From Russia with Love: Excess Excised

I must confess I found myself to be somewhat indifferent towards this edit because to me, an edit is usually made to improve on the original product and I didn't really see an improvement (nor a worsening, mind you) of the original experience. Now, in terms on which version I would prefer to watch from here on in, I would ultimately pick this edit simply because the editor managed to tell the same story with similar emotional resonance in 10 less minutes. In that sense, I suppose it was a success; but I guess what I wanted was a lessening (even further I suppose) of the gypsy camp sequence, and a lessening of the train sequence in the third act. Both of those sequences always dragged to me, and this edit doesn't really improve that feeling for me during those sequences. However, cutting out the boat sequence at the end was such a good call! I found myself indifferent towards that sequence originally and I do kinda like how Bond got out of that one, but taking it out really made me realize how unnecessary that whole thing was. To delay the reveal of SPECTER's involvement was a neat idea, but it felt a little unnecessary since the reveal is only prolonged for an additional 10 minutes. I'm ultimately neutral on which cut I prefer in terms of the reveal of SPECTER's involvement.

In terms of the editing itself overall, almost everything was smooth and unnoticeable...except for ONE part that jumped out at me. At the very beginning during the intro music sequence the music cuts out a little too suddenly at the end. The only reason why I noticed that is because I love that musical number.

Despite all that, I still enjoyed it and would ultimately recommend.