L.A. Confidential Recut

WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!
(This review is not meant as a personal attack on the editor, it is simply this reviewer’s opinions on the edit).

Well I was lucky enough to see a workprint of L.A. Confidential Recut by Neglify. Unfortunately this didn’t allow me to follow my usual “routine” when it comes to watching fanedits: rewatch the original, then watch the fanedit. It’d been quite awhile since I had last seen L.A. Confidential. So as I watched the Recut there were certain parts where I said to myself “wait isn’t there another part/scene here” and other times where i didn’t notice/remember that anything was taken away.

So, L.A. Confidential Recut, after rewatching the original, i came to appreciate the changes Neglify has made to the movie. Now I was aware of the big change being a drastic reduction of the Bud/Lynn romance. And I can do without the romance bit. It does tend to weigh down the film a bit and slow the pace. And i think Neglify’s choices on how to condense it worked perfectly. It’s still clear that Bud and Lynn has a romantic relationship and that it was something special. But now there is no “wrapped in a bow” resolution. The relationship ends after Bud hits Lynn. Dare I say this makes it more realistic? And when you match this change with the other big change Neglify makes (which I will discuss shortly) it makes for a darker, grittier story IMO.

So the big change, that in my opinion was the best change in this fanedit, was the ending. I think the changes to the ending that Neglify made have a greater (positive) impact than the reduction of Lynn in the story. No happy ending, no medal ceremony, Bud doesn’t survive and live happily ever after with Lynn. I think the ending works so much better. And c’mon, be honest, how much of a buzzkill is Exley’s exposition of the who/what/where/when and why of the bad guys. So in case you haven’t figured it out, I really like the new ending that Neglify gave this edit.

DVD Presentation: There is a nice motion menu for the DVD. And there is a fun bonus feature which is a drinking game. I laughed quite a bit just reading the rules of the game.

VIDEO EDITING: 10/10 (This is based on the workprint as I have no had a chance to watch the finalized DVD). No extra frames, no jarring cuts.

AUDIO EDITING: 10/10 (Again this is based off the workprint). No audio drop outs, no harsh cuts.

So overall I really enjoyed this edit. The changes that were made were significant and really alter the mood and tone of the movie. I’m not sure I can say definitively that Recut is a replacement to my original DVD of L.A. Confidential but it is damn close.

I look forward to seeing Neglify’s future fanedits.

I watched an MP4 of this wich has good PQ for an MP4.
There are volume issues where action scenes are generally louder than dialog scenes, but this is due to the source wich has a fair bit more dynamic range than I care for, no fault of the editor, so Neg loses no points here, but I wanted to mention it.
Nice job on the "recut" title addition, looks just right.
I felt that the scene where Bud confronts Lynn about Ed and the Photos didn't have
as much emotional weight as in the Theatrical version, probably because of the reduced
screen time between Bud & Lynn, then again with the different approach/ending it makes more sense in the context of the edit.
I think the end credits come on a bit too soon, if it we're my edit I would have tried to have the
sounds of the cop cars arriving and what not continue for maybe 10 seconds after the screen fades to black, then bring in the credits/music for a more atmospheric conclusion.

A very nice alternative to the original version for those who want a grittier movie with less romance. Do I think it's better than the original? No, I think they both work equally well, I'll watch this edit again!

Well done, Neg. :-)