Review Detail

8.9 26 10
FanFix August 12, 2012 8730
(Updated: September 05, 2012)
Overall rating
 
7.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
5.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
January 4, 2012

Let me preface this review by stating I have watched multiple fanedits of this movie previously. I have never liked a single one and didn’t care to ever see any version of it ever again. The only reason I watched this was because I saw you were the first who attempted to remove the ant scene. There are few things I hate more in the entire universe than that ant scene. Truly. I have taken care of many sick and dying people who are less of an affront to my senses than that scene is. Sadly I must report that this edit has not yet proved to me there is a way to salvage this movie, though there are many good things NJVC did worth mentioning:

1) It is edited in HD. Video quality is fabulous. (NOTE: I watched the BD version. I understand other available versions were not rendered to the same quality standards as applied to the BD version, such as border & black issues.) The BD render looks great. No problems of any kind that I was able to pick up on.

2) Any scene with even the slightest bit of putridity got snipped out. The cuts are deep and the movie short.

3) Some of the added Raiders score was pleasant and gave an added illusion of drama.

4) The handling of the visual overlay while Indy stares into the skull’s eyes was well-done.
If I were to over-think it I might question what I saw, but it was a nice use of some of the cut visual effects and I thought you edited the scene well.

As a first-time faneditor here, there is much for NJVC to be proud of.

Now the bad news:

1) The biggest bad news is the audio. NJVC seems to have a good handle on editing video, a good nose for shit, and a decent grasp of narrative. The thing that still needs some work is audio editing. It was a disappointment that the audio was only stereo for a BD release. Additionally (as some have mentioned previously) the added Raiders music is not balanced properly. I also felt that the Raiders music was used a bit too much. It got repetitive and distracting, though I was impressed how well the movie’s actual score was able to be cut out. There must have been no music in the center track?? Lastly on this subject, some of the music didn’t cue up well with what was happening on screen.

2) The other unfortunate (but maybe inevitable) thing on this edit were the inevitable gaps some scenes had as a result of the deep cuts made. Maybe somebody some day will find a way to creatively get over this hurdle, but this edit makes a strong testimony that it may not ever be possible to have a seamless story without all the crap. NJVC clearly demonstrates some creativity and skill, but he still could not find a way to bridge some scenes or shots that were cut. There are numerous cut points that have some distracting component or make it so that the scene no longer makes sense.

All-in-all, is it better than the original? Yes, but so is Smokey and the Bandit 2. Is it better than other fanedits of this movie I have seen? It depends on what you emphasize. There is less stupid writing, but now some of the scenes don’t work the way they have been edited. If somebody put a gun to my head and made me choose, I would choose this edit over the others I have seen because I prefer bad directing to bad writing. NJVC has done the best so far in trying to salvage this dung-heap-of-a-story.

Video: 10
Audio: 5
Editing: 7
Story: 7
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