b48390

Hi,

How do I request a link to this cut?

krausfadr said:

Also b48390, regarding the Chewie reveal I know how Hal has edited it and this seems to be how you prefer it. I significantly delayed the reveal but put it before Rey senses he’s still alive. Finding out things the same time as a character is one way to present info and have mutually shared surprises with them. Finding out something before they do can also satisfy the audience’s desire to know a secret the character doesn’t know yet. Which adds suspense and makes Rey sensing Chewie believable instead of wtf is she talking about.

True. I’m looking forward to Hal’s edit as well. It’ll be great to experience it both ways.

krausfadr said:

b48390 thanks for the detailed review. Really glad you appreciated the new overall scene structure. And as I make further changes I’ll look at your suggestions. I’m not a fan of too many cuts which would further reduce the length of the film. So I wouldn’t be doing things like removing Han. Star Wars needs to be a 2hr movie.

Gotcha. I see a couple of my ideas are out the window already lol but I do appreciate the consideration!

StarkillerAG said:

What sort of websites do you visit? How does D-O have anything to do with sexual abuse? He’s just supposed to be Ochi’s mistreated pet, making us sympathize with him more.

I read Fan Edit boards like here an IFDB. I watch Youtube analyses and video reviews. I try to hear as many points of view as possible. I don’t remember who said it exactly. I interpreted “MeToo” as physical abuse but not specifically sexual.

Ed Slushie said:

How is “he was treated badly” social politics? Sure, animal rights are an issue that people debate sometimes, but all I got from D-O’s introduction was “animal abuse is a thing that also happens to droids.” That’s not much of a statement.

I’ve seen a lot of people call D-O a “MeToo” Droid and I guess that idea stuck with me. I admit I was a little harsh on that aspect, but I still see it as an unnecessary distraction.

ABOUT ME:
My Star Wars fandom is somewhere between casual and hardcore. I am a nerd for character development and story structure so my review will likely reflect that.

INTRO:
I was fortunate enough to see The Rise of Skywalker: Resurgence (Workprint A) fan edit and I must say it is a great edit. It cuts the film down to 121 minutes with excellent pacing, a seamless flow of scenes and audio edits that are easy on the ear.

TLDR:
I’ve numbered my comments. The most important bits are: 01, 15–20, 25–26 and 33–36.

SCENE BY SCENE:

1. I love the opening crawl. It makes the emphasizes the film’s important events where the original simply spoiled things. My only change to this new crawl would be rewriting the last sentence to read, “As a last hope, Rey reaches out into darkness to uncover this threat….” because it would flow more cleanly.

2. Reforging: Great idea to start with this. Love the “Ben, no!” flashback.

3. Board Meeting: Short and sweet, as it should be. It tells the audience there’s a spy in the First Order and that’s all it needs to do.

4. Rey’s Training (1): The “You’re not with me” punchline is cut, which is fine. I’m neutral on that line. Inclusion of Leia is good, respectful. I like it.

5. Corellia’s End: This whole plot point was a mess in the original film and its importance got lost in the shuffle. Thankfully, this edit emphasizes the event by featuring it in the crawl and adding the memory of Han’s Fall to the sequence to drive home Kylo’s reason for doing it.

6. Rey’s Training (2): Rey’s visions are incorporated well and I especially liked the “join me” vision. Consider cutting Leia’s “Never underestimate a droid” line by ending her scene after Rey says, “I will earn your brother’s saber. One day.” This feels classier (to me).

7. Falcon Flight (Ice Planet & Green Dimension): I would consider cutting this entirely scene. The “Chewey cheats” joke is fantastic, but there’s no purpose of showing this trip without an explanation of why it’s happening. As a viewer, it feels like I’m missing something.

8. Rey & Poe Argue: I would definitely cut this petty bickering entirely. I feel it misrepresents both characters as childish. The exchange doesn’t give any important information, so cutting it wouldn’t create a continuity issue. It’s true that Finn, Poe and Rey argue periodically throughout the film, but those exchanges reflect the tense situations around them. This argument is simply The Blame Game.

9. Info Briefing #1: Great place to pick back up. I suggest going straight from “I will earn your brother’s saber. One Day.” directly to “We decoded the intel from the First Order spy.” This would be a lot cleaner and keep all the important info.

10. Rey & Leia Speak: I like Leia telling Rey not to be afraid of who she is. It’s good foreshadowing, especially because the new crawl keeps Palp a secret.

11. Passana Festival: I love the line “I’m just Rey” and feel it should be repeated as the final line of the film. This edit keeps “They fly now,” which I support, because the stormtroopers are treated as jokes in most Star Wars media so it would feel out of place if the characters didn’t joke about them flying.

12. Tunnels: Threepio exclaims “Serpent!” three times, but I would cut two of them to make the scene less goofy. Threepio has other jokes in the tunnels anyway. The serpent then leaves because of Rey’s dark side potential instead of her healing powers. I love this edit because it prolongs the reveal of Rey’s healing powers until she uses them on Ren at the end.

13. Rey vs Ren (Desert): The whole “Force Tug-of-War” thing always felt silly to me, but this edit helps it feel more serious. The scene feels more concise and I like that.

14. Rey tells Finn her vision: Short and sweet, I like it.

15. Palp & Ren Speak: The later Palp’s reveal comes, the better. The reveal is pretty well done in this edit. We hear only Palp’s voice at first, then the full face reveal around the 37-minute mark.

16. Team Huddle: The exchange “What’s wrong with Kajimi?”/“I had a little bad luck on Kajimi” feels cheesy and could be cut. Not a big problem either way.

17. Hux & Pryde Speak: I would cut this scene entirely because its only importance is telling the audience that Chewey is alive. Viewers should find out Chewey is alive when Rey does, because sharing a perspective with a character helps the viewer relate to them.

18. Meeting D-O: I would cut all lines relating to D-O being abused, as it’s not relevant to the story and the social politics can really take viewers out of the movie. Star Wars isn’t timely, it’s timeless.

19. Arrival on Kajimi: This edit keeps the “You were a spice runner/You were a storm trooper/You were a scavenger” exchange, which is great. That’s Star Wars humor done right.

20. Babu’s Workshop: Oh ho! Speaking of humor, Babu Frik is great. Zori’s line “Who are you hanging out with that speaks Sith?” always bugged me—the whole reason they’re on Kajimi is because they cannot speak or read Sith—and could be cut if it bothers others as much as it does me. When Threepio says “Taking one last look at my friends,” it would be cool to see a shot of Luke, Han and Chewey, as if that’s what Threepio was seeing. Immediately after, Babu says, “Sad!” which should be cut because it ruins an important, somber moment. I would also cut Threepio having a last idea right before being knocked out because it’s a pointless punchline that disrespects the character.

21. Poe & Zori: I would cut the rooftop exchange completely, as it adds little to the main story. Likewise, Poe’s “Can I kiss you?” line to Zori feels forced and should be cut. Viewers can easily see the two are exes without the kiss line because Poe asked “Are you still mad?” when he first arrived. Additionally, the characters’ body language with eachother suggests a past relationship.

22. Leaving Kajimi: Threepio’s reawakening is done well, so I would keep that the way it is here. Rey then senses Chewey is alive and it’s a real nice moment.

23. Rescuing Chewey: The “I’m the spy” reveal is awesome. Ren tells Rey that she accidentally killed her parents, a great twist that adds a lot to Rey’s dark side progression. The audio edit is a little choppy here (Did Ren say “You sent down the ship”?) but this is a work print and it sounds pretty damn good overall.

24. Arrival at DSII: Poe asking to mute Threepio is disrespectful and should be cut. That droid is getting absolutely roasted in this film. Jannah arrives with her tribe and reveals to Finn that they are First Order runaways. On a personal note, I like Jannah as a love interest for Finn because she understands his past, unlike Rose.

25. Leia’s Death: Ren “Join Me”s Rey again, smashes the way-finder and the two start a lightsaber duel. In this edit, Leia senses their inner turmoil—which seems to weaken her—and walks to a dark room, away from the other Resistance members. In the duel, Ren gets the advantage and almost slays Rey, but Leia’s spirit enters Ren at that moment, causing him to drop his saber. Rey catches it and stabs Ren in the stomach, killing Leia who is shown laying down peacefully with her hands folded. Rey’s healing powers are then revealed for the first time (in this edit) as she heals Ren’s stab wound. Rey says she wanted to take Ben Solo’s hand—not Kylo Ren’s—and leaves. The Resistance is shown mourning Leia, who is implied to be under a blanket in front of them. Poe, Finn and Chewey return to the Resistance base to the news of Leia’s passing and are deeply disheartened. Chewey lets out a mournful cry. I find this edit MUCH more respectful and compelling than the theatrical cut. The idea of Leia dying while defending her son and being mourned by a group of rebels just seems right. Props to the editor for presenting it this way.

26. Ren & Han Speak: It’s a nice moment, but it raises too many questions to be left as is. Maybe the audio of Han could be laid over Ren’s tortured expression, instead of a full-on vision of Han speaking with Ren. Obviously this is up to the editor, but the way it is feels crazy to me. The scene has to be kept in some form, though, because Ren tosses his saber at the end of it, which is pretty dope tbh.

27. Palp & Pryde Speak: Palp looks pretty good here.

28. Poe’s Admission: Poe says “I’m not ready” to Leia’s body. It’s short and I do like that, but Poe’s line could use just a little breathing room before and after it.

29. A Thousand Generations: Rey tries to yeet Luke’s saber but his ghost catches it. Luke’s Ghost gives Rey a pep talk and Leia’s saber, leading to a flashback of the Skywalker twins training. I’m all good with the version in this edit.

30. Finn, Poe & D-O: A quick, heartwarming exchange between these three. Less is more with D-O.

31. Threepio Restored: Short and sweet. It feels good to see Artoo do something cool in the Sequel Trilogy.

32. Info Briefing #2: I love Poe stepping up in Leia’s place to inspire the Resistance. The phrase “For Leia” should be used again…

33. Resistance vs Final Order: It would be great to hear a ton of voices yell “For Leia!” when the ally ships arrive, but I know that’s a difficult edit to make. I love the use of the Main Title music at when the allies are revealed.

34. Rey vs Palpatine: The Sith Throne reveal is pretty good, pretty dark, I like it. Seeing Palp at this point is good because he has been used sparingly up to this point. Ren comes to help but Palpatine knocks them both out, leading to Rey hearing the voices of past Jedi. Just before the voices start, we hear a bit of [either “Rey’s Theme” or “The Scavenger”] and it works wonderfully. During the Jedi voices, I would like to hear Yoda’s voice amplified a little more to emphasize his importance. This edit keeps The Emperor saying “I am all the Sith” but removes Rey saying “and I am all the Jedi,” which I think both should be re-instated. Rey kills Palp and passes out, leading to Ren crawling out of a hole an reviving her in return. She calls him Ben and they kiss. Some fans don’t like the kiss, but I don’t care either way.

35. Victory Montage: Lando’s exchange with Jannah is cut, which is good because it makes no sense unless you know the original intent behind it. Also, do we have to show an Ewok?

36. Tatooine: I would really like if Rey said “I’m just Rey” instead of “Rey Skywalker.” She said “just Rey” at the Passana Festival and that audio could be laid over the visual of the woman she speaks to at the end. I hate to end on a controversial scene but this is all just my opinion anyway.

joshuabri said:

Sorry, version 2 isn’t finished yet. After completing V1, I spent some time actually learning how to use my video editor and only recently began undertaking V2. This is the first video editing project I’ve ever done by the way. I think the hours of tutorial videos were worth it. Even when I’m making the same cuts as in V1, I feel the cuts are noticeably cleaner in V2. I will send a link whenever it’s finished.

Send me a link, too, please! Really excited about this edit when it comes out.