Star Wars - Episode III: Dawn of the Empire

I always enjoyed Episode III the most of the prequels, and L8wrtr's edit made it even better in my eyes.

the start of the edit is extremely well done, our heroes complete their mission without the unnecessary distractions that got in their way. however after this the edit becomes a little to quick in it's pacing for my liking without any real follow between scenes. the inclusion of the deleted scenes are welcome edition and the edit settles within the second half. the ending is well done and address's what many consider the worst moment in the star wars prequels rather well (NOOOOO!!!!!!)

Palpatines sudden change in appearance into the empire is rather baffling. i don't believe any viewer should have to listen to a commentary track in order to understand what just happened. this also isn't consistent to the previous film and raises more questions than it should. can he return to his normal self? why didn't he take on this disguise in the first film?

is the way in which he transforms into the empire in Episode III so bad that this needed to be addressed. overall George Lucas decisions weren't fantastic but addressing such issues causes for me more problems than there worth. the problem that i have is that it almost become a Redletter Media tick list to how to improve the films.

there are some brilliant moments within this edit but overall i feel that too much has been removed.

my original Episode III score 7/10
my fanedit Episode III score 7/10

This edit was absolutely awesome. The reorganized scenes made this movie so much better. One of the best episode 3 edits out there.

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Imho “Dawn of the empire” is your best fan-edit, l8wrtr, because you manage to edit it in such a way that it isn’t obvious that it is a fan-edit, there are no scenes that seem abruptly short like with the arena-fight-scene in part II or with the visit in the underwater realm in part I.

You retell the story of Anakin Skywalker falling to the dark side it in a much more exciting and dramatic way than George Lucas did.

Ok, the movie itself is better than the first two outings, but still you add so much tension and better structure that it is a phenomenal success.

There are of course still things that I don’t like, but these you can’t change cause Lucas filmed it in that way: The CGI-landscapes and actors walking, running, fighting in them. They look fake and videogamish, and I didn’t like them in the second part when Anakin was riding through the desert either or the look in the arena. In the original trilogy CGI didn’t exist and it was for the better, the crew had to film in real locations and it showed. Unfortunately this can’t be changed anymore.

The pacing, the structure is in this third part of your fanedits just perfect. You clearly got better from part to part and now achieved your masterwork.

If there was one scene I would have completely cut, it would be the fight between Yoda and the sith lord. It served no purpose, was redundant and didn’t look well as the setting was awful. You did well when you removed the swordfighting of Yoda in Episode II, but here the complete fight should have been cut.

It was already enough that Windu fought against him, and that fight had a purpose, namely to force Anakin to choose side, but this Yoda-fight had no purpose.

And I don’t know if this was your intention or not, it’s not possible for those who never watched Star Wars to watch the prequels first and then the original trilogy. The whole story of Anakin Skywalker is a major spoiler for the best surprise in the original trilogy.

For that to work out, all mentioning of the name Skywalker and the pregnancy of Padme would have to be removed.

Movie: 7.5/ 10, Your fanedit turns it into a 9.0/10. The edit itself: 9.5/10. (If the Yoda-vs-Palpatine-fight were removed, it would have been a 10/10).

Thanks for your hard work on this edit.