Icarus

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.

Never saw the original fully through (clips are enough to make me cringe), this edit is actually enjoyable and allows Pierce Brosnan to bow out of the series gracefully.

Well-deserved FOTM win, don't suppose there are any plans for an HD version?

Removing the invisible car, the tsunami surfing and sexual innuendos with Jinx & others made more sense. The opening music choice was a much better. Great job on the DVD art cover and your audio commentary. Overall I truly liked your version much more than the original. Great job!

Congratulations on winning an award for your editing of this movie. I am looking forward to your next Bond movie FanEdit.

Thank you,
Mike

The fan editor promised "to give Pierce Brosnan the Bond swansong he deserved." And has delivered, I despised the original, which put me off the Bondverse for a decade. It was lazy, overstuffed and stupid. Even the greatest of fan editors cannot make this a great film. There are too many problems in it, ranging from implausible technologies, to unclear motivations to silly sets like the greenhouse/ sauna thing in the middle of the ice. But it is now a good film, which you can and will enjoy. This is a pretty amazing fan edit. Great job.

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.