Star Wars - Episode III: Dawn of the Empire

L8's Episode III is a masterpiece. I see the entire saga in a new light and it helps fit in much better with the OT than Lucas ever tried to accomplish.

The version of Anakin that was in Lucas's head but never portrayed on screen is in this cut. I never thought that I would care for Hayden as Anakin, but here, with thoughtful editing, is a nuanced performance. Much like in Episode II, which was a revelation for the character, Anakin's outbursts are much more restrained towards the Jedi. It obvious that there is something mentally wrong with Anakin. He's almost autistic is in his dealings with people and his strict desire for conformity and following strict order. Anything that disrupts that can be seen as a threat and his previous alliances may go by the wayside in support of a specific order.

Gone is almost all of the unnecessary humor aboard The Invisible Hand. It's a lean-mean action sequence that tells its story and gets the job done. There's no messing around with R2, no obvious Palpatine is evil beats, and the saber battles feel more at home within the OT than ever before. This does bring up the one slightly odd edit in the film, which is the truncated introduction of the Jedi to Grievous. There are a few cuts that don't quite work, but I ultimately have no great issue with them. By the time you realize something is off, we're onto the next action sequence.

L8 is a master of pacing and putting the Opera House scene much earlier in the film helps solidify Anakin's actions early on in the film. He's a man who is being pulled apart in multiple directions and it is a careful ballet at work here. He has a vision that his wife will die in child birth and he seeks to save his future because he couldn't save his past. At the same time, he is aligning himself with Palpatine because the Chancellor is the only man who can help save Padme. While the Jedi are telling Anakin to basically be glad that his wife will die in childbirth, they also want Anakin to spy on the only man who seems to care for Anakin's plight. At the same time, the man who gives him this mission is his near-brother, Obi-Wan. There are so many power moves at play that Anakin ultimately chooses his love for his wife and family, all the while not knowing that Padme is making behind-the-scenes plays to end the rule of Palpatine.

That's right, Padme Amidala is a founding member of the Rebel Alliance. George Lucas is a moron for having something so surprising and so profound and then eliminating it from his movie in support of having a woman stay at home and make babies. Wow.

I never thought that I would say this but the politics are what really make this Star Wars film for me. Something that was so confounding and boring in the theatrical versions are molded into a piece that is not only understandable, but interesting! It really helps ratchet up these prequels into a more adult fare.

There's too many changes to count here and since it has been years since I watched the theatrical version of Episode III, it was really difficult to see what was cut. The Jedi Purge is handled very well. It's slightly difficult to understand what exactly happened to Yoda, but you can connect the dots. I understand that L8 wanted to save the Yoda has a lightsaber reveal for the Palpatine fight (which plays much better in this version), but his defensive move against the Clone assassins is one thing that I do miss.

Mustafar is just plain amazing. The very odd banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin is gone and only the critical lines remain. Sure, some of it was Ewan McGregor's best work in the series, but it is ultimately not needed. That final blow by Obi-Wan is shocking in its execution. It's unexpected, even by someone who has seen the film before. I would love to see that moment with someone who has never seen Episode III. You would jump out of your seat by how brutal the cut is.

That's what I really came away with from L8's Episode III. Brutal. It's an unforgiving film that is by far the darkest the series has to offer. There's very little levity here and that's almost all gone by the end of the first act. Through a master edit, Episode III comes away as Lucas's best film since the original theatrical Star Wars in 1977. It's too bad that he didn't see what he had and chose to muddy the waters with too much dialogue and removing sequences that are critical to his saga.

I always hated the original Episodes I and II, but Episode III is different for me. I didn't like it but neither did I hate it. It was bad, but not terrible.

Thankfully just like in Episode II, L8wrtr has successfully nailed it in Star Wars editing.

The video/audio quality was great. There is one part that looked a little pixely, it's before the Anakin/Obi-Wan fight. Obi-Wan says "I will do what I must" and there, the screen looked pixely. That's a very minor flaw though, other than that, it looked great.

The video/audio editing was perfect, it felt like it was never actually edited.

The narrative was much better than the theatrical cut. I have some problems that prevents this from being my favorite though. Chewbacca is still there (universe shrinking) and Padme dies unlike her daughter's memories, C-3PO's memory isn't wiped, the reason how Obi-Wan and Yoda can use the force ghost technique is no longer here (continuity errors). Because of that, HAL9000's edit is my favorite. However if you prefer Chewbacca and continuity errors over "NOOOO" and no Yoda vs Sidious fight, then this is a better edit for you. Kinda depends on minor opinions, as both fanedits are almost perfect.

I really enjoyed this fanedit and I definitely recommend it!

L8's prequel edits are my go to version, Episode III is the one the needed the least tweaking; and that tweaking is flawlessly implemented in here. Tighter dialogue, abbreviated scenes that still retain the better parts of the plot and remove the bad acting as much as possible.

Another masterful release, highly recommended.

while i chose Seciors edit for Ep. 1 and TM2YC edit for Ep. 2, you have absolutely nailed it with this Ep. 3 fanedit IMHO. I would specifically like to complement your simplification and verbiage removal at the end of this Ep. III, the removal of the speaking parts made it much more emotionally relevant for me...
As others have stated, your move of the opera scene to earlier in the movie really set the tone more effectively than the original.
I spent alot of time searching out the best episode III fanedit, and you came through with flying colors...
Salud!

Finally I can rest easy, knowing there is a competent, well-thought out, enjoyable prequel trilogy for me to watch whenever I choose. A/V quality is top notch, as expected. Of course I had a few minor complaints here and there (Yoda sharing his feelings with Chewie being the most glaring), but overall this is the best of the ROTS edits I've seen. The moving of the Opera scene to earlier in the film was brilliant, I loved the new lizard voice, the Sidious reveal is almost as amazing as Kerr's (sorry!)...it's just about as much as I can hope for without tackling it myself. Kudos!

9/10

I'm looking forward to revisiting all three of these edits through the commentaries so I can complete my training. :)