Mathilda

Well, Well, Well....

What a revelation! I recall little of what I thought about this in theatres other than being left with a sirta "Meh" feeling.

Despite that, I picked up a Blu Ray in a $5 bin a few years ago at WalMart, and there it remained in its shrink wrap...UNTIL AFTER I watched Mathilda...

Wow!...I really enjoyed this version...certainly I more than the original. It was now more enigmatic, mysterious and oddly compelling. I was certainly conviced that the music was original and by the time I concluded viewing I knew I HAD to watch the original. And now I recall why I had that @MEH" feeling.

Not only is this not overblown it feels grounded and anchored in a reality we are familar with and not dystopian.

It still hard to believe the level of effort and dedication required to pull off the audio work and I for one shall definitely be re-vising THIS verion in future.

High recommended.

This was one of my favorite movies in the 90's and I was amazed by how this edit improved the movie! The casting is fantastic and I think Gary Oldman was never given the credit he deserves and an actor.

This edit just does so many things right that I can't name them all. Taking out the air of creepiness that this film has associated with it (Portman is only 12 here) was probably the best thing the editors could have done. The flashbacks, and the music.... Ohhhh the music! As someone who has played with music myself I can't begin to describe the feeling I was getting as basically every single song choice was perfect in my eyes. I won't name them all but a couple of my favorites came from Tori Amos and Edie Brickell.

I should point out that the replacement music is only obvious because I know the source material really well. The editors blended everything in seamlessly and no one would even know if this was the first time watching the film and that is the goal of a good fanedit.

I must say the trailer/advertisement at the beginning caught me of guard mainly because it wasn't detailed in the cutlist unless of course I've been reading the cutlist wrong though either way said promotion of the upcoming fan creation definitely looks interesting and it gives the edit that proper cinema trailer experience that entices the viewers curiosity of said future fan product though as for the feature presentation.

I had never seen this movie during it's release but than again I wasn't old enough to have seen such a masterclass of cinema at the time though when I did eventually see the director's cut I certainly found it very entertaining minus the whole relationship angle which thankfully in this edit is significantly easier to stomach as Mathilda comes of as less lustful and reverse predatory towards Leon, instead her yearning for him comes of as more hero worship like how she may potentially view Optimus Prime as this all powerful being that takes out the bad guys and is thus viewing Leon through a similar lens and the reason I bring the Transformers cartoon up is because the film shows various scenes depicting it so perhaps there's some newfound or already established correlation there or I am looking to far into it.

Continuing more on the subject of Mathilda the text that bears said characters name during the films conception and conclusion not only matches perfectly with that of the official text but displays some good use of progressive key framing in both instances setting and maintaining the overall tone of the edit in the process, speaking of tone the use of added and overlaid music throughout really captures and enhances that nineties vibe. It truly feels like I've gone back in time to one of my favourite decades in human history and additionally resonates well with Mathilda's varying states of emotions whenever said music resonance surrounds her with two notable examples being the song that plays when she is first introduced and the song that plays after her and Leon have been kicked out of the hotel.

Speaking of Leon the decision to minimise his screentime for the first portion of Act One was a great way to add some intrigue and an aura of mystery and power to his character and the removal of the squicky moments between him and Mathilda helped to enhance his level of professionalism not just as a Hitman but as a human being in general, the dream sequences that surrounded him helped to exude not just his power but his damaged psyche much like how Gary Oldman's oozing charisma helped to portray an excellent antagonist that was fun to watch for both his display of villainy and comedy.

It's interesting seeing ArtisDead's name attached to an edit as I know he plays a massive role in the fanediting community as both a Cover Artist and Moderator who has mentored and aided and is continuing to mentor and aide many aspiring faneditors and I do wonder which parts of the edit he contributed to since it's a collab, I also wonder what other kinds of edits might he possibly do in the future whether it be collaborating with someone else or by himself though that of course I do not know but what I do know is that i certainly enjoyed this edit as it was a real treat to watch.

This is a 1 hour and 48 minute gritty rollercoaster ride of a pre-teen named Mathilda aspiring to be an assassin. The new music and cuts emphasize Mathilda's role as protagonist in the edit in a fresh and unique way.

What an intense first 22 minutes also. That's not to say the rest of the edit is not amazing. It is amazing. The music changes were fun to experience as scenes played out. It gave the film new vibes while still holding onto the absolutely brutal and intense atmosphere of the theatrical cut. Small cuts of dialogue in scenes were good. The editing overall is on point. The cuts regarding relationships were welcomed. Some of the strange dialogue stuff is cut. The black and white flashbacks for Leon's character is a unique idea. The video quality is superb. Audio quality and audio editing is superb. The flow of music from scene to scene and use of diegetic music editing techniques make scenes flow really well. Audio volumes are all perfectly leveled too. It must have taken a lot of time to edit together and perfect. This is a great companion edit to the theatrical, not a shelf replacer, but a (fantastic) alternate take.

Leon has always been one of my favourites so it's fun to see it in a new light from a new angle. The editing was perfect and if you hadn't seen the original you wouldn't know this wasn't the original cut. The new angle focusing on Mathilda was a clever new take that I really enjoyed, and the music changes work great. The story is now a lot more streamlined and intense making a great film even better! 10/10