Star Wars: Episode III - Labyrinth Of Evil

Saw this one last summer, a great edit much more enjoyable than what Lucas tried to do! highly recommend for anyone who is a star wars fan!

Damn...This edit is the kitties titties. With the exception of the "NOOOOO" everything I liked was still in the film, both video and audio cuts were seamless, and this is almost worthy of the OT in terms of quality. Loved what you did with the opera scene and the duel with Mace and Anakin's turn was far better. If you make a version 1.1 or something I think you should remove the dialogue from the scene where he is put in the suit, but still keep the nice shot of him rising with "Birth of the twins/Padme's Fate" in the background. Ideally I would make it the last shot, but that is just personal preference.

This is a very good edit of a fairly good movie. That's how I'd sum up my thoughts. Revenge of the Sith is easily the best Star Wars prequel, but it is not without its faults. Minor faults (but major annoyances) are the overabundance of CGI and bad dialogue. Fan edits can't really fix the first (not yet at least), but they can certainly remedy the second. Hal9000 does that with this edit, which is, of course, a big plus. Already the film is better. But the movie has major faults too, ones not as easily fixed.

So I'm willing to forgive Hal if I'm torn on whether or not he's fixed Anakin's fall to the dark side. (Before I get to much into it let me say Hal's handling of everything else in this edit is exemplary, so I won't talk about that stuff.) Anakin's fall as presented in the theatrical film is clearly flawed. Is he really seduced by the dark side, or does he just want to save Padme? Does he really believe the Jedi are evil, or does he just want to save Padme? Does he actually have any reason to turn to the dark side besides saving Padme?

Hal9000 has a smart way to answer yes to that last question. By playing down the Padme dying in childbirth angle, it definitely feels like Anakin has some ulterior motivation for turning to the dark side, with the Padme thing being more of a subtle push to bring him over the edge. But what is that ulterior motivation? We suppose it's because the Jedi are tricksters and keeping Anakin out of everything. Whether or not there's enough here to support that, I'm not sure. Hal does the best he can with what he's got (we all know it's really Lucas to blame for this). Ultimately, either way, it's clear that Anakin has turned to the dark side because he has become disillusioned with the Order, so nice work by Hal for that.

He accomplished what he set out to do in regards to the Anakin debacle, so in that case I'd say Hal has done a great job. There's a nagging part of me that says L8wrtr did this better, but I'm not sure if that's true. To be honest, I'm getting kind of tired of these movies (which is why I've spent most of this review on a digression of sorts). The more I critique the less I enjoy it seems. So even if Anakin's fall didn't totally work for me this time around, I know it did when I viewed this edit's work print the first time around, and I wouldn't be surprised if it worked for me the next time I watch this. Even if it doesn't, the other aspects of this edit are enough for me to say this has become my go-to Episode III. Thanks Hal9000, for making my preferred prequel trilogy!

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.