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

This was a fascinating edit. Having to stick to the decisions made in the previous edit created my biggest issues with this edit... Luke. I'm impressed with what was done, but sadly it's not enough. A new viewer would simply wonder why Luke looked funny and glowy. It's a shame that Lucasfilm gave us no deleted scenes to resource from because the ideas here are sound.

I never minded the Indiana Jones in a Star Wars movie moments, but I admit it works better without it.

My favorite aspect is the treatment/bookend to Kylo in this. That single piece of editing was worth the entire watch. Such a powerful idea, and it simply worked.

Don's editing of The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker even gave me some ideas to tinker with on my own.

Like the previous entry, it's totally worth a look. It's edits like this that make this community so much fun!

Oh boy...Star Wars prequels and now the sequels. The eternal debate/fight. Well, at least for the prequels we have a ton of fan edits, plus the Lucas' versions, so it's really hard not to find your cup of tea. Which means prequels are already saved. The sequels on the other hand, mainly episodes 8+9, have a long way to go, very few fanedit choices.

Before my review for this, I should state my brief opinion on the original so you know where I'm coming from. It had stuff I hated, stuff I was bored about and some stuff I enjoyed. My overall enjoyment was like a 3-4. I saw it once in cinema and never looked back. Before watching this I tried HAL's "Ascendant", which was a "restructure" type edit, but it didn't work for me, I needed an aggressive edit. Enter DonKamillo!

Technical wise, having also seen the Episode 8 Anti-Cringe, I was a bit dissapointed. In general the audio and visual edit was good, but as the movie progressed, especially at the section with Palpatine, the jump cuts where all over the place. And it was unnecessary, because the editor could have avoided all that if he had just left Kylo alone and not force-cut him.

More specifically, the scenes below are the ones that stood out a lot:
- Cutting Ray jumping above Kylo's ship at the desert. I mean, why? Is it better to see the ship crashed for no reason at the next scene?
- The sound of the lightsabers in Kylo's quarters where they "mind fight" with Rey. I read the reasoning behind this, but no. It was super weird.
- When Rey goes to the fallen Death Star by sea and Jannah said I'll take you there. Well, we just suddenly see Jannah and Finn at the fight for no apparent reason. In the theatrical cut we know Rey left by herself, but here they left all together, yet Rey is all alone and Jannah and Finn pop up before the duel.
- After Kylo gets the map and says "Look at yourself", the sound is almost cut off for like a second.
- I found the flashback dialogue between Luke and Rey after she stabs Kylo, a bit forced and unnecessary.
- One of my biggest problems, the fadeout of Han and Ben. I mean, that's how we end the arc of this character? A fadeout? That was a big no for me, which connects it to my next point.
- The whole ending scene that had to do with Palpatine, was "full" of jumpcuts and generally changes that where pretty obvious. Something that could have being avoided by keeping Ben there.
- And lastly, something that I mentioned also in Episode 8 Anti-Cringe, the green light in Luke's saber. You could tell it was added. I obviously understand the reasons behind it, but since I could tell, I wouldn't mind the other color.

Overall, I still suggest this version to anyone who wants an aggressive edit of Episode 9, Don's is the only one. I just hope the editor will revisit it to smooth some things out and change others. For me it will be my go to version, but that is because I don't have a choice and it's a shame not to watch the final film of the saga in a future marathon.

Thank you DonKamillo, thanks to anyone who read my review and may the force be with you!

P.S. I copy pasted some of my text from my review of the Episode 8 Anti-Cringe, because it applied here also.

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.

I watched this back to back yesterday with the anti-cringe cut of TLJ, even though it was really late and I actually wanted to go to bed.
And considering how much I didn't like the original "Rise of Skywalker", this is quite the compliment for this fanedit.

It's still not a good movie, but it's far better than the original. Palpatine has been reduced to a minimum (I was kinda hoping for him to be removed completely and having him only as a mysterious voice, even though I know it's pretty much impossible.), Skywalker lives (even though he's a bit translucent every now and then. ;)) and then there were some other surprises that I really liked.

Great job.! This will be my go-to-version of the movie.

Many of the changes helped but others were a miss for me. Moving the reveal of Chewbacca's survival was effective. And many of the removals helped streamline the narrative (like the Poe backstory and Zori's reduced role). While the thought of removing the wayfinder is good, the execution makes the visit to Endor not satisfyingly explainable. Taking Kylo/Ben out of the fight with the Emperor sounds like a great idea but cuts the legs out of the whole point of how the Emperor could be defeated this time - that it takes the power of the Force dyad. Definitely enjoyable, but the source material really makes this cut less than its potential.