Falcon and the Winter Soldier: The Spence Edit, The

The missing character moments that defined the episodic version of FATWS really hurt.

Otherwise, a nice little edit that felt cohesive and professional.

Good edit, Spence.

I wasn't really a fan of MCU's direction of making episodic series and I felt FATWS was overly bloated. This fan edit really felt like a connective standalone cinematic entry with the appropriate cuts. Average pacing, clean trims, and a more enjoyable experience.

This edit is impeccable! I was skeptical going in, worried some of my favorite moments from the series might have been cut, or that, despite trimming over 2 hours, it might feel like too much is going on, But my worries were for not! The pacing of this edit makes it truly feel like it was always intended as a feature film. It's incredible! Almost nothing is missed from what is removed, aside from some fan servicey moments like the inclusion of Val. The story flows perfectly while still giving weight to each character's individual journey.

This edit does a lot for the Flag Smashers, making them feel like a stronger antagonistic force while also making you realize that the real villain of the story is the broken systems that created them and, to an extent, created John Walker. The court room scene is re-edited beautifully, with the line "You built me" really given power. I do miss the Val cameo here, but it would definitely mess with the flow of everything. This edit is near perfect, and is definitely in my list for future MCU rewatches.

Edit: I’m updating my review days later, after two more viewings… this edit redeems both Karli Morganthau and the Sharon Carter/ Powerbroker twist flawlessly. My biggest gripe about the series were these two elements, that aren’t only saved by Spence, but made into highlights!

Now... I would make two small changes! No cuts, but simple additions:
I would like to see a cold open scene before the MCU logo plays. The scene from the opening of episode 4 where Bucky is tested in Wakanda and is broken from the Winter Soldier programing. I just really like the scene and think it makes for a nice intro to Bucky before seeing him in therapy.
Lastly, I would include the U.S. Agent suit up as part of the post credits scene. Have it cut from Sharon's call to the exterior shot of the Raft, Zemo hears that the 4 remaining flag smashers are killed (which might be necessary for future continuity), then cut to Val reading about it on her phone as Walker is revealed in the suit. He says "I'm back!" and we cut to black. Adds about 3 minutes to the overall runtime without messing with the current edit at all.

Positives:
Spence has a real knack for flow and pacing. I watch all the Marvel stuff shamelessly, maybe "religiously", and am shocked by how little I missed that was cut out. This is slightly over two hours, the source I think being approximately six hours. I have no intention to make an edit like this but I think many wondered while watching the show what a movie or fan edit could have been like, and I think Spence got really close to what would have been in theaters if things in the real world had gone differently. The show has extra subplots and tangents but a lot of it felt like filler and this edit proves you can carve down to the core story and not miss any of the extra characters and dances and meme material. The problem with really good editing is I don't have much in mind that stands out, it was just a really overall smooth experience, it never felt like I was watching a show, just a "smaller" movie. I think the stuff that was kept works really well.

Negatives:
One shot looked shimmery or pixellated, the establishing shot for Riga, Latvia around 56:05ish. The shot immediately after has a similar effect but only on the road, then after it's back to looking perfectly clear. It's not that distracting, it's very short, and much worse has happened to my picture quality watching actual streaming services. I assume this was either in the source, or from how the source was captured, a render error, or something to do with the conversion to the smaller file I watched.

I do miss the cop scene after the first meeting with Isaiah, I think it helps drive home the point Isaiah is making to Sam in their second meeting. But I understand, the scene leads directly into more material that was cut and there's no clean other way out of it. If you could have found a way to include some of it, I would consider this edit basically the perfect version of the story, narratively.

I think some of Sam's speech at the end falls a little flat, and I would have tried to cut a little bit of it where he's telling the council not to call the flag smashers terrorists, but that's a problem with the show, not the edit. I have faith Spence made a weighted decision here, the part I'm talking about was the beginning of his speech and it could have been really awkwardly short or lacking context for the rest of the speech if that part was missing,

Back to Positive:
At first I thought the edit was missing that opening action beat (there's a lot of talking and character and plot setup) but I do remember the opening action scene in the show was a lot of fluff and not very relevant to anything. But I still went in thinking that cutting that entirely was a mistake. But after watching, I think not opening on expensive big action and instead opening on Sam at home really reinforces what this story is, which is small-scale, character-driven, and conversation-based. Right through to the end, this is Character Moments: The Movie. If you complain about Marvel movies all being the same big CGI action sequence over and over, this is the break from that you've been looking for.

I enjoyed this much more than the show itself, this edit is an accomplishment. Thanks, Spence.

An excellent edit of a messy, overlong Marvel TV outing. Spence cuts it down to a manageable length and nothing of value is lost, and lots of silly Madripoorian dancing is dropped. From a swing-and-a-miss to what is perhaps inarguably the best or second-best Phase Four (tied with Shang-Chi, naturally), Spence's pacing instincts are dead-on as usual. A better Captain America 3.5 we couldn't ask for.