Star Wars - Episode III: Dawn of the Empire

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

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?

I have to give to l8wrtr this edit is the shit! i have to admit that after watching this edit i was moved, this should have been the star wars we wanted and needed. The presentation is just top notch,sound is fantastic and your commentary nuf said!, there was only one scene i did miss and that was Obi and Yoda kicking ass outside the Jedi temple, but other than that this is perfect and i cant wait to show my other hard core star wars and film nut friends. L8wrtr gives thanks to George in the commentary, but sir i thank you for your time and talent on such an amazing edit. You have brought faith in the prequel trilogy to me in a way i will never be ashamed to admit i like the prequels ever again, if anyone ever gives me shit again about the trilogy, all i have to say is have you seen L8wrtr’s edit?

10/10

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.