here and for every issue that seems to have been fixed? There appears to be a new flaw that rises up to balance things out. Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of great moments here and even more great ideas that, if put to use in another edit like maybe if some insane team was able to meld both the best of this and Ascendant together we could have the definitive fanedit of TROS. I also understand that a lot of effort went into this and that if I remember correctly, the editor even went through some health issues and trust me, that effort cannot and should never be knocked. It still deserves a watch and I’d highly recommend people do so because the talent behind this really gave it their all and if you have seen it and really love the edit? Keep on doing so, that is totally amazing. But unfortunately, I have to be honest even if others disagree or it comes across as being very harsh. In spite of its efforts, Resurgence in its current form is a very uneven edit. If I have to give it a number score? I’d say it’s a 5.5 out of 10. It has its moments and I don’t regret seeing it but it is far from the ideal edit of this movie and just comes out to be, much like the movie it’s editing, more than a little disappointing.

oviniboy said:

Continuity errors like these are not that huge of a problem, what always stands out for me in this movie is the unnecessary number of cuts and shots that acelerate the pacing. I’ll never get over the 1 second four-shot jump in the training sequence, it’s such a lesser thing but completely takes me out of the movie, unlike a cointinuity error like the saber hanging or the blade being on/off in weird moments. All movies have errors like these, it’s like complaining about the shadow of the blade being cast during some scenes in the OT

A 1 second four-shot jump in the training sequence? Maybe I’m so used to the movie’s breakneck pacing that my eyes just glazed over some bits like that but I don’t think I’ve ever noticed something like that.

If possible, I’d love a link to v3.0.

krausfadr said:

Looking at how nicely Ascendant is coming along, I found my Resurgence project files (thought they were gone!) and am in the process of a major update to release version 3.0 by the end of 2021. This will make Resurgence a seamless professional level edit; changes include:

Audio transition corrections, volume levels, center channel fill, and SFX work for seamless, professional level sound.
Improved night Ach-to regrade again.
Removed Luke’s V.O. during Rey’s vision with the cave serpent and replaced it with Kylo Ren‘s voice.
Added shot of dark side Rey to the vision with the cave serpent.
Changed and simplified the new Ren dialogue for the big reveal scene to remove the wonky, robotic dialogue!
Zoomed in a bit on old-school Obi-Wan so that his shot is similar to the other force ghosts.

Ooh… that’s a surprise to be sure but a welcome one.

Halloween: Restructured (Halloween (2018)) by Bobson Dugnutt (WARNING: Spoilers ahead!)

Halloween (2018)/H40/Whatever really you want to call it was always very intriguing to me. When first announced, I was skeptical it would even happen considering the stop-start nature of this franchise. When it was clear it was going to be made, I was skeptical it would be any good which made me pleasantly surprised when I entered the theater with no expectations only to walk out when the credits rolled absolutely loving it to the point where it quickly became my top Halloween sequel and I’ve only continued to love it ever since rewatching the film several times on Blu-Ray. That being said, there was always this curiosity about what the film almost ended up as. If one knows their history, they’d know that this movie was originally meant to have a VERY different structure from what we saw. Not only was there the usual cavalcade of deleted scenes and such that one could watch on the Blu-Ray but also there were very different shots present in the trailers and at one point a completely different ending that was shot for it so I was always curious about what a version with those elements incorporated would look like, especially once I got into watching fanedits. Thankfully I was able to do that at long last thanks to this lovely little edit by Bobson Dugnutt which gives us a neat look into how this modern slasher could’ve turned out and the end result is… well let’s get to the review.

Right off the bat I have to commend Bobson on the quality of work here. Most of the cuts, transitions and so on made in this edit feel incredibly natural. Aside from like one jarring cut from one scene to the next I found early on in the film to a tiny noticeable shift in the audio quality I found at the halfway mark during a scene with Officer Hawkins, everything was seamless and even those tiny moments didn’t take away from my enjoyment. I also appreciate how this isn’t forced to being the maximum length by just incorporating every deleted scene along with content from the movie. Every decision here feels like it was made in service of the cut’s mission statement and for the sake of enjoyment which I applaud. Also with this restructuring, I will say I do like how a lot of these scenes flow into each other and how it does slow down the pacing a bit to levels that in some ways do remind me of Carpenter’s original and even as the write-up in the Fanedit.org forums suggest, it does kind of enhance the viewing as some characters are given a few more details that make you care about them which is impressive considering that the 2018 film I already felt did such a good job with its final cut already. One of my personal favorites is the inclusion of the extended scene of Laurie at the gun range which is inter-cut with the podcasters driving up to her home since it not only adds details such as where Laurie is at emotionally in the movie and demonstrates more succinctly some of the issues that have led to her being estranged from the Strode family but it also gives some scenes in the finale a bit more impact. I also really love the scene of the podcasters hanging out in their hotel room. With its placement being after the scene where Michael escapes, it provides not only some good tension as well as a good false scare but also it humanizes these two just that little bit more so that when their death comes, the impact is just that smidge stronger. I also have to commend how this feels like a fully realized film which is important to me since sometimes the issue you run into with restructures of any variety is that you can occasionally tell when a scene is meant to come earlier or later and thus the effect it has depending on the spot isn’t necessarily that you enjoy it so much as you feel like you just bumped some buttons on your remote and ended up skipping back and forth during the movie. With this one though? I’m glad to say that this doesn’t feel like that… often. With that? I feel like it’s unfortunately time to delve into the negatives though I want to stress before saying this that I have nothing but immense respect for Bobson Dugnutt and the work of other fan-editors. Reworking basically completed movies the way these guys do I can’t imagine how difficult it is, even when it’s something seemingly as simple as rearranging scenes so know I say this from a place of love and respect and that I’m only trying to be honest.

Now earlier, I praised how there were some careful choices made in the choices of which deleted scenes were utilized and for the most part, the most fitting scenes were used and when they hit? They hit hard. That being said there are those moments where a scene comes on and while one can certainly applaud them for their quality and what they add? You wind up understanding why certain scenes do end up on the cutting room floor. Though in an odd way, this could also be considered a positive since it does teach people somewhat about the nature of filmmaking and why certain decisions wind up being made. For instance there’s the brief moment with Allyson and her friends hanging out at the high school outside where we see the friends just chatting. On its own it’s a pretty good scene that does add details such as us getting a slightly more overt glimpse at Oscar’s “nice guy” tendencies, we get more of Vicky and Dave being a cute couple as well as Allyson and Cameron and overall it’s just a nice little scene. Put back into the movie though? Well that’s where problems come up.

First it introduces a minor continuity gaffe since in this scene Dave mentions that maybe he and Vicky could get matching tattoos to commemorate the night and later when Dave shows Vicky the tattoo, it’s like he’s presenting a surprise. Granted limitations like this are gonna be present when dealing with deleted scenes and I certainly would take this over a jarring out-of-place cut, especially considering the purpose is to be faithful to the shooting script but it’s still something I noticed and it did make me raise an eyebrow. As for the other issues? Well with this scene I feel it’s just kind of filler. We don’t need to know necessarily that Vicky isn’t gonna be able to attend the dance due to babysitting duties nor do we really need her speaking about her plans, with how the original movie does it where when we see her next she’s doing her job telling Allyson on the phone how she wishes she could be there but also explains her plans for the night, it works well enough and just results in two scenes undercutting each other with one being superior because it’s exposition delivered just a tad more naturally and in a way that keeps the plot moving. Same unfortunately goes with Allyson discovering the dead dog on her jog. On the one hand, this is a creepy scene that both pays tribute to the fact Michael ate a dog in the original movie, it shows him doing more stalking and it just has such a nice creepy atmosphere to it. On the other hand, it feels kind of superfluous especially when paired with the scene at the cemetery which in the original cut basically does what this scene does but a bit better. Plus with there being no scene where we see Allyson bring up this disturbing and odd sight (Which I’d imagine she’d speak about since… who could honestly keep silent upon seeing something like this?), it kind of just happens and is left with not much of a point to it ultimately in the end. That being said those are deleted scenes that are still really good in their own right and put back into the movie while they still have problems, they have merits. The one scene I can’t say the same for is the one that explains what happened to Cameron following him tossing the phone in that bowl.

On the one hand, this deleted scene flows VERY well with the movie. In fact honestly it’s up there with the additional scenes with Laurie in terms of how much it feels like it just belongs with the original. It adds more to the conversation Allyson has with Oscar, has a nice callback to how apparently Lonnie’s family has always had some issues with cops and of course it provides a definitive cap to the Cameron subplot which I know some people felt was something of a plot-hole in the original. That being said? This is the only deleted scene I actively dislike. There’s parts I like such as Cameron demonstrating some care for Allyson and being genuinely apologetic as well as the humorous moment with Oscar rushing into help Cameron only to be stopped by the cops but everything else is just off. The cops here go beyond just being serious with kids in the middle of a crisis and wind up veering a little too close into cartoonish jerk territory and Cameron’s belligerence is just a bit too much. It feels kinda like what I can only describe as “Rob Zombie-lite” and it winds up hurting the film more than it helps it. Also while the restructure overall is really cool to see especially with how scenes are arranged and how it results in the film being a bit more slowly paced? I must admit I can’t help but feel that the way scenes were arranged in the theatrical helped this movie out. I mean don’t get me wrong, I prefer Halloween films to be slow paced and it wasn’t like this slowed to a crawl but it felt like the theatrical cut just was a little more balanced, like it kept in only what was absolutely needed and trimmed out the fat where it could and overall made for a much more enjoyable movie overall.

That being said though, make no mistake I really liked this cut and honestly I’d highly recommend it. Even with my criticisms, this is still really cool as it gives a glimpse into what this movie could’ve ended up being at one point and if nothing else? It’s still as the description said, it’s the same movie just with more to it and some content shuffled around and considering I love this movie? I mean I’m not gonna suddenly hate it. If I were to give it a number grade? I’d give it a solid 8.5/10. It’s really enjoyable stuff and I look forward to checking out more edits by this creator.

If it’s not too much trouble, I’d love a link to this. Mickey’s Christmas Carol is an old childhood favorite of mine and being able to see it with basically the most picture available just sounds too awesome to ignore.

Looking at all this stuff makes me really interested in seeing the final product take shape. I love The Last Jedi in its original form but stuff like this just sounds so cool. It always fascinates me to see how fans can take basically completed movies and reformat them into something different.

Can I get a link to both the No Palp and Palp versions of this? The ideas presented here sound incredibly dope and I’d absolutely love to check them out.

I’d like to request a link to this edit. As a fan of The Force Awakens, this looks incredibly dope and like it will provide a nice new way to experience the movie.

I’m so looking forward to the updated release of this, all of this stuff looks so good!

Hi there, seeing as this is here, I’m personally looking for Bobson Dugnett’s expanded edition edits. Specifically his prequel edits and his TLJ edit since those are the most interesting looking to me and I think they’d make a neat companion piece along with the other fanmade extended editions I have.

Honestly I’m just sitting here reading this thinking “Both decisions are fine and I just admire the effort it took to mask out a whole ship and fit it in such a way that it looks like it just has always been there in the original movie.”.

Sirius said:

I just thought these days that one of the ways to make the return of Palpatine more palatable is to transform him in a sith ghost. You guys think this is a good idea? Maybe this could made his goal to possess Rey more clear, in the end. I just don’t know if putting the red silhouette around Palpatine would be difficult to implement, as well making his collors more lighter.

The idea itself is sound and I think it could be cool though there are two problems. For the most part, Star Wars sticks to rules George Lucas set in place for the Sith which mainly are that while Jedi can become Force Ghosts because of their nature as peacekeepers and that they’re fine joining the Cosmic Force, Sith are all about preserving their lives as long as possible and don’t really become Ghosts. They have spirits on occasion but those spirits are tied to a single place if I remember correctly. Another problem that arises is that if I got this right, it would require masking out Palpatine in every shot he’s in to apply the effect, keeping in mind he still speaks to people through hologram and more. Personally even if it’s not optimal, I think it’s better to keep Palpatine in this movie as-is, the vats of Palpatine clones in the edit are more than enough to explain what’s going on and I wouldn’t want to create more tedious headaches than there already is for the fan-editors.

I own both versions of the movie (Had to get them recently for the sake of a marathon I had before the release of Halloween Kills.) and honestly this sounds very interesting. I’ve always been curious about how a combined cut of this movie would look so I’d like a link to this.

Honestly, both are amazing offerings and no one’s really going to be missing out on anything major if they choose one over the other. Really to me, it all comes down to just a matter of how much of a purist you are for this kind of thing. As TN1 stated on their page for 4K77, some versions look cleaner, have generally better colors but this is as close to authentic as one can get to basically watching it as it appeared on theater screens whereas Despecialized is a stunning labor of love in how far it goes to reconstruct the original theatrical versions at the highest quality possible.

For me personally though, I prefer 4K77 and 4K83 and I’m most definitely gonna nab 4K80 once it’s available. To me there’s something about that theater look that clicks right with me when it comes to the OT more than a uber cleaned up polished release. Sure on the one hand that means less fine detail but I can live with that and to me personally it kind of adds to the experience. I don’t know maybe I’m a weird one but generally I like my OT to look a little more like this where it’s a bit dirty and faded, almost like an old western flick whereas the PT and ST I like more polished.

I’d imagine this is probably gonna take a LONG while but I’m very much keeping my eye on this. Hopefully soon much like with TN1’s 4K scans of the original trilogy this means we will soon have all six original Star Wars films preserved in the best possible quality.

It has to be figurative, like that was just Pryde’s choice of words and considering what one learns about him in the film later? I kind of like the idea of him using that word, especially since the way he speaks, he clearly thinks very highly of the Emperor and the old Galactic Empire and unlike other Imperials from the past seems to at least have a respect for the Sith. Plus, this is Palpatine, I’m almost certain something like the Sith Eternal fleet would’ve been one of those things that only those who are the absolute closest in Palpatine’s circle would know about so as far as Pryde’s concerned? The report might’ve described something about the fleet and when he read about it, to him it might as well be that they were conjured up, not like he has any other ideas really on how this came to be.

To add onto that, it’s pretty easy to just assume that Kylo’s ventures to Exegol are what’s being talked about and that we’re just seeing the end of that meeting where he has already talked on what we know and have seen off-screen which is something Star Wars and other movies do quite a bit.

Hello there, I’ve been very intrigued by the idea of your prequel edits and would love the 1080p copy of The Approaching Storm. AOTC was always my least favorite of the prequels and so I’ve been very curious about how this would be and if it’s not too much trouble maybe a link to all your edits because seriously, you do some amazing work.

krausfadr said:

AspiringCreator said:

Well a little while ago I finished the edit and gave my full honest review.

Thank you so much for the detailed and very fair review. Criticisms I would add to my own edit are some of the audio transitions in the cuts were not smooth enough especially in the monkey elf scene. And an earlier instance of the edit had slightly better editing on the revamped Kylo Dialogue. But unfortunately I did this edit in Premiere and it glitches when saving audio at a granular level and reloading the project.

My hope is someone builds off Ascendant while using my or a similar implementation (idea by idir_hh) of Rey Killed her parents. I’d also like to see others moving the Emperor reveal to later but no one has jumped on that. Hal’s implementation of the Emperor’s broadcast, though, is quite brilliant and I’d be fine with his version of the scene in a “definitive” cut.

The best parts of my edit are probably the improved Rey Vs Ren in TIE Fighter, replacing, new SFX for the cartoony stormtrooper yells, tightening up of the final battle sequences (Finn and Jannah getting rescued) and celebration/hugs afterward.

Glad you appreciated some of the elements. Hope someone else takes some of my ideas and builds something even better!

Thanks for the response and… oof I feel you. I don’t do audio editing but man I know what it’s like to make something killer and then the thing just glitches and messes up a few things. Thankfully it was a tiny issue and really didn’t take away from how awesome the idea and the execution was.

I’d agree actually, the edits there for the most part were so smooth I think it legitimately tricked my brain into thinking they were in the original.

Really I must thank you just in general for this. This was one amazing little watch and really it’s just so cool to see how someone can take one movie and with just a few changes make something very different.

Sorry if this is not all that valuable to the discussion but I just have to say, Ascendant is just one of the most impressive projects I’ve ever seen. As someone who enjoys the Sequel Trilogy, you’ve managed to take what was one of the most messy Star Wars films released and turned it into something that, while not perfect, manages to feel like a proper conclusion far more than the original ever did and that deserves to be commended.

Well a little while ago I finished the edit and gave my full honest review.

The Rise of Skywalker: Resurgence (The Rise of Skywalker 2019) - krausfadr

In my review of Hal9000’s excellent Ascendant, I noted how that was the same movie that was just given a second pass in the editing room and kind of went into how this meant that not every problem was of course fixed and that it was still largely the same movie overall. Well if that movie was just TROS but given a second pass, Resurgence is something more like a restructuring, an attempt at fixing the movie by reshuffling scenes, trimming some down and even going as far as to create new scenarios while keeping some of the original’s more wild concepts intact. This idea intrigued me immensely and so I knew I had to get a copy for myself and because the original editor has asked for a totally honest review? I’m glad to give it a shot. Warning for those reading though, spoilers are gonna be present but before I get into those, here are my quick, spoiler-free thoughts.

All in all, I really like Resurgence and I think it does a solid job at attempting to rectify some of TROS’ problems with some great ideas, some stellar editing that most of the time was fairly seamless and of course the efforts of the various amazing users on here cannot be understated. That being said though, this has more than its fair share of problems whether its issues that were carried over from the movie or new issues introduced due to editing choices that I personally scratch my head at.

Okay now that we got this out of the way, it’s time to delve into spoilers and right away, I just have to say for the first massive positive, I LOVE the replacement for the Rey Palpatine twist. The idea that Rey’s emotions flared up so much when her family left her that she ultimately killed them in her anger is chilling and dark in all the right ways and the way it’s executed does an amazing job at expanding upon what was in TLJ by having her know exactly what she did and denying the action while dueling Kylo and it even does a great job of calling back to TFA because one can totally understand crying when someone tells you that you know whoever left you on a backwater planet is never coming back if you’re the one who killed your own parents. The one criticism I have is the sentence mixing on Kylo’s lines are a little wonky. Perhaps maybe this could’ve been done better if say someone was gotten to just deliver the line with effects added to blend it in with Adam Driver’s real dialogue but those are limitations you sometimes have to accept with fan-edits. I also am glad to see some of the more wild elements from TROS staying around for this such as the lightspeed skipping which is just a fun concept that I was sad to see missing from Ascendant. I also really like some of the little changes here like having Rey’s attempt at self-exile on Ahch-To taking place at night with her waking up to Luke lifting the X-Wing and I most especially appreciate the added Knights of Ren dialogue. With just a few lines, the Knights of Ren become actual characters which while still ultimately not being in the movie that much are at least far closer to feeling like actual people and not just a group of Boba Fetts and some of the lines they get are menacing at one point even funny.

Though unfortunately, mentioning how one of the lines was funny kind of leads me to one of my criticisms of this edit. It’s a minor criticism mind you but still a criticism. I feel way too much of the humor was chopped out of this movie. Now I know people are kind of divided overall on the ST and most especially on the humor but me personally, I like when Star Wars is quippy and fun and I always felt that while a few line snips were needed in TROS? This kind of takes it a bit too far. For instance, I was missing Finn’s “I was just thinking that.” in the little Falcon battle at the beginning. In fact it felt like quite a bit of his back and forth with Poe was chopped out and often to the movie’s detriment. I loved their banter in TFA and I felt one of the only unfortunate outcomes of TLJ being the way it was was that we missed out on more of that. I also was missing Rey’s “They’re not with me.” which I always felt was pretty funny and a nice way of selling her frustration in a manner that feels distinctly like her and what doesn’t help is often you can tell where line cuts are which makes things very distracting which brings me to another problem. This edit has a great idea with the opening scene instead focusing on Kylo discussing with the First Order about this new fleet before destroying Corellia but execution-wise? I think this is a case where the movie really didn’t provide a lot to truly work with to nail what was needed. In particular, there’s the matter of Kylo reforging his mask which is a good way to transition for sure into the meeting… but here’s the problem I have. The point of the Corellia destruction is to build upon Kylo’s modus operandi from TLJ which was to let the past die which it does but him reforging his mask I feel is a symbol already of him not being willing to let the past die. Now don’t get me wrong, I get the scene has to be here and it would be really, REALLY stupid of me to ask for someone to spend time rotoscoping out a whole helmet to slap an Adam Driver head over the body because that would be ridiculous and would look terrible. I also really do like the added dialogue from a Knight of Ren which implies that he was basically made to do this to continue leading them so really, this is more a problem with what the source material provided and not the editor but still, it did bug me somewhat. What possibly could’ve been avoided was the opening shot of the TIE Fighters still heading to Mustafar which was still a cool shot but it makes it so that once it’s mirrored later when Kylo does head to the planet? It’s immensely distracting, especially since it comes a half-hour into the film. I feel like there could’ve been a way to have an opening shot like this while avoiding problems like this like maybe if it repurposed a shot from TFA with some light new visual effects or something like that. Just something to make this a little less off-putting.

I also admittedly wasn’t big on how the opening went with the restructure and personally still felt it went a bit too fast. You can basically tell that the Palpatine scene was meant to come earlier and see how the meeting scene throws everything out of whack. It feels like I bumped the skip button on my remote and accidentally back and forth between scenes. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that it’s a fan-edit and thus one has to be somewhat mindful that little issues like this will come up when it comes to executing certain concepts but this really was very distracting. Not as bad as how the original movie handled things but still not optimal overall. This edit also included slightly too many of what I’d call “fanservicey” moments. Now I get it, it’s made by fans and therefore fanservice is bound to be present. Especially when considering this is supposed to be Episode IX as in the ultimate end of the saga and in some instances, the fanservice really works. For instance, the quick shots of Han’s death we get from Kylo? Those are brilliant. I also love the imagery of Rey standing up with the Force Ghosts faintly being behind her. That’s fanservice done subtly and cleverly. Having the scene where Han fell into the chasm in Starkiller Base fade in over the destruction of Corellia though? That’s incredibly distracting and I feel takes away from the moment. I get what it’s going for and it’s such a neat idea but execution-wise? It doesn’t really impact me. Same goes for outright getting close-ups of the Force Ghosts and seeing them raise their hands. I get the idea being presented here and it’s a cool one. That being said? I feel this is an instance where less is more. Having the Ghosts be with her faintly appearing is more than enough to establish that the Force is with her. Them doing more kind of disrupts from the fact this is supposed to be Rey’s moment and them watching her end Palpatine I feel is excellent symbolism for the old generation watching as the next generation puts an end to an old enemy of theirs. Them joining in is going just a teensy bit too far for my liking. I also was really not a fan of the addition of “Be with me.” during the trip to Tatooine nor was I really all that big on Yoda’s dialogue from ESB being added. I felt the moment of quiet was best set as that, a moment of quiet and the impact that line’s addition was supposed to have doesn’t really work and instead distracts from it.

As for other issues this had? I will never be a fan of the Ben and Rey kiss so seeing it here really didn’t work for me. I personally felt the cutting of most of Poe’s speech during the scene when the Resistance is gearing up to fly to Exegol really undercuts the vibe it was going for and instead makes what should be a triumphant “Kriff yeah! Our heroes are heading to kick the FO’s teeth in.” feel way too awkward, I really preferred the goofy “Okay!” call from Lando’s driver to the grunt, the loss of Mark Hamill voicing Boolio I didn’t think I was going to miss until I watched it and just felt like it was missing so much personality. I mean I get what it’s going for here and the idea is cool to have an alien grieving for the loss of their child but I’m not too sure with how small it was it was worth the cutting of what I thought at least was a fun performance. Lando… was odd to me. I’m kind of glad the edit cuts out his lines about not wanting to be involved with this fight anymore and overall it resulted in Lando feeling more proactive as a result but on the other hand, it has the weird effect of strangely making it feel like Lando had no place in this movie. Again, most likely this is the source material’s fault but still, it’s something I’ve noticed. Finally, I thought the ending was a little off. The way the scenes were cut, I was confused for a moment. I guess Leia going was meant to symbolize that Ben did become one with the Force instead of us seeing him pass or maybe he did live? Honestly, it was a confusing edit and I would’ve kind of preferred if it was just left to Ben dying onscreen like in the original.

That’s all the issues I have though. Now it’s positive for the rest of this. Once the edit got past its somewhat odd first half, it really, REALLY picks up once we get to Kylo meeting the Emperor and to give props to the creator, good attention to detail on how Kylo never does put his helmet back on from this point forward which does help these scenes to feel like they belong in this order. I also really love seeing the Snoke clones replaced with vats of discarded Palpatines since that is such a nice creepy effect and the removal of some dialogue between Ren and Palpatine helps to sell this as what it is, not an alliance to bring back his granddaughter but rather more an uneasy “You better be telling the truth otherwise I’ll kill you old man.” kind of alliance. I also loved the removal of the insanely awkward dialogue by Maz in most scenes since it helps some of these moments really stand out more in the manner that they were intended to. The removal of Luke and Leia from the ending was something I thought I wasn’t going to like all that much at first but it really did improve upon the scene and helped to make this feel more like an intimate send-off to the franchise rather than some bombastic fanservicey nonsense. I really appreciate the changes done to the scene where Poe reveals what Boolio handed them and how it made it more about the fleet rather than Palpatine. I especially loved the scene of Palpatine tossing Ben aside with no dialogue, I feel the way it’s handled it does such a great job of making it clear that Palpatine is just done with Skywalkers at this point and is just wanting to get on with retaking the galaxy and finally for something very simple, I love the new crawl. It conveys exactly what it needs to, it feels in line with the other crawls of the ST and most importantly, it doesn’t just try to give everything away in one go.

All in all, this edit is solid. It’s not my favorite edit unfortunately because there are so many little annoyances that hold it back for me but the effort cannot be understated. I still have to tip my hat off to the editor and everyone involved because this is still insane. The fact they were able to take a fully finished product and turn it into something that feels almost completely different is nothing short of amazing to me. Definitely request a copy and give this a watch if you haven’t yet.

7.5/10

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

May I please have a link to this edit. I like the idea of showing a new fan-editor some love and also, I love the idea here. I too really, REALLY didn’t care for the inclusion of Palpatine and while ultimately I liked the original movie, I felt it was really hurt by so many poor decisions so this sounds up my alley.