Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker: Anti-Cringe-Cut

I was not a huge fan of the original ROS as I felt, though entertaining, was an overblown, pandering, hyper mess. I could not wait for a fanedit. I have seen a few but none had the nerve to use bigger scissors to cut this mess down. Thank you DonKamillo for making an aggressive stab at this. So much dreck has been cut away, motivations changed and unnecessary subplots cut that I just did not miss. I highly recommend this along with his The Last Jedi for a unique perspective on these very flawed films.

I agree with most of the reviews I have seen and the editor cannot fix everything without access to outtakes and alternate footage so I cut him some slack. To me this edit succeeds on all counts. Thank you for another winner.

This was GREAT! I didn't realize how truly bloated TROS actually was, until seeing how much of it didn't really add anything at all. I thought the editor did a wonderful job of creating a streamlined story that both made sense and pushed the action forward. To be honest, it felt like a really well done hour long tv show that flew by. When watching the theatrical TROS, there was only one moment that made me emotional, and that was when Luke raised the X-wing, I could not figure out why I was emotional over that. My wife then said, "it's the music, the music is Yoda's music and you liked that part as a kid". There were several parts in this edit that had me tear up at the end. It was really quite perfect in the ways that actually count.
I think I could see and visualize the connective tissue that the editor wished he had to work with. There are scenes and call backs that I could imagine a scene added that would have full fleshed out the vision, but the editor only had so much to work with. AND WORK WONDERS HE DID.
the final battle is pretty much flawless, if someone had not seen the theatrical TROS final battle, I don't think they would be able to figure out that this was not the way it was intended to go. So many things just made so much more sense. I also liked that certain things and characters were left in, from a narrative standpoint they made sense. Seeing Babu Frik and Poe's relationship was really cool. I also didn't mind Rose, it made sense that she would be included in some way. Everyone just made sense. The amount of time they were given, where they came in at, and I especially liked seeing how much "fluff" was just removed all together. There were alot of scenes and characters and go-nowhere plot points that needed cut.
All in all, I cannot praise this edit enough. If you are a big Star Wars fan and enjoy fan edits, go out of your way to see this one. It takes the story in exciting, emotional, and fulfilling directions that are both surprising and engaging.
Thanks so much Don, awesome job my friend, truly awesome.

Rise of Skywalker is a film of many choices, that's as true to the final official product as it has proven for many faneditors. This one, put together by the maverick anti-cringer DonKamillo, makes the kind of choices that we need a lot of with this: bold ones.

The narrative is altered to remove moments that seem more random in placement and execution, leaving 3-PO without his memory shows a costly side to the quest. Kylo no longer being a lousy (Adam) driver in the desert gives his entrance a much grander sense of menace, where as you were left kind of thinking he was an idiot when he arrived on the scene.

Rey no longer being related to Palpatine yet still have his power kind of goes unexplained, unless we're meant to take the 'diad' line as the explanation, I also feel the footage kind of lets down the line Rey crosses when she kills Kylo and Luke is very relaxed and forgiving. That cannot be helped, and Kylo's send-off with Han actually works far better in this cut as a moment of passage rather than a plot device to necessitate a random change of heart to further the plot along. It is my choice for the best edited scene of this movie.

I would have preferred if Rey had died defeating The Emperor, as somewhat of a karmic 'price' paid for killing Kylo, and the film should have ended with Luke looking out at the suns on the island from Last Jedi. Maybe you could have inserted a force ghost of Leia from the end of 'Rise' in that scene. Just a thought.

Overall, while it doesn't 'rise' to the same heights as the tour de force that was The Last Jedi anti-cringe cut, this is still a solid and superior cut to the official release that ended the sequel trilogy on a rather drab note.

Great job all around, really enjoyed the edit!

Very enjoyable, Delivered on its promise and removed, the elements holding it back.
A huge improvement, on the source material. Helping to make the series very watchable again.
Thank you.