Star Wars: Episode I - Cloak Of Deception

Ok. So this is really really weird for me to review.

First let me start off with some back story on myself.

I was born in 1991 and grew up on Star Wars. I think I watched Star Wars and Empire about a billion times (My dad didn't have Jedi oddly enough) and would always get the toys and books and things like that. So in 1999 when a new Star Wars film was coming out I completely flipped out! I remember watching it for the first time and loving it to death. I don't know what it was, but I thought it was just a treat to watch. I swear I must have wore my old tape down to near nothing as many times as I've watched it.

Sooooooo. I was very surprised to find a few years later that everyone hated it. I didn't understand why and defended it like it was my child or something. Even years later and after seeing it again when released in 3D, I just loved The Phantom Menace!

So I was very very curious to see what Hal could do to change for the better a film that my childhood self adored. Well Hal, you did one thing for me. You opened my eyes and made me realize the only real reason that I enjoy watching this film.

Pure childhood nostalgia.

-End painfully long back story-

SO! I should start by saying that the video quality was top notch! Everything looked crisp and clear and even the added scenes looked just fine. There were no obvious cuts and everything fit together seamlessly.

Audio was fantastic as well. I really liked the added music to the podrace, but I still can't decide if I like the new music over the silent tension of the original.

I like how taking out the Gungan city in the beginning really made the opening flow better and help you to understand what exactly Qui-Gon and Obi Wan were doing.
Losing the droid dialogue to make them seem more intimidating was a fantastic choice as well!
And all the cheesy/weird dialogue really helped to make the film more coherent.

But at the end of the day I feel like stripping away all of Episode I's goofy antics and fluff really showed me how hollow and frankly terrible this movie really is. It was a drudge to watch, and this is no way due to your edit! Its just that now that the nostalgia goggles are off I realized that there is zero character development and nothing that really keeps you on the edge of your seat. Its like the whole film was made as a spectacle film meant to be viewed with eyes open and ears shut. Its like the film was just a bunch of random scenes mashed together with a cool lightsaber fight at the end with Star Wars slapped onto it.

So at the end of the day I feel this is most definitely the go-to version of Episode I for me, but all the fantastic edits in the world can't really make this a good film. Just a watchable more coherent one.
Props to Hal9000! Fantastic job!

Awesome edit, watched it with my dad recently, never liked the prequels much. Certainly makes the film much more enjoyable!

Editing was excellent. never really noticed the editing. Loved the trimmed down, streamlined version. much more exciting, much more tolerable and coherent- it was much easier to understand the political plotlines going on than in the original. I appreciated that so much of the awful dialogue was scrapped, particularly by you know who, but also appreciated the abbreviated pod race and other scenes. I did missed the big fish, but get that it took away from the plot. Ultimately, I think this was about as good as could be hoped for. so much potential in a movie that underutilized its actors in favor of special effects. not ready to write this in as my definitive edition, as i'd like to see a couple of the other edits, but so far- it's #1.

Additional Edits on my Wish List:
* changing Jar Jar binks voice to some tough sounding alien voice w/ subtitles. also love that I heard that some edits made him into a bad-ass.
* do the same thing- insert an alien sounding language- for the "Asian" Trade Federation leaders.
* edit out Anakin asking padme, "are you an angel?"
* edit out old woman saying "storm is coming"
* edit out Anakin declaring, "mom, i'm home!"
* edit out R2D2's "award ceremony"
* edited out Soboba sabotaging Anakin's pod racer. it feels contrived- why would he feel threatened by him and furthermore, I think it would have been just as or more tense if it was understood that Anakin whipped it up to have ready for the race, and did not have time to fully complete it, thus- weakened parts (much like the bicycle malfunction in "Breaking Away"- if anyone's seen that movie)

It's a Hal 9000 edit, so you know the editing is going to be top-notch! I would absolutely recommend his edits to any Star Wars fan out there.
That being said:
9/10 for audio/visual quality since the integrated deleted scene stands out like a sore thumb despite benefitting the narrative overall.
10s for visual and audio editing. These edits have been nitpicked to death in the forums, so at this point, I assume any "editing" issues are part of the theatrical cut.
The Narrative gets a 9/10 despite the many ways in which it improves on the original. It loses a point for Jar Jar's presence being even less justified now that Gungan City is cut. Like any reasonable human, I despise the Jar Jar moments in TPM, but now viewers have less emotional investment with the Gungans when they inevitably join the story in act 3.
Finally, Enjoyment. The reality is that there is no saving this movie. I give it a 6/10 because I could barely get through it. When I told my wife that 23 minutes of the film's worst content was already cut from this edit, she was shocked. Qui-Gon, podracing, and Darth Maul are the only reasons I ever return to this movie.

I specifically didn't click the yes/no on recommending this edit because it mostly still follows the same plotline as the original film. While it chopped out a lot of the fat, it's essentially still the same movie. It's just as much uninteresting filler as it was before, just with less annoyances. I suppose that's a good thing, but still doesn't make for a good movie / narrative.

That being said, the editing was seamless. I honestly didn't even notice it was edited...that's both a good and bad thing: Good because it says a lot for the edit and editor, but bad because I didn't feel like I was watching a new film. Honestly, that's really what the films needs but I don't think that's necessarily the editor's fault. After seeing The Lone Gungan edit, I can't go back to the original narrative at all. I feel like the only way to truly "fix" TPM is just to forgo it altogether, and chop it down to like a 30 minute intro to a good edit of the 2nd film.

Anyways, this is probably the best edit I've seen of the original narrative. Take that as you may. If you like the original narrative, this edit may be for you. This edit is technically very sound.