Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi – The Spence Final Cut

Review by cutnshut — March 17, 2011 @ 1:59 pm

I still cant work out how to vote, dont see any way to do it on the screen… i would give this overall 8/10

Spence had his work cut out for him with this movie, the problem is the original theatrical version just doesnt live up to the epicness of Empire strikes back…and is more of a cross between a remake of the first star wars movie with the rebels attacking a new Death Star and a rollercoaster action movie… it doesnt really seem to fit well as the epic conclusion to Emmpire Strikes Back.

….The special edition seemd to turn it into even more of a musical than it was before…

Now we come to Spences Final Cut.

Obviously a lot of work went into this one and Spence has looked at the overall story and thought hard about how to re-organise it into something that makes more sense – and as far as i’m concerned has thoroughly succeeded!

After the initial opening scene from the Empire, the next scene is now on Dagobah, which makes a lot more sense – it appears Luke returned to Dagobah in the time since the previous movie took place.

It works much better, plot wise it makes more sense as it tells the audience what luke is going on…Luke must confront Vader again and there is another Skywalker…..but Obi Wan Kenobi’s ghost is cut – so it is left to luke to deal with these issues himself….making him seem a stronger character than in the previous movie.

There are more various cuts and tweaks which I won’t spoil for anyone. New to this edit…but the ending is changed and is now the perfect way to end the movie!

Any star wars fan should download this, i highly recommend it – if you werent happy with the original version.

Please note the 2004 special edition was used as the base for the edit but, spence has restored the theatrical version of the sarlac pit and the musical scene has been totally removed :) good news!

The only problem that would stop me giving this edit a 10/10 is there are some technical issues I would Like to see Spence fix at a future time.

I think a lot of people (myself included) were pushing Spence to release this as soon as possible and if he had given himself a bit more time to review his finished movie, he could have fixed the very few scenes that have off lip sink with the voices and some issues with the music and inserted credits at the end of the movie.

I think Spence needed to finish this and take a break, but i hope he will come back to it when he’s ready and just add some final polish – as it really is an amazing accomplishment and deserves to seen in the best possible condition!

So currently i would rate the movie as 8/10, hopefully at some point tho a well deserved 10/10 if he can update this to v2.

Well done Spence!

*Major Spoilers*

Big strides in taken in this edit towards achieving a worthy end to this saga, but honestly I still prefer the actual film.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE that Luke spent time in between flicks training with Yoda.

I love the removal of Lopti Nek or Jedi Rocks.

I LOVE the removal of Boba Fett completely, there was no reason for him to be there in the first place.

Outside of that I'm kind of luke warm.

This is just me, but too much is removed. The movie only actually runs 1:21, and it just feels way too short.

No Obi Wan at all for one, and granted I hate that because he is my favorite character in Star Wars, but the scene on Dagobah also brings nice closure as to why he lied to Luke about his father, and while I totally understand editing the scene to remove Obi Wan's reveal of Leia, the scene could be kept in with that detail removed. Also, why edit out Yoda confirming Vader as Luke's father? Luke would definitely want confirmation of that and if you're running with the idea that they had already talked about it, IMO its very powerful to have Luke only have the medal to finally really bring up what's been eating away at him the past 2, 3 years because he knows its his last chance. And its something as an audience that we would like to see. What if Vader had lied ya know?

I liked the idea of removing the frog thing outside Jabba's, but instead it was a pretty obvious still picture, just felt off to me.

I really didn't like removing Luke force choking the guards, IMO the point of this movie is the fear that Luke is leaning towards the dark side, if he does this that confirms that in a way. Besides his continuous death threats to Jabba aren't very Jedi like either.

Idk why the Lando/han convo before the briefing was cut, sure their winks at eachother is a little odd, but han's last line is a funny quip relating to a convo in Empire before Lando betrayed him, its pretty good if the audience notices and more importantly it shows that han isn't pissed anymore at the guy that you know, TURNED THEM OVER TO DARTH VADER. Kind of major IMO.

Really liked han's silent moment looking at the Falcon.

I do not understand at all removing Vader's "it is too late for me, son." I love that line. It shows that Vader isn't just a shell of his former self, he doesn't just do things because of the great "power of the dark side" he's taking his rage out on the galaxy over his sins and the choices he's made for so long he doesn't know what else to do. IMO his admitting it is too late for him almost shows a light at the end of the tunnel.

I love Ian McDiarmid's performance (who doesn't) but a lot of him is cut. I understand removing the two scenes with him and Vader pre arrival of heroes so that his master plan is revealed more suddenly, but I still think they are executed well, and I think the second one is important but I understand the choice.

Frankly I thought moving the Emperor to the Executor was pointless. Cool idea to see the Death Star outside the window. (Except for sometimes you could see it and sometimes it clearly wasn't where it was in the scene moments before. But it looked BOSS when it was there.) But I thought the whole point of moving Luke, Vader, and the Emperor to a Star Destroyer was so that Vader's death could play out after the battle was over, and the emotional beat could happen after everything was resolved. It took place in the exact same place it does in ROTJ, just on the Executor...but right before Vader dies it shows the Rebels attacking the Executor so...I don't see the point.

So I have to admit something quickly, I was so excited for this edit. As I was downloading it I stumbled upon Spence's youtube channel and checked out some of his test videos for this. And honestly...the test videos of Vader's death and the ending montage are better. The music just climaxes at a better time in the Vader death test and the finale test is WAY more satisfying. I loved the low key force theme playing over everyone dancing with the Ewoks, I like it better than the actual ending in this cut and the real film.

So I know I just wrote a novel about this and griped the whole time, but I do recommend this edit for those who want to see a glimpse at what Jedi could have been, and I applaud Spence for making some really drastic choices here, some that worked very nicely. I'm also aware that I'm such a hardcore fan of the Wars that I have opinions that are ridiculously impossible to please.