Pulp Empire

(this review might sound a little harsh so before I start off I just want to say that in no way whatsoever is this a personal attack on the faneditor. I have full respect for njvc and I can just imagine the work that went into making this fanedit. But I have to be honest. I just didn’t like it that much)

Okay so I finally saw it, with 19 reviews in the can and an overall score of 9.0 I thought to myself “wow this might be like just as epic as TMBTM’s grindhouse movies! You know, just epic man, just epic!” I was wrong...

The fanedit starts of really nice and I’m thinking here we go. But then it just turns into a recut version of Empire strikes back, with added slow-mo and a soundtrack instead of film score (and too many fades) that was not what I had expected. What did I expect then?
I don’t know, just more. Tarantino’s movies are more than just flash you know.
But how could you possible recut a Star Wars movie into a Tarantino movie, other than just add some Tarantino trademarks? And what could have been better?
I don’t know...This was just not what I expected and I wasn’t that much entertained to be honest (when Solo and co: was taken hostage I went into the kitchen to find something to eat, movie running. That normally never happens, I always pause)
...Speaking of Tarantino’s movies, I wouldn’t call this fanedit “a Tarantino inspired Star Wars mashup and remix.” Instead I would call it “a Kill Bill inspired Star Wars mashup and remix.”
That pretty much what this is; Kill Bill. And it doesn’t sync with Star Wars. I thought it would, but it doesn’t. And I’m sorry I have to say that. I was really looking forward to this. But all fanedits can’t be for everyone I guess. So again, all creeds to njvc for making this fanedit and I’m sorry I have to write this review but I feel like I have to be honest you know. I thought this was going to be like TMBTM’s Jaws The Sharksploitation Edit or War of the Stars. Just really really entertaining. But for me it wasn’t.

Btw I watched the mkv 720p version and everything looked super nice. And the audio a lot of people have complained about I have nothing bad to say, didn’t noticed any of the things that have been brought up, but I didn’t turn up the volume that high anyway so maybe that’s it.
All in all 5 out of 10. Not bad but not something I got much enjoyment out off either. So there you go.

Let me get a few things out of the way first.

I've watched this fanedit six times. Before it was released I was a previewer and gave njvc private detailed feedback 19 pages long. I've put a lot of thought into reviewing this fanedit. I watched the workprint 5 times and the final cut once.

I am very biased when I watch this edit because I'm a Tarantino fanatic. I can't help but compare it to his films and think "how would Quentin have done that scene?" Is it fair to do that? No.

This is not a positive review but I'm going to try my best to be constructive and compliment the goods as much if not more than the bads.

Lastly, I love njvc to death. He is a great friend, a talented musician and editor and has a beautiful beard.

On with the review!


Audio/Visual Quality: DVD5 was great quality, haven't watched it in HD yet but I'm sure it's all good. 10/10


Visual Editing: First the bad, then the good.

There is an overkill of slow motion. The editor relied on that Twixter plugin way too much. Some of the dissolves/transitions felt out of place. Too much style over substance.

But damn njvc does some cool stuff. A lot of marvelous skill on display here. Some of the hero moments and montages have nicely composed visuals. Great split screen effects. Many wonderful stylistic nods to Tarantino. 8/10


Audio Editing: First the bad, then the good.

I felt that the editor was lazy in his choice of music. There was too much reliance on Tarantino music in my opinion. The genres and styles of music change so often and it lacked an overall theme or throughline to the soundtrack. At times it felt like watching Empire Strikes Back with a Tarantino soundtrack playlist on shuffle playing over it.

There were like 40 different songs in a 90 minute movie. Some of it clashed together, Chapter 5 in particular felt cacophonous. Chapter 2 had the best selection, the different styles worked well there.

But there were many wonderful musical moments all throughout. Chapters 1 & 2 were absolutely perfect musically. Chapter 3 was almost perfect. Chapter 5 had some great moments. Slaughter and L'Arena were my favorite choices.

And despite the fact I previously told njvc that he raped Morricone's Ecstasy of Gold, the audio editing in that Vader fight is fucking awesome.

7/10


Narrative: Great first half, falls apart in second half.

Prologue through Chapter 3 was dope. Pre-credits sequence is best moment. Yoda chapter first was brilliant. The non-linear aspect worked well in the first half.

Chapter 4 was too rushed. The Space Oddity montage ruined pacing for me and felt completely out of place. Chapter 5 felt too long by itself. Chapter 6 starts off nicely but then it gets to the big moment.

Ending was terrible. You fucked up the greatest movie ending ever. Sorry for the bluntness.

5/10


Enjoyment:

Despite all my criticisms there was a lot I enjoyed about it. It's obvious the editor had a blast making this and put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it. It's meant to be a fun remix. I really enjoyed some of it. And others have said how much they love it, I'm in the minority here.

For me this is not a case of the good outweighing the bad. I wanted to see "The Empire Strikes Back directed by Quentin Tarantino". This was not it. I was disappointed, maybe too much hype had built up for it.

My enjoyment is purely based on my own tastes and personal viewpoints about movies.

6/10


Recommend?

For Star Wars fans who don't care for Tarantino or people who think Kill Bill is Tarantino's best.

njvc deserves an fanedit oscar for this one. If Tarantino saw this he would laugh his ass off saying i wish i have thought of that! I had a smile on my face through out with the music intro's of the main characters,Vaders was the best. And who would think of a Neil Young song in a Star Wars movie,only the brilliant mind of NJVC.This was a new movie experience,having seen Empire so many times before.For any Tarantino/Star wars fans you with love it.And if you dont like this edit you deserve a ball gag like Marcellus had.This could be the start of a genre of Pulp Fictionalizing movies.

Overall, I felt that this was a brilliant edit - there were a couple of niggles, but nothing that should stop anyone from seeking it out and watching it ASAP.

Visuals
+ This is probably the most seamless and stylishly put together FanEdit I've seen. The split-screen Hoth battle especially is excellent and the Tarantino styling is spot-on. Character intros were v cool. Loved the use of B/W.
- Only gripes (and this is incredibly minor) was that I felt there were a couple too many instances of slow-mo.

Audio
+ The song selection was very mostly good and appropriate to the scenes. Loved the Joda-dub/sub work!
- I'm not sure if QT would have used the (admittedly awesome) Chemical Brothers track, and it felt a little out of place given the genre of music used elsewhere. Also, it felt as if there was almost too much new music (I noticed this mostly during the Could-City scenes) - not sure how much of this was due to editing out Williams though.

Narrative
+/- I had a niggling feeling that the reordering of the story could leave first-time viewers scratching their heads. Obviously most people will be coming to the edit already being familiar with the story, so this is probably not an issue.

I seem to have written much more negative than positive in this review, but I'll just stress again that these are all at best minor issues with an incredibly professional piece of work. Well done, njvc!

ps. See it! Now!

Once in a while a fanedit comes along with style and attention to detail that equals or surpasses the original source. This here Pulp Empire is one of those fanedits! wasnt sure what to make of this before seeing it, but now after seeing it, the whole thing really works - I wouldn't say I'm a fan of Tarantino movies, but its unusual to see a sci-fi film produced in this way, with the use of Tarentino esque tunes, the altered order of character led scenes, some space ship scenes/fx scenes have been reduced, which aren't missed in this version of the film.

Watching Empire without John Williams thumping soundtrack in your face, as good as it is, is a completely refreshing experience. Pulp Empire seems to be a bit less bleak and the tone of the movie now feels more set by the acting rather than the over the top orchestra. The use of songs seem carefully chosen and, complement the flow of the story.

This is now my favourite version of Empire strikes back!
10/10

thanks!
Cutnshut