Star Wars: Abridged III - The Resistance

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starwars_abridged3_front
Faneditor Name:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2015
Original Running Time:
430
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
116
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
Star Wars: Abridged is meant to tell the Skywalker saga as succinctly as possible, taking all nine films and cutting them down to three. While many narrative threads remain the same, some have been vastly altered.
Intention:
The Skywalker saga is now told over nine films and I wanted to trim that down as much as possible to create a narrative that can be watched in a single day. Narrative choices have been made to remove what I believe didn't work or created new narratives that I think work better. Most of the side quests and subplots that don't really add to the main plot have also been removed.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
My version of the sequels is a vast departure from the original story we got from Disney. The largest changes here are the removal of (most of) the legacy characters by setting the sequels 60 years after Endor and changing Rey to Rey Solo, Han and Leia's granddaughter. Ben Solo no longer exists as a character with Kylo Ren being the character's actual name.

There's a bunch of reasons for these changes, first and foremost is that the sequels as they are now don't work as a cohesive story. The legacy characters weren't really treated that well IMO and the change in setting basically assumes they succeeded and didn't let things fall apart on their watch. It also lets us focus in on the brand new characters.

The Sith Eternal have been removed (as has Palpatine) and the climax is a battle over Exogal where Starkiller Base is located. Palpatine's fleet is reworked as the First Order fleet waiting for the Resistance to attack. The mission to Canto Bight has now been reworked as a way to find a codebreaker who can deactivate the shields around Exogal so that mission is no longer a pointless sidequest. The final battle is now Poe in the air, Finn and Rose in the base, and Rey and Kylo having a final duel.

Reylo is now a piece of backstory: they were a thing until Kylo betrayed the Jedi. This is the emotional story throughline for the 3-in-1, two characters who still have feelings for each other but are on opposing sides. I think that even if you're against Reylo (like I am, TBH), it works in this context really well.

What you don't get is Han, Leia, or Lando at all. Luke only shows up briefly as a force ghost and is used sparingly.

User reviews

7 reviews
 
57%
 
43%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
8.9
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.4(7)
Visual Editing
 
8.0(7)
Audio Editing
 
8.0(7)
Narrative
 
8.9(7)
Enjoyment
 
9.2(7)
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(Updated: January 07, 2023)
Overall rating
 
8.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
7.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
An interesting viewing experience to be sure. The edit was pretty narratively coherent and as someone who enjoys Reylo, I appreciated it being the backbone of Rey and Kylo’s dynamic (even though they were enemies in the end in this edit.)

Still, by its nature it feels very Frankensteined together, and it affects the immersion quite a bit when a character goes through several outfit changes in a single scene.

Overall, a creative concept and fun narrative alternative to the ST

User Review

Format Watched?
Digital
B
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(Updated: June 17, 2022)
Overall rating
 
7.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
7.0
Audio Editing
 
5.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
This was an audacious undertaking, pulled off with reasonable success. I'm astounded at how well the editor has blended the three films together given how disparate they are from each other.

The edit is narratively coherent with only a few inconsistencies and plot holes. There are two striking things about how the edit is structured - firstly, that the storyline focuses almost singularly on the cast of the ST, with barely a nod to the OT characters beyond what's relevant to the second thing, which is that the edit opens with a pre-titles vignette giving the bare bones of some backstory which happens outside the scope of the story (largely due to the lack of available material to portray it) but is pretty essential to understanding one of one of the main subplots.

In principle this is all fine but I was left wondering a lot of the time what happened to them and why they weren't in among the action (like the end of Blake's 7, only the fate of one of them is specifically confirmed), and the inclusion of the few legacy characters that remain is a little stilted as their presence is more all the more noticeable for how little they actually do in the brief moments when they're onscreen. That said, the handling of the new leads works incredibly well. It's much more focused, coherent, and significantly less forced (though I felt certain aspects of the inter-character dynamics could've benefitted from a few more minutes' expanding on; TFA's trust issue is still very much present here).

Editing-wise mostly smooth, but there was quite a few noticeable moments where audio transitions either didn't work or seemingly weren't present at all. Sentence mixing wasn't entirely unobtrusive, with again a few audible cuts and instances where the dialogue clearly didn't match the mouth movements (if indeed the mouth was moving). The visuals don't suffer quite so much, though a stand-out moment occurred in the denouement where some really inappropriate effects were overlaid in an attempt to match a shot from what looks like Rogue One. It's not convincing and it doesn't work, and the reaction shot basically didn't serve any purpose beyond being distracting (how is he still alive?) and redundant (he doesn't actually seem to be reacting to what he's supposed to looking at), and in my view the editor would've been better advised to use a shot of him with his eyes closed (and I've seen the film so I know it exists) and straight white-out, maybe a zoom effect with motion blur if you're insistent.

All in all, if you're looking for something more in the vein of Star Wars and don't mind if the old guard sit this one out, this may well be the edit for you.

User Review

Format Watched?
Digital
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Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
You did something I thought was impossible - making a version of the sequel trilogy that I didn't hate. This actually felt like a true Star Wars sequel (and not having terrible represenations of the original trilogy characters helps). The only thing I would change, is cut down on the amount of Canto Bright stuff (but then the ending with broomstick boy would have to be removed). Well done regardless.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
W
Top 100 Reviewer 53 reviews
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Overall rating
 
8.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
7.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
The Sequel Trilogy feels oddly like films made for people who haven't seen Star Wars before. They are big, and bombastic, and bloated. However, although the story was for the most part a sad deconstructionist reimagining of the Original Trilogy, I did find some enjoyment in the outdoor shots, the effects, and the setpieces. Subjectzero's 3-in-1 takes the deconstructionism out of the trilogy and leaves its strengths mostly intact with a new story that works pretty well. It feels very experimental and there is room for improvement (was very distracted by a grammar mistake in the opening crawl), with some out-of-place shots here and there and some framerate stutters. That said, there were some great, inspired ideas here, and I enjoyed this edit more than I do the originals. Would love to see a '2.0' or 'revisited' version if it ever happens.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.3
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
7.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I started in the middle of SubjectZeros Abridged series because i wanted to watch a shorter version of episode 4,5,6 and while that one i would consider an 'Abridged' version of the trilogy, this one is a complete RE-WRITE of the script and changes the entire trilogy. So if you want to watch a NEW Star Wars movie this is it! If you want a trimmed down cut of the original story you won't find that here.

With that being said. I was very much entertained watching this version. It's cleverly edited, however rough in some spots to completely rewrite the narrative. The new story is pretty good, i was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next. It flows pretty well and ends well.

It does need some polish, it has a few audio issues, at least from my perspective. i.e. music cutting off at a bad time and a gap of silence where it didn't feel right. Most the video editing was good but could possible be smoothed out.

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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