Ghost in the Shell 2017: Lean & Mean Edition

As a fan of the franchise (and even the original cut of this film) this edit was amazing. My main complaint of having things dumbed down and over explained in the movie was fixed, which already made this edit an improvement, but then the additional editing used to speed up the pacing and give the movie more focus also helped the story's flow. The editing itself was also executed very well, with no noticeable cuts in audio or video. Overall everything that changed here was an improvement and was done perfectly. The only scene that I would've possibly kept is the "prostitute scene" because of what it adds to The Major's identity questions like in the 1995 film, but given that the scene is so short it doesn't make a huge difference to the film and would likely slow down the pacing, so I'm willing to give it up. Otherwise this was a great edit that pretty much improved the movie in every way it could've.

I thought it was great. I didn't know there was a good movie in there until I saw this edit. What was radically improved was the pacing. It is so much tighter and to the point than the original version. The original movie isn't anything amazing, it's a fairly generic plot with mediocre direction, but the editing now gives the film momentum and energy. The original version just plods along a snail's pace. I remember seeing the theatrical film in Imax and was incredibly bored, but this time I was engaged and entertained. I just find it remarkable when someone is able to take a movie that I had essentially written off and forgotten about, and was able to make me appreciate it. The file is in HD, no hard cuts or issues in the edit, and is definitely worthwhile. Excellent work.

Definitely does what it was set to do - bring it to feel closer in spirit to the much adored animated film and remove on the nose lines and filler plot points.
Though I still have gripes with some bits in the movie itself, I loved every editing decision in the Lean & Mean Edition.