Fallen Hero

Second fanedit, second review, second Wraith movie.

I have not ween either of these two films so I came in cold on this one.

I have to say, yes I can work out what cam from which film, but that's becaise Clint looks younger and I know that one was thematically a boot camp movie and the other not. But heck, what an amazing film. I was so impressed. Did they really not film this as i just viewed it? Completely flawless in every sense from my point of view. Audio, visually, thematically even how the flashbacks corresponded to the scenes preceeding and following each transition. I really thought the handful of hard cuts away from a flashback were very well judged.

In fact, i immediate watched gran Torino after (which I bought with Heartbreak Ridge online) so I could watch this and found the experience to quite light in comparison. That's when I appreciated not just how well some of the scene re-ordering played out, but also how diferent the feel of the film was given the sparse addition of the flashbacks.

But the real shocker for me was the ending. I don't want to spoil that for others but the lame gran Torino song was so depressing. I suppose that was the intent but in Wraiths hands the ending was uplifting and triumphant in a way the original does not even come close to. What an inspired choice of music (I should say no more).

This fanediting stuff is transformational indeed in ways I could not imagine.

I'm hooked and this is now burnt, in an amray case next to my other Cline movies.

I going to check out some other editors next but I want to watch all this editors stuff too and do not have the time. I'll roll the dice. Next time I'm on the homepage I'm watching the third from the right in the featured edits.

This is (as stated below) a must for clint fans!

BRAVO MY MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First of all, this is a huge accomplishment-- to meld two films so flawlessly to create a unique narrative detailing the decline and redemption of a damaged man, none other than Clint Eastwood, is definitely as hard as it looks. Wraith has continued in his tradition of brilliantly mashing up thematically connected films (much like his Matrix edit) to come up with a deeper and more insightful version of Gran Torino, if such a thing were possible.

Here we have the story of ageing Clint, living out his last days in suburbia while reflecting on his tough militaristic past (courtesy of Heartbreak Ridge), and how his spirit of encouraging and training potential marines is resurrected in his old age as he trains a young Hmong boy. How Wraith concocted this perfect brew is a testament to his skill, all I can say is, narrative-wise, this movie blew me away, and top marks for story/ enjoyment.

I gave 10s on A/V because I did not notice any problems at all. Everything flowed smoothly, with no rough cuts.

All in all, an edit I will definitely watch again, and is part of my collection.
A Must-Watch for any Clint fan!

Kudos Wraith. You did it man.
K

I enjoyed this edit very much. It is a must watch for any Clint Eastwood fan. The flashbacks from Heartbreak Ridge were seamless and for the most part did an excellent job of serving the narrative in the movie, especially near the end. The scenes that were cut from Gran Torino (mostly family background stuff) were not missed and the story had a good pacing and flow to it which doesn't happen in all fanedits. Lastly, I loved how you opened the movie. It was an excellent choice.

The reason why I gave enjoyment an "8" instead of a "10" is that, at times, it did still feel like two separate movies (which of course they originally were). Nevertheless, I appreciate the experiment to meld these two movies and I will be keeping this one on my hard drive :)