Empire Begins, The

Well this is it - the best of the best of Star Wars Prequel edits. I've watched a bunch in my quest to finally enjoy the prequel and this is as close as it gets. Editor Darth Awesome does an excellent job boiling down the plot of three movies to focus on Anakin, cut the cheese from the originals and give us a glimpse at the Clone Wars era Star Wars universe. The result is an enjoyable Greatest Hits of the Prequel trilogy and a surprisingly engaging Anakin character study.

Darth Awesome does a great job in cramming a ton of story into under three hours. The coolest battles are still seen here and the fat is trimmed. Most surprising is how much the Anakin and Padme relationship improves onscreen thanks to this edit. Sure, it plays out like an episode of Star Wars' Dawson's Creek, but I mean that in the good melodrama, soap-opera-y way. It makes Anakin a relatable, tragic character. It was the first time I thought that Hayden Christensen actually did a decent job. That's all to Darth Awesome's editing credit. Darth Awesome also does a killer job transition from Ep. 2 to 3. The way he handles the start of the Clone Wars is masterful as he moves into Ep. 3.

There are a couple technical nitpicks, though minor. First, you can't walk into this edit blind to the story or characters. There are some narrative jumps that are made that you have to overlook. Characters come and go - even our introduction of Ep. 2 Anakin is jarring if you don't know who he is already. However, if you're hunting down a fan edit of these movies, you're probably already a fan; it's a minor complaint. More pressing are a couple of hard transitions that would be nice to see softened up - particularly working in an establishing shot for Obi-wan arriving on Kamino and a little more clarification on the cloning process.

Overall, this is the most fun I've had watching the prequels. It doesn't fix them - that's impossible. Editing can only do so much. Darth Awesome pushes the craft to the limit here. For those days you are nostalgic and think that you should give the Prequels another shot - this is the edit to watch.

I thought this was a really interesting take on merging the 3 prequels into one film. It certainly covered all the main elements that contribute to episodes 4, 5 and 6. It seemed very well done and certainly felt seamless. The only crits I have would be,

1) I think the crawling into text should always come at the start. Personally, other than letting us know who Qui Gon Jinn is, I felt the Darth Maul sequence could be missed out.

2) I felt the discovery of the clone army seemed very dumbed down. I remember it being a bit more exciting in Attack of the Clones and it was a lot more mysterious and interesting seeing the clones in production and training.

Other than that I was pretty impressed. I enjoyed seeing the deleted scenes inserted into the film as I hadn't actually seen those before. Good job :)

Whilst nothing can be done to save the terrible acting and over-use of CGI, this edit distills the essential elements of the prequels narrative making a far more cohesive story. This goes to show how those three movies should have been one film, it was far more enjoyable told this way, it felt like I'd just watched a full narrative arc rather than three flabby movies full of so much dead weight. The editing is unnoticeable and expertly done.

For those of you who really don't like the Star Wars prequels, this is an ideal chance to see how it might have been done more successfully as a tight and focussed story.

Well done Darth Awesome, you did a fantastic job.

Fan-editor Darth Awesome combines all three Star Wars prequels into a single viewing experience. Running time is two hours forty minutes, with the heaviest trims coming from Phantom Menace. For action fans seeking Clone Wars, this is not it. Though Darth Awesome describes it as rise of Empire, fall of Anakin, the story is really a character study of Anakin Skywalker, with all the good and bad that entails.

Video - Good work, nice transitions. A couple scene shifts were marvelous. Professional all the way.

Audio - Fine 2.0 stereo. No subs. At any given time, dialogue was understandable, during combat, street activity, whispered conversations. And yes, this is a big deal. I have heard, yet not understood, my share of dynamic sound designs. Mr Awesome has done well here.

Narrative - OK, not scratching here, but pointing things out. Kamino barely appears, to me a startling omission. Seemed like all but eight minutes of Phantom Menace was jettisoned. What survived was a highlight - hooray! The battle on Geonosis was minimized. Duly noticed and missed. General Grievous, on the other hand, was no loss. I could go on and on, parts I missed, others I was happy to see gone. The narrative holds together, but this is a story about Anakin, and I don’t particularly care for this Jedi. Exchanges with Padme remain awful, specifically because of utter lack of chemistry between the leads.

Enjoyment - Grumbles aside, I did enjoy Mr Awesome’s edit. I rewatch E02 and E03 fairly frequently, E01 never. There is clever invention in this effort. It held my interest and I returned several times, to study specific sequences. Having conceptual ideas is one thing, bringing them off is another. Definitely recommended, especially to readers who have a fondness for the Christensen films. For those who hated those installments, I doubt it will better your opinion.

Honestly, this is about the best one could hope for when it comes to Prequel edits. Darth Awesome has put together what is, by far, the most bearable version of the narrative I've seen. "The Empire Begins" removes the fluff and gets on with the story, and the results are impressive, most impressive.

Visual and sound editing are solid. There are some hiccups in the musical score where cuts are made, and there was that one awkward transition between Anakin and Padme's reunion on Coruscant at the beginning of "Revenge of the Sith." Otherwise, the editing was technically superb.

"The Empire Begins" opens with the Kenobi/Jinn/Maul fight from the end of "The Phantom Menace." That is to say, the scene comes before the opening crawl. It's a creative way to begin the movie, and it would've been more effective had the scene added anything to the story. Unfortunately, none of the material from "The Phantom Menace" is necessary to include in the tale of Anakin Skywalker (not only does Qui-Gon being Obi-Wan's master contradict pre-established canon, the outright exclusion of "The Phantom Menace" would warrant cutting that silly scene from the end of "Revenge of the Sith"). This is a striking way to begin the film, but an unnecessary one.

The Padme/Anakin romance is cut down to the least cringe-inducing scenes, and the story of their love is told mainly visually. And it's actually pretty engaging. Though it comes off as a bit rushed, it's the best that could be done, given the material, and the inclusion of the scene at the Amidala home was well-implemented in fleshing out that subplot. Honestly, I thought it couldn't be salvaged, and Darth Awesome has surprised me. Well done.

Past the opening crawl, the pacing gets a little clunkily, and the character introductions aren't really introductions. Characters are just... there. It's clear by the way the scenes are shot that the audience should already know who these people are, which, in many ways, can't be helped. The first time Jango Fett appears, Obi-Wan is rushing out the door, swinging a lightsaber at him, and the audience is sitting there thinking, "What? Who?" Again, this is largely because many of the character introductions are tied up in dialogue that is either awful or deals with plot elements that have been removed or altered. A minor issue at most, though, and, for the most part, a necessary evil.

Probably the most satisfying elements of this edit was the transition from "Attack of the Clones" to "Revenge of the Sith." Phenomenal. Simply beautiful.

The problem with fanedits is that editors are working with material that the audience has already seen. Nothing is new. Often, even if an edit makes for a better movie, it's hard for the viewer to feel really satisfied because they're just watching the same thing they saw before with a few parts removed, and maybe rearranged a little. Perhaps the aim of a fanedit shouldn't be to make a better movie, but a different one. For example, "Pulp Empire" took "The Empire Strikes Back" and turned it into something drastically different. New music, new voiceovers, a completely different tone and a significantly more cohesive story. Njvc's fanedit is a model to aspire towards.

Darth Awesome's transition between Episodes II and III was something drastically different. It was the most striking, memorable, exciting, and emotionally connective moment of the film. The rest just felt like the same poorly-written schlock that I've been watching for the past ten years, and that's not Darth Awesome's fault. I've analyzed and re-analyzed them and cross-analyzed the Prequels with the Original Trilogy and repeated the whole damn process, and I'm sick of them, I'm sick of talking about them, and I'm sick of thinking about them. It's hard for me to enjoy a Prequel edit because I think the movies are unsalvageable garbage. However, Darth Awesome did just about the best anyone could, and I did enjoy his fanedit.

All in all, great job, Awesome. Keep up the good work. You took some of the worst movies in cinema history and made them into something watchable, something I can emotionally connect with and enjoy. Well done. You've taken your first step into a larger world.