Review Detail
8.9 22 10
(Updated: September 12, 2012)
Overall rating
7.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Enjoyment
4.0
Review by Phlegmbot — November 19, 2011 @ 12:23 am
The opening montage/re-cap was an obvious and necessary addition that, as we all agree, was a bizarre thing to leave out of the original. My problem with your re-cap, however, was that it started off with a linear telling of what happened and moved to a parallel re-telling — which was confusing. Perhaps you were trying to ape some of the techniques used by Forster later in the film? I dunno, but removing that would’ve made it shorter which is a complaint of several others.
I haven’t watched QOS since it first came out on DVD, so I can’t say I fully recall what was changed scene for scene, but this version is FAR more clear in its storytelling. There’s an actual plot for one, and not just random action-scene after action-scene. Whereas the QOS in the theaters felt like just a mish-mash of unnecessary action scenes, this feels like a Bond movie. Which is amazing.
I wasn’t thrilled w/the slow-mo action sequence at the opera. While I liked its creativity — and agree that it was necessary to differentiate it from the other fast-paced action scenes we’d already seen — using different music was jarring and not showing the shot that frustrated M until he was on the phone w/M was, structurally, an error in storytelling. I agree with a critique above which states there were a few too many flashbacks in the scene as well.
However, nearly all of act 1 and act 2 were perfect. You really did a great job of clarifying the action sequences and making it feel like a great spy movie — something sorely missing from the original QOS.
I don’t recall how much slo-mo — if any — was in the actual film, but by the THIRD use of the slo-mo here, I was starting to think I was watching a ’70s B-movie.
In act 3, it completely fell apart when you interrupted the CLIMAX to self-indulge in further slo-mo and sepia-tone and a flashback (in the middle of the climax?!). It seemed like a snub, not just to your audience, but to proper storytelling and story structure. It just didn’t work as those were simply choices that made no sense. To stop the action for an artistic moment, and one that was not related to Bond directly, is just not how a climax works.
Technically, this was a 10. Audio and video, and the great song by Pink, were top-notch. I think there were 3 jarring edits, and it’s possible two of those weren’t even yours (again, I’ve not watched the DVD since it came out, but I do not recall having that reaction to any edits). So kudos on all that! Storytelling/structure issues are a VERY common problem among FanEdits, but this one was closer to getting it right than most others.
The opening montage/re-cap was an obvious and necessary addition that, as we all agree, was a bizarre thing to leave out of the original. My problem with your re-cap, however, was that it started off with a linear telling of what happened and moved to a parallel re-telling — which was confusing. Perhaps you were trying to ape some of the techniques used by Forster later in the film? I dunno, but removing that would’ve made it shorter which is a complaint of several others.
I haven’t watched QOS since it first came out on DVD, so I can’t say I fully recall what was changed scene for scene, but this version is FAR more clear in its storytelling. There’s an actual plot for one, and not just random action-scene after action-scene. Whereas the QOS in the theaters felt like just a mish-mash of unnecessary action scenes, this feels like a Bond movie. Which is amazing.
I wasn’t thrilled w/the slow-mo action sequence at the opera. While I liked its creativity — and agree that it was necessary to differentiate it from the other fast-paced action scenes we’d already seen — using different music was jarring and not showing the shot that frustrated M until he was on the phone w/M was, structurally, an error in storytelling. I agree with a critique above which states there were a few too many flashbacks in the scene as well.
However, nearly all of act 1 and act 2 were perfect. You really did a great job of clarifying the action sequences and making it feel like a great spy movie — something sorely missing from the original QOS.
I don’t recall how much slo-mo — if any — was in the actual film, but by the THIRD use of the slo-mo here, I was starting to think I was watching a ’70s B-movie.
In act 3, it completely fell apart when you interrupted the CLIMAX to self-indulge in further slo-mo and sepia-tone and a flashback (in the middle of the climax?!). It seemed like a snub, not just to your audience, but to proper storytelling and story structure. It just didn’t work as those were simply choices that made no sense. To stop the action for an artistic moment, and one that was not related to Bond directly, is just not how a climax works.
Technically, this was a 10. Audio and video, and the great song by Pink, were top-notch. I think there were 3 jarring edits, and it’s possible two of those weren’t even yours (again, I’ve not watched the DVD since it came out, but I do not recall having that reaction to any edits). So kudos on all that! Storytelling/structure issues are a VERY common problem among FanEdits, but this one was closer to getting it right than most others.
P