Star Wars: Episode II - The Approaching Storm

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Also a short review and simply put: your best work for the prequels. DidnĀ“t know epsiode II could be so well narrated.
Thank you!

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This is how the movie should have been made in the first place!

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9.8
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The flow and the pacing are much improved, which is the most important fix that can be done in the slog of the original film. A great example of this is the shortening of the Dooku duel; even though the original is a great moment, it does seem to last forever.

The reduction of the bickering between Obi-Wan and Anakin is also a big plus.
I also found it was a great idea to trim the Boba Fett backstory; less is more here, the context in the film seems more than enough.

The 20min reduction in final lenght is a showcase of the editor's skills, impressive.

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(Updated: May 01, 2022)
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I"m almost entirely onboard with this edit, with just a couple notable exceptions.
Firstly, all edits should take a cue from TM2YC's and use the Portuguese language track for Jar Jar, then resub him.

The trims to the beginning scenes are all solid choices and really help the characterizations, although I've always found Padme's line to Anakin "It makes me UNCOMFORTABLE!!" to be far too aggressive and biting. Part of the reason the romance struggles to be believable in this is because Portman isn't projecting much chemistry with Christensen. She's constantly pushing him away in an aggressive manner, and her soft eyes at him aren't half as believable as when Fisher made eyes at Ford. It's not only Anakin's reactions that need trimming in this, it's Padme's, too.

Also in the beginning, a couple small trims that I would prefer to leave in to help set up the development of the story:
-some of the rare non-cringey banter between Obi-Wan and Anakin when OW says if he practiced his swordplay as much as his wordplay he "would rival Master Yoda". I assume this was taken out because Yoda doesn't use a lightsaber in this edit (which I would also keep in) but this early hint helps to set up that Yoda is a badass.
-Anakin's "nice guy" questioning of the bounty hunter is weird. I'd swap this for his angry line right after that was deleted: "Tell us!" Helps to show how overly-attached to Padme he is and how this is too personal for him and bringing up negative feelings. Dum dum de dum...

The trims to the Dexter's Diner scene are good and work really well. That said, it always seemed silly to me that Obi-Wan is going to this random cook to get obscure info. Like, where does he know this cook from even?? Instead, there are two deleted scenes that I really wish were included here. Replace Dexter with Obi-Wan getting the dart tested at the Jedi Archives. Again, use the Portuguese language track for the droids, then resub it so that they give the information Dexter did (another fanedit did this, I forgot whose.) After that, there's a longer scene in the Archives with the librarian, who has a nice little part explaining Dooku's backstory a bit. This is really important to making his character not seem like such a generic villain role, which he still does here. I also rather like the Yoda and the Younglings scene with the exposition that Obi-Wan can't find a planet, because without it he suddenly just shows up in Kamino.

The alternate deleted scene where Obi-Wan expresses concern for Anakin to Mace Windu is good. But I think it's important to keep in the bit where he says Anakin's skills have made him arrogant. It's not too harsh a criticism, and it's information the audience needs to feel like the Jedi are not idiots who don't know what's going on with Anakin.

The scene with the new Queen of Naboo and her council is unfortunately deleted here. The ending of the scene has more cringey antagonism between Anakin and Padme, and that should be trimmed. But this is an important tie to some of the supporting cast from the previous film, and it helps the audience start to grasp how there can be a new "Queen". And I know some people want to imagine it's possible to take the politics out of the prequels, but this is a brief yet important setup for the "Seeds of the Rebellion" subplot of the next film. It explains who all these "Separatists" are and helps lay out where Padme falls in this. All vital stuff for both plot and character.

From this point on, the whole center of the film is GOLD. The restructuring of the romance is best-possible-scenario, leaving us with a gradual progression that feels like two young people in a heightened, romantic situation and just giving in to it. Obi Wan's quest to the cloners and Geonosis flows well, and all the deletions and omissions along the way cut out the parts that are too-much-Tell, not-enough-Show. I do miss the confession scene with Anakin after the Tusken Raider camp. It has parts that definitely need to be trimmed, but I think it's helpful to see him struggling emotionally because he's not acting like a Jedi and he knows it, but he's not emotionally equipped to deal with this. It also helps continue to sell the bonding between him and Padme. The few scenes that have that and also ones that have good Christensen acting and where he's sympathetic really need to be kept in as much as possible.

-I like that the conveyor scene is left in here, and just trimmed to remove the slapstick antics of R2 and 3PO. Blessedly, they're left out of the rest of this film, ending on a line that seems almost planned "If they'd wanted our help, they would've asked for it." Way to know your role, 3PO! Another solid deleted scene added in here for both Padme doing politics and Dooku being more than a stock villain, love it.

-The final love confession before the arena still doesn't quite work for me. It's a nice effort but I think the lines can be moved and trimmed to be even more natural. (Wrote about it in my Fanedit Ideas page.)

-I'm good with all the cuts and trims up until the end of the film, the lightsaber fight. The flailing, screaming Jedi extras need some trimming. There's a really great edit after that actually: it always bothered me that Anakin does a superhuman leap across the room to block Dooku from striking Obi Wan. That's now fixed to be believable. On the other hand, you've just gotta go with the Yoda fight. Each prequel needs an epic lightsaber battle at the end, a tradition started by the first one (or arguably, by The Empire Strikes Back). Without Yoda breaking out the saber, the ending here just feels pretty limp, sorry to say. I know some other fanedits have tried just making trims to the Yoda battle, and I think that's the way to go.

It should go without saying that the technical skill in putting this edit together is unimpeachable, and it's just a matter of whether the cuts serve to better the story or not. The audio is great (no small feat with all the scoring on a Star Wars film) and the cuts are as clean as a lightsaber through a battle droid. Overall, it's a great edit, one that reinvigorated my enjoyment for this film. I'd tweak a few things, but I can't say that I'm dissatisfied if this is as good as it ever gets.

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9.6
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After feeling let down by HAL's Star Wars I Cloak of Deception (too much JarJar), I still wanted to give his Ep II The Approaching Storm a try.

I can't really spend the time to go back to L8wrtr's version and compare the two in depth. While watching it, I did take note of slightly different approaches to this movie from these two editors. One of the things that stood out for me was I felt disappointed by L8wrtr's trimming of the fight between Django and Kenobi. HAL leaves this scene intact, which I am in favor of.

I also like how HAL got Kenobi from inquiring about "Kamino" to the actual planet. Others have pointed this out and I agree. It works! Good job!

The "love scenes" on Naboo work better than the theatrical edit. I know why HAL tried to change the day time interrupted kiss scene to night but it does look off. But kudos for the attempt and thought.

L8wrtr also trimmed Anakin's reunion with his mother more than I was comfortable with. HAL left the scene as it was (as I remember the theatrical anyway) and it's one of the few scenes where we can empathize with him truly. So plus for HAL there.

HAL got rid of the whole battle droid factory sequence (which from the first time I watched it came across to me as "And this will translate really well in the video game adaptation!"). I'm in favor of what HAL did but it does have repercussions character-wise: Anakin seems to now just meekly go along with Padme to resolve the situation diplomatically, enter the Lion's Den and give up without a (physical) fight.

OK so I compared the Geonosis battle side-by-side between these two edits (yay for dual monitors).

HAL sticks mostly with the theatrical edit on Mace vs Django. L8wrtr shortened it and on comparing the two, I have to say, both work very well. L8wrtr loses some moments for Windu but I can appreciate what he did here in moulding the fight slightly differently. But I do prefer the theatrical cut on this scene. HAL keeps too many "local martial arts students in Australia posing as Jedis" (always bugged me the way they moved to my trained eye), whereas L8wrtr cut a lot of them out. HAL also got rid of the silly banter between Anakin and Padme in the battle ("aggressive negotiations", groannnn), which L8wrtr kept.

All in all, L8wrtr's Ep I Shadow of the Sith is my go-to edit. HAL9000's Ep II The Approaching Storm is my go-to edit. Looking forward to watching HAL9000s Ep III Labyrinth of Evil!

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Owner's reply May 07, 2014

Point of clarification: I kept the "aggressive negotiations" banter on Geonosis.

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