Star Wars - Episode III: Dark Force Rising

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9.0(2)
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9.7(3)
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9.7(3)
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(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Review by L8wrtr — January 28, 2011 @ 9:07 am

Because I have a workprint of my own for Episode III, I have shied away from watching other editors takes on it. I actually enjoyed Episode III in the theaters, at least when compared to Episode I & II. By its very nature, because of where it must point to (episodes 4, 5 & 6) and because Lucas wasted a lot of time in Episodes I & II, content alone made III the best of the Prequel. But while it was great in the theater, it didn’t hold up well under repeated viewing. The beginning, while closer in feeling to Star Wars action was a bloated mess, Anakin was still a whiner, Padme was weak and uninteresting, and worst of all, Anakin’s turn to the Dark Side felt uneven, there was something there at the base, but it has always just felt off.

As with all of my reviews, they are intended as constructive evaluations of the edit and no offense is intended to the editor.

AUDIO
Audio quality was spectacular. Kerr’s touch was amazing. He added music in the perfect places, never overpowering, but perfect for the scene. Many times his additions were so subtle that I think only people who know the movie with the intimacy of having edited it would notice them. His blending of scenes was fantastic, and his very subtle additions were perfect. 10/10

VIDEO
Overall quality was very good. The new crawl seemed to stutter and surge and at times the quality seemed not quite as good as the original, but overall held up well on my 52″ Plasma. The editing itself was seamless. The transitions, wipes, minor tweaks (and this edit is FULL of tweaks) were transparent and again, really only someone who knows this thing back and forth will notice where he has done his work. 9/10

STORY
How does this compare to the original? AMAZING. BRILLIANT. This is for the time being, my absolute go-to version of E3. It doesn’t hurt that I would guestimate that my work print shares numerous concepts and even identical edits as Kerr’s, but his editor’s knife was absolutely brilliant. Anakin is no longer whining. No longer brooding (in the wrong way) but definitely alone, increasingly isolated and trapped. To some degree his character felt a little hallow, I wanted more depth, but that is not the fault of Kerr, he pulled the most out of what was available, and I’ll take an Anakin that is a little flat, over one that is whining, brooding and intolerably annoying. Padme’s character is slightly improved and benefits from the use of deleted scenes. A particularly impressive improvement is the turning point of Anakin’s life in Palpatine’s office; this was simply JAW DROPPING. When I caught on to how Kerr was handling this I literally applauded from my sofa. Every clip, nip and tuck that Kerr made up to this point had narrowed Anakin’s choices, boxed him into a corner, and made him *gasp*… sympathetic, and so when the moment finally came, it was in fact believable. This achievement alone makes this edit worth it. It is the entire point of the movie, and Kerr’s approach succeeds wonderfully.

*spoiler*

There were only a few choices that I didn’t care for. The jump from Padme’s balcony to her arriving on Mustafar was just too much for me. It was the only time where I actually felt rushed. While this edit moves very briskly, I never felt like things were missing, or that corners were being cut. TMBTM has commented that the length of this edit doesn’t ‘feel’ Star Wars-like, and I have to agree, the pace is very fast, but that is really the only choice to make because the thing that draws this movie out is tons of useless screen time. For most of the edit while the pace is brisk, nothing is ever missing, everything lines-up. Every scene leads logically to the next and no important piece of information, or emotion is left out, until the balcony scene. It was the only point in the movie where as a viewer I felt “oh, we’re missing a piece of the story” Not that it was critical, and it in fact leaves it ambiguous, did Padme bring Obi-Wan with her on purpose, or did he sneak on? I think Kerr’s intention is to have her bring Obi-Wan there, but it just doesn’t feel correct and without the transition scene of her leaving and Obi-Wan sneaking aboard, I just felt like that subconscious beat that a good movie has, was off. But really, that’s about it.

His choice to cut out Yoda vs Palpatine is a struggle for me. While watching the movie, it’s not really missed. The pacing of Anakin and Obi-Wan’s battle benefits from the removal. This is the battle that we’ve waited 20 years for. Now it happens in brilliant, fast-paced, every-man for himself fashion, right up to a brilliant finale. But as the movie begins to wrap, you’re left with questions, where was Yoda? Why was he hanging out an a rock with Bail instead of joining Obi-Wan? Surely if they’re going up against the most powerful Jedi ever, they would want their combined abilities. (this is of course a problem that Kerr inherited from the original, the choice to split up and attach each Sith individually was idiotic and forced) so Kerr isn’t entirely at fault here, but his choice to cut out Yoda/Palpatine highlights this problem.
Story Improvement: 10/10

But overall I can EASILY forgive both of these ‘issues’ because the sum of this edit is so amazing.

OVERALL
This is simply the best Star Wars fanedit that I have seen to date because it makes Revenge of the Sith a truly great movie. Not just acceptable. Not just watchable, but worthy of the title Star Wars. It tells the story that we have been waiting to see, but without whining, without insipid dialogue, over-explained context, brow-beating political diatribes. It’s fast, fun, dark and ultimately, satisfying.

10/10

Thank you Kerr. Now I just need a worth Episode II and the Circle shall be complete.
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(Updated: November 14, 2014)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
In his desperation to save Padmé, where he failed to save his mother, Anakin trusts the only friend he thinks he has, Palpatine. Like so many heroes before him, Anakin brings his own worst nightmares upon himself.

The brilliant reinsertion of Padmé as one of founders of the rebellion, adds a greater depth to her character, as well as her relationship with Anakin. It is only natural, given the previous two films, that Padmé would have doubts about the Republic. Anakin now not only fears Padmé’s death, but also her betrayal.

The Finale is no longer Jedi against Sith, but friend against friend. Obi-wan's goal is not to kill Anakin, but to save him. Obi-wan’s love for Anakin is an erie contrast to Anakin’s hate. The battle is personal, paralleling well with their final duel in A New Hope.

Kerr’s Dark Force Rising takes a good movie and makes it great. It is quick and fast paced, effectively removing or altering much of the unneeded dialogue. My only real complaint–it's a great movie that ends too soon.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
DVD was great quality. Editing was smooth but some of the audio felt unbalanced at times. It could have been my 2.0 setup, sometimes the sound would drop down dramatically and then back up like as if the music was cut from the front channels abruptly but kept in the rear.

This was a pretty excellent Episode 3 edit. Only complaint I have is that the first half felt off narratively, it’s mainly a problem of the source movie though.

Emperor reveal was remarkable. That scene is now canon for me. I have officially forgotten how it happened in the theatrical.

A/V Quality - 9
Editing - 10 visual, 8 audio
Narrative - 9
Enjoyment - 9 (original is 6)

Recommended drink: Irish Coffee

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
DVD
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
(Updated: September 11, 2012)
Overall rating
 
8.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
Review by geminigod — April 26, 2011 @ 1:54 am

A lot has already been said, but I have a few things to add. 1st, On a separate but related philosophical note, I think it is interesting how fanedits evolve with some popular movies such as this. Editors build on the work previous editors do, which is understandable and mostly fine, however there probably should be some recognition in these situations of those influences that have come before us. Like or hate George Lucas, he deserves credit for his work. Likewise so do other editors that contributed in some indirect or direct way to an individual’s final cut. Fanediting is an odd business, but it is ultimately no different than any other artistic or scientific endeavor, except that of course there won’t be any lawsuits. When I watch Spence’s version of ROTS (or was it HAL9000′s??) he paved the way for how the end anakin obiwan fight scene should play out. Then there was Stankpac’s edit of ROTS that incorporated Spence’s work (who credited him for it), and then proceeded to lay out a bold vision for how the rest of the movie should play out. His work on the opening is particularly noteworthy. But really when you compare Stankpac’s edit with this scene-for-scene, it is clear that Stankpac inspired much of the work presented here. Not saying what Kerr has done here is bad, but I am just saying what noone else has said and give credit where credit is due.

Now, regarding the specifics of new changes Kerr has made, the good news is that I think his additions and changes to scene arrangement did ultimately succeed in his stated primary goal of trying to make Anakin seem like a little less of a tool and more of a victim, so props for that! I am not going to dissect each scene here, but suffice it to say that there were some changes Kerr has made from Stankpac’s version that I liked and some I didn’t like. The one I will mention that most stands out in my mind (probably because it was one of the last) that annoyed me was how Anakin turns off his lightsaber and turns his back on Obiwan. I also preferred Stankpac’s arrangement of the end epilogue sequences, although once again both are very, very similar.

You definitely deserve some credit from an audio editing standpoint. Your tinkering with sound effects and voice over work, did not go unnoticed, and I mostly enjoyed that aspect. On the other hand, your edit is only in 2.0 stereo, which was disappointing for me.

Video resolution/compression quality I thought was quite good for a SL DVD, though it looked as if you were missing a bit of contrast in the whites and blacks? It certainly didn’t look bad, but I can’t help but wonder if a bit of clipping occurred in these ranges at some point in your editing workflow.

Video quality: 8/10
Sound quality: 8/10
Creativity/originality: 6/10
Technical editing work: 9/10
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