Pulp Empire

I was really jazzed to see this edit. I mean, a Tarantino style brought to The Empire Strikes Back? You can't lose! But after watching the movie I was left with a really mixed feeling. It was like taking two of your favorite foods and mashing them up together, only to dislike the ensuing result. Both are awesome apart, but sometimes certain things don't go together very well.

The back and forth Tarantino narrative was just fine, and replacing Yoda's dialogue with Pai Mei's was friggin genius. But the music queues kept taking me out of the movie most of the time. While Vader's intro with Inglorious Basterds audio and visual editing was pretty fantastic, the rest of the time things were all over the place. And I realized the problem is that Tarantino himself has a varied style throughout most of his movies-- 70s funk/soul, garage band grunge, Japanese classical, Old West gunslinger.

The issue for me was that ALL of them were tossed into Pulp Empire rather than one or two styles. This caused too much of a mishmash of styles for my taste. It felt like you were in the mindset of Kill Bill one moment, then tossed into Reservoir Dogs, then tossed into The Hateful Eight... just jarring. I respect what njvc attempted with Pulp Empire but I would has personally preferred to see it keep the soundtrack and queues to either Pulp Fiction/Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, or Django Unchained/The Hateful Eight.

njvc breathes new life in an all to familiar fanedit with pulp empire as star wars meets tarantino. for a film i'm all too familiar with i was impressed that njvc managed to cut a lot from the film without the overall narrative to the story being effected. the flashback scenes were a nice touch in filling in the gaps what with empire being the middle film to the trilogy. i really liked were njvc placed the animated segment and the newly voiced yoda is a real scene stealer

as others have said the battle of hoth with it's spilt screen and use of music is nicely done, though for me the highlight of the edit was the battle between vader and luke while njvc further cements boba fett as the coolest bad-ass in all the galaxy. others have comment that the original score can be heard while you can hear it faintly in the background at times it's never a distraction. i could only imagine the hours spent in removing the best he could, and in removing john williams score njvc has made this edit his own with the songs selected

however at times i felt the music was over done and would have preferred the music not to be playing but i'm guessing that it used to cover up the original score when ever possible. i also feel the music could have been used more as background music, such as the radio station announcer we hear from reservoir dogs could have played in the background of the millenium falcon. at times the music didn't feel like it was adding anything to the visuals but rather just playing over the footage.

i personally wouldn't have opened with the yoda segment, it seemed a little off seeing luke talking to someone who we haven't meet nor do we see on screen. the engine effect on the millenium falcon seemed some what out of place for me, there are some funny moments (yoda voice being dubbed and having luke understand every word he says) but i wouldn't say this was a comedy fanedit in the vain of TV's frink star wars edits. it just felt like the only part of the edit that was done to raise a laugh. the slow mo effects at times felt a little overdone and became tiresome after a while.

overall an enjoyable fanedit, the question i guess one must ask is will this be vol 1, as the story has only been half told? i wouldn't seeing vol 2 some time in the future.

I just finished watching this and all I have to say is, if Epic and Awesome had a child it would be called Pulp Empire.

I'm not a huge Star Wars guy, to me they're just another set of movies, so it takes a lot to get my attention when it comes to a Star Wars edit. TMBTM did it with A New Hope Grindhoused, and now NJVC's done it with Pulp Empire. The idea of breaking down The Empire Strikes Back into chapters, ala Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds, and replacing the score with songs from and inspired by Quentin Tarantino's library of films was genius. Not only does it completely change the look and feel of the film, it also changes the tone of it as well.

You might ask yourself, "Isn't the use of songs from Tarantino's movies going to be distracting? I mean, these are songs that you automatically associate with the various movies that they're from. Isn't it going to take you out of the movie.". In short? Fuck no, dude! lol The use of these songs only helps cement the feel of a Tarantino movie. A few of the non-Tarantinoverse songs did seem to be a strange choice, but they worked really well with the scenes they were added to.

I'll be honest, the first chapter in the film was a bit slow, but when Chapter 2 starts you'll be glued to your seat. The opening credits were awesome, and I loved the character introductions and hero moments. The use of "Down In Mexico" for Bobba Fett's scenes was pure genius. And like BionicBob, I too thought that the final chapter was a masterpiece. In fact when the song "Old Man" starts and the film moves into a Luke/Anakin montage I got goosebumps. The animated sequence was a nice touch as well.

I cannot recommend this edit enough. This is the first NJVC edit I've seen and it is clear to me that this man is a master of the craft. Download and watch with confidence my young padawans, for you will not be disappointed. And if you are I only have one thing to ask. What the fuck is wrong with you? lol Seriously though, congratulations on an amazing edit NJVC. I look forward to seeing more of your work.

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.

I enjoyed this immensely! This edit is gangsta creative, something different. Like the next guy, I like mubi fixes, but there's something about remixes that speaks to my heart, and Pulp Empire, I was fuckin' listening.

Inventiveness comes at you every which way: the restructuring of the narrative, funked-out montages during the introduction of key players, some stylish fades (smoove Lando), and above all, the sonic redesign.

Tremendous attention went into the sound, the most obvious change being the new soundtrack. The non-Williams score is used brilliantly in places, with just the right tune adding humor or cool to an event or introduction. There's a perfect soundtrack for Luke in the ice cave, and another at the end of the Hoth chapter. Yoda's intro nails it silly, and the D. Vader and Fett intros are appropriately bad-assed. And one simply does not fuck with flying guillotine techno.

Also, what can I say about Yoda's dazzling Cantonese that hasn't been said? Oh, yes—as Yoda walks deeper into the swamp, his new voice becomes fainter, more distant. Now that's attention to detail.

But wait—njvc gives us more. Listen closely, and you'll hear background noises that aren't in the Lucasian version. The wind in Cloud City's donut hole echoes the winds of Hoth, mournfully reminding us of the fellowship's scattering or the desolation of spaghetti western environs. Frodo Skywalker's electronics now hum in Dagobah's swamp. And the Falcon has a new dilapidated purr.

Everything I love about the sonic creativity rocks the audio score to an eleven. Alas, I must regrettably deduct a point for a few issues. Song-to-song transitions could have been smoother in some places. Sometimes a song's crescendo coincides with some other audio ejaculation—e.g., the song in the wampa cave is deliciously righteous, but I would have wanted to hear the vocals start after the wampa's roar. Some songs, despite being perfect for their scenes, seem somewhat flat as they come out the speakers, missing the robustness of songs with a heavier bass presence, but this likely reflects differences in how these tunes were originally produced. Lastly, there is something off in the audio balance, the audio mix, in several scenes, as if the dialogue, background noise, sound effects, and music hadn't quite made friends yet with each other. But these are small beans compared to Pulp Empire's considerable sonic strengths and the rich enjoyment that comes thereof, and the adjusted audio editing score still comes out to ten, so there, mofo reader, so there.

I have gazed into the face of Quentin and George's love child, and it was good, delightfully good. This edit marvelously transforms a classic, is the kind of edit that I'd want to show fanediting virgins, and in my opinion is amongst the very best fanedits ever made.

[And I like what you did with my handle, Never-ending Jalapeno Volcano.]

Enjoyjoy: 10 enthusiastic pelvic aerothrusts, each one almost ceiling-high.