Star Wars: Episode III - Labyrinth Of Evil

So here's my review on the third prequel in HAL9000's series.

I have watched Stankpac' version a few years ago and more recently L8wrtr's. So I tend to compare these two against each other.

HAL keeps the buzz droids sequence from the beginning of the movie. L8wrtr eliminates it and I think it works better. Get to Grievous ship already. HAL keeps Dooku's exchange with Anakin about fear and anger. It's a nice parallel to Ep VI with Luke and the Emperor. Missing in L8wrtr's version but it does flow faster, IMO. Overall, in comparing these two edits side-by-side, it appears to me that L8wrtr is more ruthless in deleting one-liners than HAL is.

Here is one of the most egregious examples of that: HAL keeps the "Hold me Anakin, like you did on Naboo, when all we had was our love." This atrocious line is in HAL's version and not in L8wrtr's and to be honest, that alone is major minus points for me for this edit.

This version is improved from the theatrical release, no doubt.

The biggest thing L8wrtr did for me was something really cool with Anakin's and Obi-Wan's fight at the very end, and it worked very well and my eyes popped open when I saw his solution. No "high-ground" chatter and it made complete sense in terms of action and what these characters would do. Obi-Wan jumps from the floating device on to land and Anakin's jumps a second later after him and Obi-Wan cuts him up. Effin' brilliant.

HAL made an interesting creative choice in having Padme survive and use footage from Natalie Portman from another movie, crying and holding a baby. So that is brilliant in terms of undoing Lucas' destroying continuity in SW VI. But my question as a viewer was: Padme just allows the kids to be separated? Dramatically that seems off, I think in a movie you wouldn't skip the scene where that drama unfolds.

So based on what I saw in L8wrtr's edit of that moment, his is my go-to version for Ep III.

There are singular moments in this fanedit which I like better than the same singular moment in L8wrtr's version, for example, HAL has Obi-Wan cut off one of Grievous' hands right off the bat and it worked well. But overall, there are more noticeable edits that I think work better in L8wrtr's Dawn of the Empire than what HAL chose. I suspect he may be more attached to the original prequels than either me or L8wrtr, based on how old he was when watching the prequels when they first came out and being familiar with them before the original trilogy (I assume).

So to summarize: Ep I: L8wrtr, Ep II HAL9000, Ep III L8wrtr.

These are the versions I will show friends from now on who want to see Star Wars for the first time. Or whenever I rewatch them.

The HAL 9000 prequel trilogy was my first dip into Star Wars fan edits so all this was very new to me and I didn't know what to expect. I spent quite some time looking over other popular fan edits and it seemed to me that Hals have been the most well received so I decided to give them a try. I ended up watching all 3 prequels with my best friend and I must say this was the most enjoyable of the bunch! (Its also 7am as of writing this so sorry if my wording isn't perfect.)

I never really had much of a problem with Episode III but was open to anything that could improve it and was looking forward to viewing this edit the most. I was thoroughly impressed at what I watched, but I have some small nit picks of my own.

The editing was seamless and very VERY well done! I mean, top notch work from Hal. Some deleted and added scenes were a little obvious if you've viewed the film many times before, but its nothing that will break immersion.

Audio was top notch as well! No syncing issues or any distortion. A very clean and clear audio mix.

I feel like taking away some of the "fluff" that was in the original to illustrate Anakins move to the dark side was a great idea as it showed much more of an internal struggle rather than an external force pushing him. Absolutely loved him killing Dooku on his own rather than being told to among other more subtle changes.
The editing of the final battle between Vader and Obi Wan was even better than before! Gone are the pointless cuts of dialogue and lightsaber flailing and with it comes one smooth, flawlessly edited epic duel! (Though my roommate wanted me to mention he missed the force struggle part)
Also the added Qui-Gon and Dagobah scenes were FANTASTIC!

I only really have a problem with two things. One was the removal of the "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" line. I feel this way because I could really feel the emotional weight in Ewan McGreggors delivery of the line. Like in his mind, that is the moment he realized that Anakin Skywalker was dead and there was no going back. (I also use the line a lot when messing with friends, so its one of those cemented in my head Star Wars lines)

And two has to do with Padme surviving. I really like how it fits into the cannon and changes the Emperors statement to Vader into a lie that further illustrates his deceit, but the addition of the scene from The Other Boleyn Girl really stands out from the rest of the film. Its not a terrible edit by any means and I really like the idea of working in a scene from another movie, but its just so obviously not from a Star Wars movie that I can't help but be bothered by it.

Overall this was a fantastic edit and I highly HIGHLY recommend it. To me, this will be my go-to cut of Episode III! If in the future you make another cut with my suggestions in mind then I'd go out and buy a bluray burner and slap this thing on my shelf!

More enjoyable than I anticipated, much more enjoyable.
Sleek, fast moving edit, almost breathless many ways.
This really harks back to the earliest SW releases, which echoed old Republic serials.
Great execution on HAL 9000’s part.

Video editing appeared seamless to my eyes.
(Note: In the opening crawl, GENERAL GRIEVOUS was in all-caps.)
Try not to be a nitpicker. If I had noticed awkward chops I would mention them.
None that I could see.

Regarding audio editing, at one point, some of the dialogue between Palpatine and Anakin went slightly out of sync for me. To be honest, that could have been my doing.
I got the 720 mp4, and for whatever reason, it would not fit onto an 8.5 DVD. I tweaked the file through Handbrake (sorry, I know this potentially irritates editors). So the brief sync problem could have stemmed from modifying.

Aside from Christensen's wobbly performance, I always liked this installment.
Not really certain what HAL did, but Christensen seemed more villainous here.
His limited acting skills, I viewed through this edit as flawed arrogance.
I I I was a jucier portrayal after Attack Clones.
Again, I credit Hal for cranking the pace - truncating lulls - so I did not have time to focus on out-of-character miscues or muddled narrative.
Really fine edit here. Cannot praise it enough.
I realize this franchise suffers over-saturation, yet I hope more members check out Labyrinth Of Evil.
Well worth the effort.

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.

Wow, I love this edit. I've always had concerns regarding RotS lack of continuity with the OT, and this edit goes a long way in fixing those issues. There are some great adjustments, all round.

Not only does Padme have a stronger character arc, thanks to re-insertion of deleted scenes, but she also survives the movie. Yoda no longer jumps around like a demented frog. He does one acrobatic defensive move, but that's it. There is even a clever cameo from Qui-Gon!

Well done HAL9000. This will be THE fanedit of March 2014 for good reason.