Fast Blood – This was a highlight for me. Besides, how did you know that I had been meaning to watching First Blood again, but didn’t feel like sitting through the whole thing? It takes a lot of skill to condense such a narrative into 18 minutes, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Phil vs Phil – I started out wondering why I was even watching this. Video quality wasn’t so great during high motion scenes, and I was reminded of how much I didn’t like these parts from Caddyshack. Then it switched to Groundhog’s Day, and I groaned wondering how this was going to be tied together. But actually, it was impressive, and I came out liking this quite a lot.
Stuntman Mike – Actually my first ever fan-edit was of Death Proof. It was never released because despite all my work, I never quite figured out how I wanted to present some aspects of the plot. I enjoyed it quite a lot, especially the removal of the multiple takes of the head-on car crash, and the tightening up of this whole section of the movie. Worked well, even though I (and possibly only I), miss the girls turning the tables on Stuntman Mike.
Little Marathon Man – I’ll admit. I never saw the original. I’ll also echo Uncanny Antman’s wondering why the car chase needed to be included. It was really confusing, and I would have preferred if a shorter edit was made, that was a little more clear cut in present the kidnapping, torture, and escape of this poor poor guy. Still, I liked parts of it, and it was certainly a good chase to present.
Two Minutes – Another standout, I liked what the original was doing, but was terribly dissapointed by many of the film maker’s decisions. Sadly I was dissapointed by this consensed edit having essentially the same ending as the orignal movie (which was one of the worst parts for me). Still great to watch though, and it’s not like I have a better idea for an ending. As a side-note, my girlfriend watched it with me and had never heard of the original. She liked it, but was confused when he was able to see his girlfriend on the news more than 2 minutes in the future, and when he eventually flashed all the way back. I suppose this was confusing in the original as well, but left her wondering what had happened. I suppose in fan edits we are often being blamed for inconsistancies in the original plots, since the audience assumed there must have been more explanation in the original.
THX 1138 – Not sure what to say. I never saw the original. While I thought somce parts were interesting, in the end I was mostly either confused or bored. But of course it is hard to judge an edit when you don’t know what it used to be like.
Don’t Mess with Leon – Lots of fun, even though there was a little too much reliance on text exposition, and it was the least chase-like of the bunch. Mostly it was confusing that what the text means by “his identity was discovered” and why this leads to such a dramatically aggressive attack from the police. Still, Leon doing his thing is always enjoyable.
