Star Wars: Episode III - Labyrinth Of Evil

oh my god this is so good. hals pacing is incredible, perfectly cutting through this story (that originally was bloated not just on a scene to scene basis but in the construction of individual scenes themselves). this is all the more impressive because of the integration of the deleted padmé subplot: singlehandedly making her an actual character in this movie. excellent stuff.

anakin is excellent (at least compared to the dire straits of his official counterpart). the love angle never worked, and the emphasis put on anakins militarism, distrust of institutions, and reliance on the emperor as a paternal figure makes for a much stronger narrative. this edit gives up the ghost on anakin being a misunderstood tragic hero: he is a power hungry, distrusting, and selfish. somehow he still emerges as more likeable than in the original by making him more confident and more emotionally reserved.

my biggest gripe is the removal of the banter between obi-wan and anakin on the invisible hand. mcgregor & christensen have really nice chemistry here, and the prequels need to grab every instance of anakin & obi-wan being friends with both hands imo. i know hal wants to maintain continuity with obi-wan not knowing r2, but the price is too high here. as it stands i still feel like its ridiculous to think that obi-wan doesnt recognise r2 in iv. i have no issue with reading it that hes hesitant to bring luke into danger and just playing dumb. after all, this is the "vader betrayed and murdered your father" guy.

i also wish that more couldve been done to trim the utapau section: it really does feel like spinning gears, and is the only place where this edit started to lose my interest. its very likely nothing more could be done, but i can keep wishing.

i watched these in machete order, and the padme-lives edit is particularly strong for massaging the continuity issue that becomes apparent when you watch vi right after iii. neeson's voice cameo makes machete order more problematic for this edit, but its a minor sticking point, and i cant in good faith say that hal shouldnt have fixed the theatrical cut's baffling decision to have yoda learn about force ghosts offscreen.

excellent work hal. this is a towering achievement, and my definitive episode iii.

I'd first like to preface this review by saying that I am a fan of Hal 9000, particularly his Purist LOTR edits and his excellent Star Wars TROS Ascendant edit. I don't like leaving negative reviews, as I am appreciative of the efforts that a faneditor does for free for the enjoyment of others.

With that in mind, I'll try to keep my review as complimentary as possible while expressing my opinion on the narrative choices of the edit.

On the technical side, this edit was really well done and seamless, but on the narrative side it reeks of a fanboy who thinks he knows more about Star Wars than the actual creator of Star Wars itself. A good effort, but I'll definitely be sticking to George Lucas's vision of "Revenge of the Sith."

A belated review for an epic edit. This version is amazing and it sculpts and polishes the ideas that Lucas inherently included in the theatrical cut. This movie finishes the prequel trilogy in the most satisfying way and ties in perfectly with the OT. You saved the star wars prequels for me. I can't thank you enough.

This is both the strongest and weakest of Hal9000's prequel edits in that he absolutely elevates core of the film by making Anakin & Padme's arcs work so much better, but his cuts to the first and third act are too extreme, which robs the film of a lot of its fun and spectacle.

For me the best of the Episode III edits, except for a couple of editing choices this is my ideal version. HAL9000's changes demonstrate how there always was a decent film in the mostly-serviceable theatrical cut and make one wonder at what was going through the original editors' minds, did they set out to create a plot hole intentionally?

For me at least, this is now a film I can show other people and not need to give an explanation for liking.