Review Detail

Star Wars: Episode II - The Approaching Storm is a remarkable achievement.
After watching Hal's edit of Episode I, Cloak of Deception, I found myself liking the changes made and felt the movie benefitted from the cuts in a lot of ways, however I felt that overall the majority of the film remained similar to The Phantom Menace. So when I booted up Episode II, The Approaching Storm, I expected something similar -- Attack of the Clones but with minor changes and better pacing to clear up some oddities. What I did not expect was for my opinion of Episode II to be completely overhauled.
With the addition of deleted scenes, cut fat, and editing magic, this fan edit does the impossible. It makes the romance between Anakin and Padme watchable, it makes Anakin's dark side moment feel impactful, it makes the droid factory and arena exciting, and it makes the showdown with Dooku and Yoda feel like it what it should have been to begin with.
I'm absolutely blown away with this one and I'm very excited to see what's in store for Episode III, a flawed movie, but one that I actually liked a lot originally.