Review Detail

FINALLY! I have been searching for the perfect fanedit of THE PHANTOM MENACE for years. When THE PHANTOM EDIT was first released, it was a breath of fresh air. I had never seen anything like it and I thought it was the perfect edit. Watching it years later, I started to notice lots of things that were still in the film that I hated. Since then, I have downloaded several MENACE edits and none of them have gone far enough … until now. Simply put, L8WRTR’s edit is brilliant. I was smiling from ear to ear as I watched this, as L8WRTR made almost every single cut that I had wanted. Seriously, it was if he somehow got into my brain and made this cut just for me. This is, far and away, the greatest MENACE edit available. That being said, there are still a few small issues. The last line of the opening crawl is clumsy and unnecessary. It ruins what I thought was an otherwise excellent opening crawl. There are still a few too many annoying Jar-Jar and Anakin moments / lines (“Yousa thinking yousa people gonna die?”, “They all brokey”, “Are you an Angel?”, “I’m a person and my name is Anakin!”, Anakin’s woo-hoo as he exits the exploding Droid Control Ship). Also, I don’t like the virgin birth angle but I get that L8WRTR will be utilizing this sub-plot in future prequel edits. Going out on a positive note, L8WRTR’s editing of the end battles is amazing. The best part, by far, is Darth Maul’s death. He no longer dies like a little bitch! That has always bugged me and I’ve never seen it addressed in a fanedit. Bravo, sir! If you’re like me and hate the movie but feel the need to watch it during complete STAR WARS marathons, this is the only edit worth your time. Also, give the commentary a listen. It’s really informative and L8WRTR is very knowledgable and entertaining.