Star Wars - Episode III: Dawn of the Empire

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

This is a good movie. Not just good for a prequel or good for a fanedit but actually a good movie. For the first time ever I can understand why Ani turned to the dark side. In the original his motivation is a jumbled mess, but in L8′s edit we follow his descent caused by a desire for power. When Anakin is put in the Vader suit, I can actually identify him with the Vader we meet in A New Hope. That is really the highest praise I can give for this edit. Before, I had to consider the PT and OT as separate entities; there was no real connection for me on a plot, character, or emotional level. But, after finishing DOTE I couldn’t wait to put in ANH:Revisited.

Spoilers

Here is my one tiny complaint: it bothers me as a grammar nerd for “sweep” to be used twice in the opening crawl. I think “unprecedented powers” would be better than “sweeping powers.”

There is so much that is good about this edit, but I have to make special mention of two things: 1. The arrangement of scenes from the crash landing to when Obi leaves for Utapau is phenomenal. I love how it brings out Ani’s inner struggle over whether his loyalty is with the Jedi or Palpatine. It is abundantly clear in this edit how Palpatine plays on Ani’s frustrations while the Jedi just feed him platitudes and scoldings.
2. The final sequence from the end of Mustafar battle to sending Luke to Tatooine takes the movie to a new emotional level. Most of the dialogue is removed. The music and the visuals say more than enough. Lucas almost achieved this emotion until he sabotaged his own movie with “nooooo” and then killed all momentum with the Yoda, Bail, and Obi discussion on Tantive IV.

This leads to my one question/concern. I wonder how a person new to Star Wars would react to Palpatine’s face reveal and the cutting out of the Tantive IV dialogue. Both of these changes are great in my mind, but could they be confusing to someone else? I can hear them asking “what happened to his face” and “why doesn’t C3PO recognize Obi Wan or the name Skywalker in ANH?” But, it is also confusing as to why force lightening melts Palp’s face when it does nothing to Luke’s in ROTJ. And, I would rather have the 3PO plot hole than to destroy the flow of the final scenes.

On top of all this I really like the menu and the commentary.

Without a doubt this is 10 out of 10.

Spectacular, perfect, unbelievable, definitive. (I expect that on the 10th Anniversary cover!)

From the moment Padme and Anakin meet, through the end credits, L8wrtr has crafted the undisputed best Star Wars prequal ever made. He has saved Hayden Christensen’s performance. Anakin is not creepy and we only ever feel FOR him. Somehow he has managed to make the politics engaging and most importantly interesting. You are no longer sitting around waiting for the action to begin. You will actually care about even the driest of scenes. I never thought the Lizard squawks were a big deal until I saw this edit. Now I will not be able to stand the original scene. Thanks :/

What I loved most about this edit is how conflicted it made me feel. Like Tyler Durden in Fight Club, Emperor Palpatine is just too persuasive. You end up rooting FOR the bad guy. I actually found him to be the sane one, while the Jedi came off as confused and misguided by poor and impulsive judgment. Conversely, the Emperor appeared to know what he was doing. This tone shift was startling yet awesome. By making me believe Palpatine and question the Jedi, it made Anakin’s fall almost forgivable. I felt as if I would have made the same decision standing in his shoes. That thought sent chills down my spine.

I must also praise the technical quality of the deleted scenes. The birth of the rebellion scenes looked perfect. They add so much to the movie. The Yoda one was not as crisp, but completely forgivable. Dagobah is foggy. I disagree with another review and personally believe the Order 66 scene really worked well. I am very fond of L8wrtr’s work and would not change the scene in any way. Losing the ‘high ground’ line was a little disappointing at first, but after a quick reconsideration I completely agree with the choice. The scene works so much better when every action is an impulse. Please never add the naming of the babies. I was conflicted if the twins line should have stayed, but everything worked out for the best. It is clear much though was put into each decision. The audience will know Luke has a sibling, but not who. The idea of a mystery buried in the story intrigues me. Thank you, thank you, thank you for leaving what you did of the Yoda/Palpatine fight. Well done. I hope the hippity hoppity yoda doesn’t bug too many people. It shouldn’t.

But L8wrtr already knows he has a virtually perfect edit. So I tried my hardest to find complaints, because gushing about how amazing this is won’t get anyone anywhere. Plus all the other reviewers have already covered the fact that this THE definitive copy of ‘Revenge of the Sith.’ Consider everything below pedantic and negative for the sake of constructive criticism.

First and foremost, this edit is still missing a Han space pirate cowboy type character. If you could, contact Ryan Gosling and have some extra scenes filmed, that would be great. Some alpha male quips would really add to the charm of the movie. But this actually does segue into one of my biggest criticism. Personally for me there was too much dialogue cut, especially some early crash humor and a line or two of angry emotion during the final hero clash. Star Wars needs a bad one liner or two to make it a Star Wars movie. L8wrtr took them all out. As for too much cutting, there was one quick cut in-between Yoda scenes back to the lava, where the lava fight felt a tad too short (1:32:50-1:33:04). Merging the first Yoda duct crawling scene with the second fixes this ‘issue’ I have.

I may have kept a little more verbal confrontation towards the end of the lava fight, but the movie is fine without it. I would have liked to see a constructed exchange containing “I should have known the Jedi were trying to take over” followed by “You are lost.” Ewan McGregor really steals every single scene he is present for, I hate to see his pain and internal torture cut from the movie. So while Hayden Christensen gains so much by sitting on the cutting room floor, Obi-wan’s pain is slightly reduced. If I had to choose which is more important, I would vote saving Anakin from bad acting every time.

Now for the blasphemy. The L8wrtr edit still does not have the best opening action sequence. It is my opinion that said title is still held by AEmovieguy, from his intro through Anakin and Padme meeting and talking babies. AEmovieguy accomplishes in 13:27 what takes L8wrtr 16:40 (17:10 with the intro card.) AEmovieguy’s pacing feels stronger, gets you to the plot quicker, and makes everything through the crash landing one great action scene. He also manages to keep a little banter the characters so desperately need. His breakneck pace makes it actually seem as if a time constrained rescue mission is under way. AEmovieguy’s addition of radio communication over the first dog fight flight is necessary and should be emulated. After killing Dooku, when Palpatine says “there is no time” the arguing is better left cut. I think cutting the Emperor’s most overtly manipulative lines from the begining helps keep the plot turn more engaging and heartbreaking.

I have previously stated AEmovieguy’s dialogue tricks (interruptions) should become standard practice in all Revenge of the Sith edits. I especially love two bits of dialogue AEmovieguy has modified so that Obi and Anakin cut each other off (“too late…jump”,” and “tenth….ninth time.”) These lines serve to show the two as buddies who can finish each other’s sandwiches. This effect gives off the impression that the two have had these conversations before, and already know how their discussions will end. The reason I like Obi/Anakin dialogue interruptions is because it makes the loss of their friendship all the more painful. Lastly, while I am comparing fanedits, the Kerr influence is strong in L8wrtr’s cut. As it should be. AEmovieguy’s cannot surpass L8wrtr’s without emulating the backbone of such a revolutionary plot restructure. Props to Kerr.

Moving on. Next we have the tecchnical department. (Tecchnical was spelled wrong in the end credits.) The opening crawl has the word sweep after sweeping. I think “swoop into the capital” sounds more correct. The word ‘has’ should be removed from before the word ‘ordered.’ Also, ‘rescue him’ would be better as ‘his recue.’ As you can tell I am forced to get pretty nitpicky to find fault in this edit. I have a very very short cutlist. When Mace shows up to arrest the Emperor, I would have liked to see the Emperor flying spin move go, but I understand such an edit is near impossible to pull off. I personally did not like the second dream and would prefer it cut. It just didn’t work for me. This is completely my personal preference and in no way should it affect your enjoyment of this masterpiece.

And that is it. I am giving this movie a 10/10 both because of technical quality (literal perfection) and its ability to save Anakin’s character. No other edit is as successful. I didn’t dislike him once the entire time watching the movie. Most edits leave in one too many bad lines. L8wrtr erred on the side of caution and didn’t risk it. That decision pays off tremendously. Not once did I miss a scene or line until long after it had passed. I apologize for not yet consuming the commentary or menus, as I reencoded \BDMV\STREAM0011.m2ts into a 7.77GB mp4/h.264/aac file and threw it on the PS3. If I ever get around to playing the blu-ray directly I will update the review to include my thoughts on the menu and bonus features.

This edit inspired me to create a L8wrtr/AEmovieguy hybredit cut akin to the ADigitalMan/Darth Editous Hybrid which inspired Adywan. Between these two edits lies every single change which would make Revenge of the Sith itself a 10/10 movie (not just a 10/10 fanedit.) In fact, having seen AEmovieguy’s work, his fanedit is the only thing in the way of me declaring this fanedit a work which could not possibly be improved upon. Dawn of the Empire could be successfully defended as the best Star Wars movie, period. What more do you need to hear?

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

L8wrtr’s DAWN OF THE EMPIRE.

WARNING there may be some SPOILERS in this review.

Over three years in the making.

Think about that.

Three YEARS.

wow.

The level of passion, commitment and love one must have for this material to endure and stay on track that length of time is astounding. And it shows in every choice made — every cut, every resequencing, every audio choice — it is all deliberate and well thought out. Nothing is done haphazardly or without considering all the consequences. It is clear from scene one that there is specific vision at work.

Each of L8wrtr’s Prequel edits has been an improvement over the original is terms of character and story structure. And each Prequel fan edit has been an improvement over the previous edition, as his skills and tools improved and the story became more and more focused. With DAWN OF THE EMPIRE, L8 may have created his ultimate Prequel Masterpiece. It is by far and away my favorite of his three SW edits.

When L8wrtr began this journey, he set himself some very specific goals on how he was going to approach these edits — improved pacing, better, stronger characterization, removal of anything that did not serve the greater story — and there were times through the first two edits, I wondered where he was going? SHADOW OF THE SITH and THE REPUBLIC DIVIDED are great edits (you know how hard that is for me to say, being a Star Trek guy LOL!) but through both of them I always had the sense that something was “missing”, that the “payoff” was missing. While enjoyable, and vastly improved, the first two edits left me a bit unsatisfied…though I could not put the finger on it as to why?

Well, the PAYOFF is now here! In spades! And I am now completely satisfied.

L8wrtr has smartly recrafted REVENGE OF THE SITH into a logical, dark, tragic character drama. Most of the over the top action you expect in a Star Wars movie has been greatly trimmed or completely removed — the first 10 minutes of this edit is a perfect and wonderful example — keeping the story constantly moving forward and the focus on Anakin’s descent.

Anakin’s fall is portrayed much more organically and realistically in L8′s approach. He is a victim as much of his own anger/arrogance as he is of Palpatine’s manipulations. In fact, perhaps the most brilliant story change L8 has made is the reordering/editing of the Opera House scene. It is now much earlier in the film, and it creates any entirely new dynamic in all the scenes that follow — in particular his relationship with the Jedi Council — making Anakin’s eventual betrayal all that more believable and tragic.

L8 has made some interesting creative choices throughout the edit. For example, never showing the audience Anakin’s dark future visions, only letting us hear it. The first vision works perfectly for me. It felt spot on. The second one, while still works, feels somewhat forced. But this has far more to do with the source material that L8′s edit. As the one thing that never worked for me in the original ROS, and I still have some issue with in this scene in particular, is Anakin’s sudden flashes of hostility towards Obiwan. I understand the intent of the scene, and L8 has set up the fracture in the Anakin/Obiwan relationship far better than Lucas did, but it still plays very sudden…. but again, this is more to do with the actor’s performance than L8′s storytelling. And smartly, L8 moves away from it as quickly as possible. I rectify the scene in my mind but reminding myself Anakin is falling into the grasp of the Dark Side and his emotions are consuming him in a moment of weakness.

In fact, despite this one quip, L8wrtr’s editing of Hayden’s performance is stunning. Much like his work in THE REPUBLIC DIVIDED, L8 has been able to save and even improve Hayden’s portrayal of the future Sith Lord with tons of small trims and cuts, creating a much more confident and stronger performance. Well done!!!

If I had one other completely minor quip, it would be I missed the full on Yoda/Palpatine duel. L8 completely cut Yoda’s fight from THE REPUBLIC DIVIDED (which I believe I commented on that review) and his duel with the Sith Master has been significantly trimmed here. Being a non-SW guy, I never realized there was such a dislike of Master Yoda’s spinning frog fighting style. LOL! Oh well, L8wrtr’s solution to the conclusion of the duel works well considering what he had to work with.

There is so much about this edit that is wonderful work, and much of it is so subtle that I was not even aware of it until I watched the commentary. Of which, I can easily say this is one of the BEST COMMENTARIES I have ever listened to, better than most professional efforts. L8′s thoughts are articulate and insightful. His deep affection for the Star Wars Universe really shines through. It was a great joy to listen to.

The new ending sequence — the suiting up of Vader, birth to the Twins, getting everyone in place for Episode 4 — is absolutely beautiful. It may be my favorite sequence in the whole edit. It just ends everything on a very emotional note.

Though some set-up items do get ignored — R2D2 & 3PO memory erasing and Obiwan Force Ghost thing — though this probably for the best as they felt extremely shoehorned in the original version.

Upon reflection, L8wrtr was woven a wonderful single tapestry played out over 3 very well executed edits. He has made this Star Trekker look at the SW Universe in a new light and appreciate its wonders in new ways I had not considered.

Thank You L8 for a wonderful 3 year ride!

You should be proud.

THUMBS UP!