Pulp Empire

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

I have viewed this edit multiple times and have updated my review to provide a more unbiased critique.

I loved this edit simply for it's refreshing idea, originality and uniqueness. My initial viewing was done on Vimeo as individual chapters were released. After viewing the entire edit in one sitting, I would recommend breaking it up into chapters.

During multiple viewings, I found myself becoming bored anytime Luke or Vader weren't on screen. The entire plot of Han and Leia in Cloud City became tedious and repetitive. There's an over reliance on slow motion, Tarantino uses slow motion but this edit has it in a large abundance.

There is also an over reliance on music. The edit is almost filled end to end with musical cues. Much like the slow motion, there is a large abundance present and sometimes the music overpowers the dialogue being spoken. Dialogue is a very important part in Tarantino movies and rarely uses musical cues during those scene and if he does they appear near the end for dramatic effect.

From a narrative aspect, the story is told in a non-linear fashion similar to Tarantino's style. However, during the final act there is a flashback to the Cave of Evil where Luke chops Vader's head off revealing his own head in the helmet, which doesn't make any sense. During the actual scene in the movie that scene was replaced by an animated segment from the original Clone Wars cartoon. So having a flashback to a scene that never took place was confusing.

All that being said, I still thoroughly enjoy this edit. The Luke and Yoda scenes are very enjoyable and are perfectly scored, even the training montage. The Vader introduction is masterly executed and the final fight is a joy to watch. I would recommend it to anyone who likes Tarantino movies, likes Star Wars, or is just looking for something that is fresh and unique. The sound overpowering the dialogue is why I gave the audio editing a 9 and the flashback is why I gave the narrative a 9.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

BRAVO!

Overall I thought it was a good edit. Some great ideas and good editing there but also a fair amount of bad choices (based on my opinion), with some ideas i didn't really dig. But despite that i enjoyed it and i am glad i saw it. it was a bold edit from njvc and i congratulate him for his effort here.
The split screen in many scenes was nicely done and well implemented. Yoda speaking Chinese (or whatever it was) was really awesome and seamlessly implemented as well. Vader gave me a 70ies porn vibe that for some reason worked great and gave his character a nice new twist. Also i loved the use of the clone wars animated fight in the cave scene! A moment of brilliance there by njvc and easily my favorite moment of the entire edit. Also sound replacement was done great, and the music choices were really cool and really fitted the Tarantino vibe.
On the bad side, many scenes felt very much like a music video montage, instead of part of an actual movie. They gave a very video-clip/youtube-tribute kind of vibe. They contributed to the edit not having a good story structure at moments when it needed it and instead it could even feel kind of random. And another contributing factor to that was the non-linear structure of the edit. The first black and white vader-luke clip was nicely placed at the very beginning building up nicely the rest of the movie, but after that, the whole chapter-thingy felt unnecessary and in my oppinion it didn't help the story in a good way, and it made some things confusing. I think a straight narrative would have made the edit stronger, the story more focused and more to the point.
Some minor criticism is that njvc uses too many fades. Some of them made sense in places like the flashback introductions, but others felt completely unnecessary and distracting. Also not exactly a criticism but at many parts the edit was border-lining to going into Tarantino parody territory. I know the point was not to make a Tarantino Star Wars movie, but more of a tribute to him and his style. But at points the edit felt that it was pushing it too much or trying a little too hard.
I probably have gone a little overboard with all my negative comments, but don't get me wrong. This is not a bad edit. Far from it. Is it a classic though? Nope. But it is a Bold and Well made for the most part edit that i recommend to any star wars fan. I felt that for every thing that i didn't like there was always something there good to counteract it and for me to enjoy. And for the majority of the edit it was the good thing that left the biggest impression to me.
Great Job njvc!

I've been a fan of Star Wars since I was but a boy, and a fan of Tarantino since I was but a teenager. So, naturally, when I saw this I was instantly excited.

The quality of the MKV I watched was really, really nice. I didn't notice any blocking or anything of that sort. The audio was good, too. There were a few times that I had trouble hearing dialogue over the music, but that could have been the set up I was watching on. More on the audio later.

The visual aspect of this edit was nearly perfect. Not a single rogue frame to be found. I'd have to say my favorite sequence was the duel with Darth Vader at the end. It was incredibly well done and worked well with the music you selected. The splitscreen were also great to watch. They worked quite well at compressing time! I did have a few minor peeves, first being that the slow motion effects weren't always that smooth. I understand that you can only slow down 24fps so much (which is to say not a lot) before it starts looking kinda derpy, but I feel that it was overdone a few times throughout. The second was that during a number of the fades between shots was that the scene that was being faded out or into would change shot midfade. I found it to be a mite distracting, and it's something that I try not to do while editing.

The music selections were pretty good, however, there were a few instances where I felt they didn't quite fit. For example, when Han is getting frozen, the music used was from the scene in Kill Bill Vol. 2 where the Bride is digging herself out from the ground. It's a rather upbeat and almost heroic piece, and it doesn't quite fit with the action on screen. There were also a few times when the music faded out to nothing, not quite suddenly, but it didn't particularly sound right, either. That said, I really enjoyed hearing the Pai Mei dialogue dubbed over Yoda. The lipsync on that was spot on. Very clever, very well done.

The narrative, I felt, wasn't quite cohesive. There's one instance when Luke is rescued by Han that we see him recovering in the bacta tank, but we don't get that scene afterwards where Han and Leia ask him how he's doing. It's an important character moment that helps to build Han and Leia's relationship. My main concern for this edit is that it was a lot more style over substance. The addition of a sixth chapter felt wholly unnecessary - that bit could have very easily been woven in with Chapter Five. And while I enjoyed the character title cards that introduced Luke, Han, and Leia (Darth Vader's was great, by the way!) I was half expecting a second credits sequence. In a Tarantino-esque edit, character should be numbers one, two, and three. While his ecclectic music selections are certainly memorable, they play to the characters, not just because they sound cool (although Rule of Cool is always a consideration).

If you plan on revisiting this (which I do hope you do - revision is always a good thing) try to give the story a bit more time to breathe. A few times it felt like things were rushed along to try and keep the length short. Don't worry about how long or short it is. Remember, a great film will always feel too short, and an awful film will always feel too long. I do hope you don't feel as though I'm poo-pooing your edit. It was a marvelous technical achievement, it really was. I look forward to seeing what else you produce in the future!

(and, for what it's worth, this has inspired me to do a similar type edit for Return of the Jedi)

(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.