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.

ROTS is perhaps the only Star Wars prequel that doesn't demand a fan edit, but alas, here we are.
Audio/Video quality gets a 10/10 this time from me. Again, the deleted scenes are noticeable, but if I didn't know any better they MIGHT get past me.
Visual and audio editing are 10s as well. At this point, if it has Hal's name attached to it, expect nearly flawless execution.
The Narrative loses a couple of points for a few reasons. This is obviously subjective but in my opinion, Anakin's fear of Padmé dying isn't emphasized enough and adds unnecessary confusion, Palpatine's deformation is too sudden and doesn't make as much sense to me, and Padmé living creates conflict with current canon. Hal has been a dear and provided a version with an alternate ending in which Padmé dies, but I'm basing this review off of the version most consistent with his original vision. Also, the narrative jumps around A LOT in the second half, but I can't remember if that is Hal's doing or not, so I won't factor it into the score.
Finally, Enjoyment. The insertion of deleted scenes give Padmé something to do and sets up the Rebellion - exciting stuff! The film is much more focused than the original and kept me engaged. If I had the skill, I imagine a few additional tweaks of Labyrinth of Evil would result in my perfect edit. Therefore, 9/10.

Enjoyed some of the added scenes, but too many cuts for me as I really like the theatrical cut. That being said, HAL9000 has was once again improved on the theatrical cut.

This is amazing, I enjoyed this movie before but now I love it. I think that Anakin Skywalker descent to the dark side being motivated from more of a political view is great. Also love how Padme did not die at the to fix a plot hole created by this movie. However I wish some dialogue was kept from Palpatine I feel you cut more than was necessary, also I wished you kept the high ground line. Other than those two minor complaints I think this was an amazing edit. Job well done.

Alright. This is great! Lots of things I didn't like in the original are fixed. It's still a little cringy in some parts (especially Anakin's turn to the dark side). But I can't blame you, it's a problem of the source material. You obviously did your best to make it better. I really like how Anakin's turn is motivated more by politics and the Jedi order than Padmé. And the final scene with Padmé holding baby Leia? Are you kidding me? That's genious! You managed to fix one of the biggest plot holes in Star Wars. But because of that, Luke's separation doesn't make so much sense anymore. I believe it's to protect Leia as Anakin thinks he had only one child. But it would be great to point it out somehow (maybe cut the conversation between Yoda, Bail and Obi-Wan). But still, this is the best version of the episode III.