Star Wars Episode II: Shroud of the Dark Side - An Attack of the Clones Fanedit by DsqrD Studio

This is a good take on Episode II. The editor confirmed the intention was to balance the best ideas of the various fan edits of ATOC over the years with George Lucas' original vision (with respect to canon), and this edit achieves this.

This is a more gentle, nuanced trimming of Episode II, somewhere between the almost revisionist versions of say, Hal9000/L8wrtr, and the near-theatrical take of ebumms. I'd give this edit a try if you think that either the former went too far, or that the latter didn't go far enough.

On a related note, I don't think I've ever seen the deleted scenes reinserted in such quality before. The Upscale is excellent and works very well in context. I occasionally would notice cuts but I think that's more because I've seen the movie so often that it's hard to miss. Great work!

My Narrative and Enjoyment scores reflect my own personal tastes regarding what scenes I would cut. Your scores might be higher. :)

I agree with everything the previous reviewers said about keeping the plot points and sequences intact but slight trims here and there to reduce the cringe. I like the droid factory and arena sequence (something other edits have removed completely) so I was happy to see those scenes left in. My favourite part of AotC is the mystery vibe as Obi Wan is tracking down Kamino. The deleted scene with the jedi temple identification droids is very much welcome, since it is referred to later when Dex says "those droids only focus on 'symbols" . The subtitles regarding Syfo-Dias are a brilliant idea, since this aspect is left up to the imagination in the official version. George Lucas meant to come back to this thread in RotS, but it didnt make the cut, and viewers were left without a solid explanation (As an aside, I think it would pack quite an emotional punch if Yoda and Obi Wan found out during/shortly after Order 66 that the clones were ordered by Dooku, posing as Sifo-Dyas, who himself was ordered by Sidious. They would come to the realization they had been fooled all along, and didnt know it).

Anyways, I was following along with the cutlist as I was watching the edit, and paid close attention to the VFX shots to try and catch what the editor did. I can say that even when paying specific attention to these shots, nothing looks weird and I did not notice it had been edited at all. This edit is definitely one of the better AotC edits, and I will be paying attention to DsqrDStudio's future edits for sure.

While the original movie's world building and deeper theming are worth a watch, the rest of Attack of the Clones has always made it very tedious for me to sit through. From the insufferable whining of Anakin, the uncomfortable romance shoehorned in, the convenience of a Clone army appearing out of thin air just when the Republic needs it, I could count on one hand the the number of times I had sat through the theatrical cut. Then, I came across DsqrDStudio and his wonderful edits while browsing Revenge of the Sith content. Deleted scenes have always been a fascinating subject for me, and the promise of glimpsing these alternate story beats, cleaned up to match the rest of the film, as well as restructuring the story to address my gripes with the original hooked me.
I could not recommend Shroud of the Darkside enough. The angle of Anakin and Padme's love story is made far more convincing with her thinking she would have settled down by this stage in her life, her family's prodding, and Anakin being portrayed as much more level-headed and mature. When he snaps and slaughters the Sand People like animals, it is made far more suspenseful, as a confused young man that has always bottled his emotions suddenly finds that bottle full and breaking.
This will be my preferred method of viewing Attack of the Clones going forward. Already, I have watched it three times since November 2023. Once with my younger brother who grew up unabashedly loving the Prequels and the 3D Clone Wars cartoon, once by myself for drafting this review, and then once more at a holiday gathering with family friends and EU aficionados. The result has been unanimous praise each time.
While it could be argued that no work deserves a perfect 10, the audio, soundmixing, scripting, and retention of Anakin's line about sand elevate this work to the highest score in my eyes. I eagerly await the next viewing of this fan edit, as I know there will be and additional ones after.