Star Wars: Episode III - Labyrinth Of Evil

I couldn't bring myself to watch the two preceding edits in Hal's prequel trilogy, as I dislike the source material to such an extreme degree that it renders evaluation pointless. However, I've always found Episode III to be at least marginally enjoyable, so I gave this one a spin to see how it could be improved upon. I think I made the right decision.

First of all, this is a thoroughly professional looking and sounding edit. All of the cuts were invisible and well-timed. The film has better pacing, never too fast or slow, with a nicely struck balance between the different plot threads. As far as narrative changes, Hal's intentions were right-headed, and I believe they were well-executed. I want to especially applaud the expanded role given to Padme. I always thought it was shameful the way she was treated in the theatrical trilogy, increasingly sidelined and impotent until she has no bearing on the plot outside of unknowingly motivating Anakin to act. Here, she has a more fleshed out role in the political conflict with Palpatine, and it serves both to strengthen her as a character and to complicate her relationship with an already torn Anakin, adding depth to their scenes together. I also really loved the way the Mace Windu/Palpatine duel plays out, with the lights and all the pacing changes, so a special kudos for that. I do think the scene with Anakin and Padme staring out of their respective windows across the city is a bit awkward without any voiceover, but it's a minor complaint.

I watched the 1080p MKV file, which, while looking brilliant for most of the running time, did betray a marked drop in video quality when the deleted scenes popped up. It in no way called into question the inclusion of these scenes, but it was noticeable enough to distract a bit.

I highly recommend this edit, as it is easily the best version of Episode III that I've seen. It's still a thoroughly ridiculous movie, but if you're okay with that, you won't go wrong here.

Now I believe the Jedi when they say there is always hope. I'm new to fan edits, and I watched seciors edits of SW Episodes I and II recently. I was stunned to find that these were salvageable movies, and in fact quite enjoyable when cut with an adult focus in mind. Since seciors has not edited episode III, I chose to watch HAL's (though I still have a distrust of talking computers). So what did I think of SW Ep III by HAL?

Audio/Video Quality: Great picture, even on my humble PC monitor. I noticed so much detail, it was outstanding. I used some pretty nice headphones and the audio was sweet.

Visual Editing/Audio Editing: It's been a very long time since I saw Star Wars Ep III, and I think that was helpful with this review. I cannot think of a single scene change that left me going "huh?" Same with audio. Basically, I felt like I was watching the movie for the first time. I later looked at the cut list details and realized just how top notch the editing really was.

Narrative: HAL has molded a serious, heart wrenching, depressing epic sci-fi movie - my favorite kind! My young daughter watched a bit with me and thought it was too sad to keep watching, so that says much! I want Star Wars movies that most kids don't want to see, and this is it. Clearly this was the best of the prequels even in the original format, which provided some pretty good material to work with, and this helps any edit. Really some cool light saber duel action, and decent CGI.

Enjoyment: I closed myself off in the office in the dark and really dug this movie. My wife wanted to watch hunger games 2 and I blew her off to finish this. I can honestly call this my second favorite Star Wars movie (episodes IV and V are tied for first). So why not a 10? Well the movie does have a few shortcomings that no edit can fix - in particular some acting that occasionally is not so stellar. And I'm just stingy with 10s, keep them for something that really blows me away.

I'm sure there are other good edits of Ep III, but I have trouble believing they would live up to this one. A MUST SEE!