Star Wars - Episode III: Dark Force Rising

Review by DwightFry78 — December 13, 2010 @ 4:20 am

Smooth cuts throughout and a bold take on Palpatine’s transformation – very good cut.

Review by Ripplin — December 25, 2010 @ 12:58 am

Just finished and I would say that for now, this is my preferred version of Ep. III. It really is streamlined, cutting out so much unnecessariness, and is easy to understand. The audio and video quality is top notch as well. There are some further audio cuts I would make (some fixable, some only partially so but preferrable to the audio as-is) and remove a few lines and such here and there (some one-liners, and…he left in the Tarzan yell?!), but overall, the choices made were very good. As mentioned above, the transformation scene is interesting, too. Overall, I loved how quickly things got going and remained that way, but the scenes that needed length (some solemn, like Anakin and Padme pondering on their balconies) remained as well and helped the story elements.

Overall, I’m giving this a 9/10. Great effort!

Review by TMBTM — January 6, 2011 @ 1:18 am

Damn, Kerr really knows what storytelling means! This is a SW prequel and this is almost a good movie too, incredible! The pace is just perfect. Maybe some scenes felt a bit short to me, and 86 minutes is not exactly "Star Wars canon", but well, in this case less is more and it shows!

Kerr managed to cut every redundancy possible and so certain scenes that were boring in the original are now interesting because the audience learns something new. All the cringe inducing lines and scenes have vanished. Some lines have been reorganized to make the characters sound like they are actualy talking to each others and not reading George's corny dialogue. Oh, and the useless "catch me if you can" boring first 30 minutes of the original movie are now a real ride!

There already were some good edits of this movie, but this cut is the best SW prequel I've seen to date. Only the very short lenght, that does not feel like a SW movie, and some audio cuts (not bad, but just a bit obvious at times) prevent me to rate it the maximum. But it is a very, VERY solid 9/10. A must see IMO.

Review by Sunarep — January 9, 2011 @ 11:33 pm

Kerr at it again!
And as usual this edit doesn’t disappoint.
With Star Wars edits I’m a bit oversaturated right now so I didn’t see myself watching another take on Episode 3 but Kerr’s cuts had me intrigued and after watching the workprint I knew this edit was gonna be a great ride.

And ride is the correct word since I’ve never seen a Star Wars movie that fast. But despite all the things that have been cut this edit felt richer than the original. This is partially due to the re-inserted scenes of the rebellion’s birth but mostly due to the change of dialog. Kerr manages with some re-arrangements and omissions to give the jedi more purpose and tactic.
It still doesn’t explain why they send away their best warrior when they know the sith lord is in coruscant, but by reinserting the mace/obi/yoda meeting right before anakin is “accepted” to the jedi council it seemed like they were really thinking how to effectively play palpatine.
Also when Obi Wan approaches anakin after that scene and assigns him to spy it really seems like the doings of yoda and mace to discover palpatine’s motivations.

Anakin profits by having less annoying lines and acting more mature (no freak out infront of the council, he just nods and later on rants when he is with obi wan). Babies on the lake of naboo scene is gone for good.

A special highlight to me is the re-arrangement of the fight between obi wan and grievous, when I saw it the first time i had to rewind a few times because the way the fight flows now is 100times better than the original, this scene alone warrants to download this edit.

At the end it was a little too quick for my taste and there were some transitions i was not that much of a fan but at least kerr got rid of lucas’s excessive transition effects thourought revenge of the sith.

All in all, while not perfect, this is the best Revenge of the Sith edits I have yet seen

8/10

Review by Brentendo64 — January 8, 2011 @ 6:50 am

If there is one thing that can be truthfully said about Dark Force Rising, it’s its fast-pacing. This, unfortunately, is also one of the things that keeps DFR from being the perfect fanedit of Episode III it comes so close to being. It’s frantic pacing breaks the flow of the plot as it jumps from action scene to action scene with little to no pacing, making the edit seem less “fast-paced” and more “rushed”. Fortunately, however, the hectic pacing is only noticeable in the first act of DFR (due understandably to the removal of the approach to Grievous’s ship and the elevator sequence, two somewhat unnecessary scenes)and thankfully does not carry on into the rest of the movie.
On the matter of sound quality: During the lightsaber battle with Count Dooku, the sounds of the lightsabers swinging and clashing sound muffled and somewhat muted. Whether this was an issue with adding the music into the battle (an obvious and necessary addition) or a problem with editing film itself, It felt off and a little distracting.
Another grievance I wish to voice is the placement of the “Birth of the Rebellion” scene. In it, Padme is defending Palpatine and the senate, but is eventually swayed into believing that the Supreme Chancellor may have ulterior motives. In the scene that Kerr places immediately BEFORE “Birth of the Rebellion” Padme has already reasoned that Palpatine’s council may be corrupt and is trying to convince Anakin of the fact. To me, it would make sense to place Padme’s “What If We’re on the Wrong Side” conversation after she has been persuaded by Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, and the rest of the building Rebellion that the council might be corrupt in the “Birth of the Rebellion” sequence.
Finally, I found the way that Kerr changed the ending of the Obi-Wan/Anakin fight to be… well, interesting (it’s not listed in the cutlist, so I’ll keep it a secret for viewers). I found it to be unintentionally hilarious and those who have seen the edit will know what I’m talking about. It’s just my own personal opinion, and I could see the notion behind the change, but it just didn’t strike the right chord with me.

Whew. Now that we’ve swept through Dark Force Rising’s flaws, let’s move on to the things I loved:

Combining Obi-Wan’s “Oh, I don’t think so” force push with the Clone cavalry busting in was a great move. It makes it really seem as if the tables are suddenly turning in Obi’s favor and gives good reason for Grievous to run away. An excellent, creative move that I never thought of.
The re-edited “reveal” of the Emperor was fantastic, as was the entire Windu vs. Palpatine battle. Removing the flips and spins and focusing on just striking sabers takes me back the lightsaber battles of the original trilogy. On the matter of the reveal of the Emperor, kudos to Kerr. Removing the redundancy Palpatine’s first lightning strike made Palpatine’s sudden lightning attack on the recently de-handed Windu all the more (if you’ll pardon the pun) shocking.
As promised, Anakin’s turn to the dark side is less sudden and is more of a fade starting with his trust of Palpatine, leading to his distrust of the Jedi, and ending with Anakin’s transformation into Darth Vader. Anakin’s subplot in Dark Force Rising is not the same subplot from Revenge of the Sith. It’s what we all wanted it to be: a believable fall from brother to monster.
There are many other great cuts here and there that Kerr makes, most removing repetitious dialog and bad acting.

Overall, a pretty sweet fan edit. Not perfect, but definitely one of the best fanedits of Episode III I’ve ever seen, if not the best so far.
Some might say that it’s shortened length makes it feel like it’s not a Star Wars film. I disagree. By trimming the fat and enhancing scenes, Kerr has made a remarkable piece of Fan Edit showmanship. If anything, the worst that can be said about Dark Force Rising is that it doesn’t feel like a full Star Wars film.
Awkward pacing, some (very minor) sound problems, some scenes where straight cuts should have been used instead of fades, and some mishandled scenes are the only things you’ll find wrong with Dark Force Rising. Ultimately, it shows how one can turn a 134 minute disappointment into an 88 minute experience through simple editing.

7.5/10