Review Detail

The pitch: "Imagine if Disney had made a Star Wars movie in which Rey and Kylo had been childhood friends and classmates at the Skywalker Jedi Academy, but now find themselves on opposite sides of the war." I can't recommend this edit enough. I wish I could give this edit an 11 for Narrative! I'm a TV/screenwriter and the storytelling acrobatics on display here had my jaw on the floor. Working with a similar conceit as The Blackened Mantle, this edit takes the Japanese dub and re-writes the subtitles to tell a totally new--and maybe I would say BETTER--story. The emotional stakes between Rey and Kylo are so much higher than in the actual Sequel Trilogy, and by re-ordering scenes and trimming out the tangents, their character arcs are crystal clear. There's a strong feeling of DRAMATIC CLARITY throughout this edit, with so many great decisions here that I found myself shouting "HOW DID THE ORIGINAL MISS THIS!" Just to name one example, moving Rey's confrontation with Snoke AFTER the escape from Crait creates a perfect escalation of drama (and feels like Empire Strikes Back in a GOOD WAY!).

My only knock against it after seeing Hal9000's edits is that I wish the opening title cards had been an opening crawl (and I think you could move or lose the star killer base prologue (which reads a little unclear-- only later did I put together than their super weapon blew itself up... which I don't know that you need to see and could go in the title crawl). But giving notes at this micro-level only goes to show how solid the edit is overall, and the spirit in which I give this feedback is one of excitement and shared creativity. Your new story has ignited my imagination and I want to see what else is possible. SERIOUSLY AMAZING WORK! RUN, DON'T WALK TO SEE THIS AS SOON AS YOU CAN!