Review Detail
9.6 3 10
Overall rating
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
I'm so very glad that a Logan's Run edit has been made. An old favorite of mine, I had put this classic 70s anti-utopia on my list of films to maybe give a light makeover some day. Guess I won't be needing to do that: the SilentPete edit does address a lot of what I would have done as well, and does quite a remarkable job at it.
Not that I would have done exactly the same, though: like a previous reviewer stated, the early scenes that have been removed here do help with the world building and I would have opted to keep them at least partially, but the bold move of dropping us into this weird world unprepared by opening directly with Carousel does indeed work in some strange way. This approach gives the opening segment a sort of arthouse feel, and since the first 9-something minutes are without dialogue, it kind of plays like a silent movie, only shot with sound. In fact it did remind me a lot of the opening of Charles Chaplin's Modern Times, a connection that I had never expected to make, in that there are lines but not dialogue and we suddenly find ourselves in some twisted technological world.
I have to address, though, one single spot of a cut that I don't think works very well: the dissolve from the arcade conversation to Logan's apartment plays quite awkwardly due to the lack of enough footage to dissolve without stepping on the dialogue. The editor has acknowledged this, though, and might revise that bit.
There's also the issue of the 1056 unaccounted Runners, a plot point that it has left unresolved in this version after the removal of the Box scene. One would expect to meet them or at least find out about them during the story, but the editor chose to leave it intentionally vague while keeping the references to it to avoid undermining Logan's motivations. How well that will work, I guess will depend on each viewer.
But from that spot up until the end - yes, it's very much the same edit I would have liked to make. Box's removal was a no-brainer (the concept was great, but oh my, that robot suit and makeup! This was an MGM film and I've seen better robots and cyborgs in Corman cheapies), and the trimming down of the Old Man scenes had to be done - the characters are fugitives yet they devote too much time to sit around and talk while a ruthless Sandman is chasing them. Also, as endearing as it used to be to listen to Peter Ustinov quote T.S. Eliot's Cats poems, in the present day the effect is very different from the intended because it's unavoidable to think of the musical, particularly after that appalling movie version of it became so notorious. Overall, this cut moves at quite a briskier pace, and not much is really missed even though about one quarter of the original running time is gone.
With great audio and video quality, this "renewed" (see what I did there) version of the film is very much recommended for anyone in the mood for some pre-Star Wars 70s Sci-Fi. Great job!
Not that I would have done exactly the same, though: like a previous reviewer stated, the early scenes that have been removed here do help with the world building and I would have opted to keep them at least partially, but the bold move of dropping us into this weird world unprepared by opening directly with Carousel does indeed work in some strange way. This approach gives the opening segment a sort of arthouse feel, and since the first 9-something minutes are without dialogue, it kind of plays like a silent movie, only shot with sound. In fact it did remind me a lot of the opening of Charles Chaplin's Modern Times, a connection that I had never expected to make, in that there are lines but not dialogue and we suddenly find ourselves in some twisted technological world.
I have to address, though, one single spot of a cut that I don't think works very well: the dissolve from the arcade conversation to Logan's apartment plays quite awkwardly due to the lack of enough footage to dissolve without stepping on the dialogue. The editor has acknowledged this, though, and might revise that bit.
There's also the issue of the 1056 unaccounted Runners, a plot point that it has left unresolved in this version after the removal of the Box scene. One would expect to meet them or at least find out about them during the story, but the editor chose to leave it intentionally vague while keeping the references to it to avoid undermining Logan's motivations. How well that will work, I guess will depend on each viewer.
But from that spot up until the end - yes, it's very much the same edit I would have liked to make. Box's removal was a no-brainer (the concept was great, but oh my, that robot suit and makeup! This was an MGM film and I've seen better robots and cyborgs in Corman cheapies), and the trimming down of the Old Man scenes had to be done - the characters are fugitives yet they devote too much time to sit around and talk while a ruthless Sandman is chasing them. Also, as endearing as it used to be to listen to Peter Ustinov quote T.S. Eliot's Cats poems, in the present day the effect is very different from the intended because it's unavoidable to think of the musical, particularly after that appalling movie version of it became so notorious. Overall, this cut moves at quite a briskier pace, and not much is really missed even though about one quarter of the original running time is gone.
With great audio and video quality, this "renewed" (see what I did there) version of the film is very much recommended for anyone in the mood for some pre-Star Wars 70s Sci-Fi. Great job!
D