Icarus

Very good edit, really filters out most of the bullshit. The transitions are seamless, and i was able to enjoy this film a lot more. Nothing but love for the edit. The movie itself...well, there's only so much you can do. The first third of the film is actually very, very good. It could have been a SO much better film, it's unbelievable. It really goes off the rail near the end. Again, talking about the movie, not about the edit. Good job, keep it up!

This fanedit is FANTASTIC! LS has taken a turd of a film and turned it into a great Bond flick. I thoroughly enjoyed my 110 minutes with Mr Bond.
There's also a great commentary track which is worth a listen.

Read on for minor gripes / suggestions:

Audio was in 2.0 instead of 5.1, so I docked a few points on quality. But other than that sounded great throughout.
Video was flawless, though a couple of slightly bitty shots during the ice palace escape and in a few of the "witty" exchanges it was clear something had been cut.

I think LS went a little overboard with cutting ALL the quips (like "saved by the bell" - that's very Bond after a big set piece), which made Bond a little too serious all the time. But it's better than the buffoon he became in the original.

Q is sorely missed. I think it was a mistake to cut this sequence - the film is overly serious, and this was a natural point of levity (and call out to the 40 year anniversary).

I also personally liked the invisible car, especially as they explained how it was done in a reasonably believable way. But its removal was handled well (and reminded me what I *didn't* like in the original - sneaking in the car behind the guards. What- did the car become silent as well? And there's snow on the ground. A car on snow makes a hang of a racket, crunch, crunch, even without a engine!)

My only real gripe was keeping in the bit with everyone being sucked out the window and the plane going out of control. Gaaah! Hollywood always does this but 1. the pressure equalises extremely quickly, so there's only a few *seconds* of air rush (during which people, chairs, etc CAN be sucked out, yes), 2. the plane does *not* start to crash because of air equalisation!! Planes go down because PILOTS put them into a dive. Why? Oxygen. There's no oxygen at high levels, and that's far more dangerous than the rushing wind.
Anyway, I thought you could have put Jinx steering the plane towards Icarus earlier and Icarus makes the plane go into a dive.

I also agreed with you - the helicopter CGI was not great. You could have trimmed a bit more of the exploding plane (especially the part where it's hitting the helicopter like hail. You could also make the helicopter autorotate - that is, that it starts up because of the speed of the air over its blades. That's actually what I thought Bond's plan was originally. And yes, the cars are a bit daft - but its a great visual gag and worth keeping. His dreams really did meet gravity!


This review may seem negative but it actually isn't: I've only mentioned where I thought there was another option (like a few more quips and Q) - only one gripe (booo Hollywood aeroplane physics). If there's every a v2 or an alternate cut, I'd love to see it, but for now Icarus is THE go-to version of DAD.
Brilliant.

It is incredible how excellent this fan edit is. How can you transform this piece of ugly carbon in such a perfect diamond? This version is action-packed, with intelligent characters, a great villain, a tough Bond that is also vulnerable and just the fair amount of cheesiness that characterizes the best Bond films. This version is a diamond and diamonds are forever.

Continuing my Bond reviews of LastSurvivor, I'd like to recommend Icarus to anyone who thinks the cgi and bad jokes on Brosnan are too much to bare. If you really go for it, at least include Jaws so we know this is meant to be campy!

The faneditor did a very good job at removing the most obnoxious or forced anniversary parts, while refraining from cutting the movie so much that there's nothing left. But in comparison to the "post Casino Royale" age, the action is still somewhat artificial even with a lot of the cgi cut. Still, it's an ok movie like this as you don't get thrown out of the story by awkward moments.

One thing that strikes me as odd are the torture scenes: Knowing what the CIA does to torture information out of captives, the North Korean methods displayed in the movie seem like a walk in the park. In retrospect, they should have been less visual so the torture doesn't seem so Hollywood-style in comparison to the real deal.

For the record: I think Brosnan's Bond already jumped the shark in the universally liked Goldeneye when he skydived after a falling plane, climbed into it and escaped into safety :-}

Edit: I nearly forgot to mention - the best thing again is the audio commentary, please do continue do do these in upcoming fanedits! I with more faneditors are inspired by the value this adds to their work.

Only seen this movie once and it's been a very, VERY long time. Decided that when I watched it again I would watch an edit. It's always nice to experience a fanedit when you're not too familiar with the source material.

Being that I can't remember the original that well, I can't say much other than what I witnessed. The editing was tight. There were no awkward cuts and nothing felt out of place. The only thing that felt awkward was when Bond reversed his car and the bad guy drove through the ice. The editing was fine, but it just was slightly unclear what happened. I understand that this was due to removing scenes with the invisible car.

Watched this with a friend who was familiar with the movie and, bar a few cheesy lines that he missed, considered this a much better cut than the original. I thought it was an OK film, which I guess is an upgrade from the fairly naff film that I remember it to be. Although, no matter how much editing you do, you can't take away the fact that neither Halle Berry nor Madonna can act to save their mums.

Quality was DVD quality. No complaints there. Twas an average film so enjoyment gets an average rating. No fault to the editor.

The ending also felt a bit rushed, but from what I heard about what was cut, it's a small sacrifice!

Overall a good, professional edit.