Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker: Anti-Cringe-Cut
HotUser reviews
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.
I was enthusiastic for this since I had a blast with TLJ Anti-Cringe. I feel like that edit breathed new life to a movie bent on being bold but doomed to buckle under its own ambitions.
TROS, the way I see it, had no ambition whatsoever and unfortunately an Anti-Cringe Cut could not change that.
That's not to say it isn't any better. It certainly is. Its lighter and tighter, I would say mostly because its rid of macguffins. But the structure remains the same. Its repetitive, redundant, and with terribly artificial stakes and scale. But hey, less cringey this time around.
I just feel it could have done a little more time on cutting table, though. I'm not sure if I missed something, but there are some mentions out of nowhere to Exegol, Occhi, and what does Rey want so bad with the second wayfinder on the Death Star that is supposed to be a nameless artifact?
Also, the added VFX to some scenes are rather jarring. Ren's desert un-crash and Luke's un-ghost are distracting, I have to say. Looking at the cutlist I would have thought some editing tricks like cropping or rearranging shots would work better in these cases.
While some of the changes contributed to better the story (like Rey killing Ren fitting Luke's prophecy, Lando's late reveal, 3PO's new beginning, no Palpatine heritage), others left me confused (Chewie's "ressurection" is cheaper now that there's no transport confusion shown onscreen, and the Knights of Ren are even more out of place since we don't know who they're supposed to be). Others I thought could be cut remained (Planet-killing ships and command antennas are still a thing, and I thought Pasaana was this movie's Canto Bight really), and that made me a little more disappointed.
I won't dwell on it, but this did not went the way I thought it would. Still I'd like to thank Don once again for the commitment and generosity in sharing his efforts. Even if its not the ideal TROS edit (at least for me), its definitely another showcase for his sharp editing skills.
User Review
Thank YOU for the first review!
Regarding some of your points:
- Exagol is established by Poe very early when everybody listens to the Emperor's broadcast, so it does not come out of nowhere ;)
- The same goes for Occhi. He is not mentioned in the cave but when Rey starts to remember what happened to her parents, she remembers his name too and tells it to Finn, so he is established as well.
- Rey is not looking for the wayfinder on the Death Star. I changed the translated dagger message, that 3PO is reading, so instead of "The Wayfinder" he says, that the Emperor himself is at those coordinates. That's why they travel to the Death Star. I purposely cut the the translated dagger message to be vague and open for interpretation because it does not have to mean that the Emperor is there in person all the time... but that he was there at some point and who knows who left that mysterious artifact behind ;)
- I expected Luke's unghosting to be distracting because I had no alternative material to work with and the VFX on that one are far from perfect. But I guess it's a similar problem I had with Leia in the original movie (at least Luke has more to do in the movie than her ;) )
- With "Ren's uncrash" as you call it, I guess you're referring to his ship in the background. Not everybody noticed that, when I put up a clip in the forums so I guess a viewer, who hasn't seen the clip and watches the scene for the first time would not notice it that much.
- Regarding "Chewie's resurrection": I dare you to show the original movie to a fresh viewer and ask him/her if he/she saw that second transport for that split second it was shown :) That's why we have a scene right after that one where Hux reveals that there was a second transport (which I cut). In my edit it's basically the same, only the reveal is later and instead of Hux saying there was a second transport, Rey is saying there was a second transport.
All in all I cut out a lot IMO but had to leave some stuff in so the narrative stays intact. Still happy you found some enjoyment with the edit at least and thanks again for the feedback :)
User Review
First of all, thanks for the review!
However I don't quite understand your argument about this edit defeating the point of the force dyad being the reason for the Emperor's demise in the original movie as this is not the case at all.
Kylo does nothing to help Rey defeat the Emperor. In fact he does the opposite in making the Emperor stronger. He is then quickly disposed of when the Emperor throws him in a hole and does not provide any support in defeating him. Rey does it all on her own (with a little help of the powers that be), which this edit showcases even more by cutting Kylo out of the fight.
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!
User Review
Now the way I review these edits is to nitpick while I watch, so that’s what’s above. Overall I think this is a very good edit, particularly if you like what was done in this editor's TLJ edit. The visual editing is superb. I don’t know if it counts as visual editing, but the special effects weren’t always convincing. I’ve already mentioned the Luke ghost, but I just don’t think the effects for having Ren land his TIE work. The effect isn’t sold and to do that just to get rid of Rey’s jump move I think is a bad trade off. I’d have to double check to be sure but there were definitely some music cues that seemed to cut abruptly. It mostly it as great.
The movie definitely feels tighter and is improved. A few choices make this difficult for me to fully endorse, but it’s better than the theatrical and if you're a fan of the TLJ Anti-Cringe, you'll likely enjoy this.
User Review
Thanks for the feedback Moe!
Just to clarify the confusing parts:
- Rey loses the second lightsaber when the Emperor pulls her to him and she falls to the ground
- The kiss was not cut because it's "cringe-worthy" but because it comes out of nowhere and was obvious pandering by JJ. The other kiss was cut for the same reasons. I like my movie relationships to be established beforehand ;)
- The color change at the end is open for interpretation. For me it was a nod to the bond she had with Kylo.
If you do double check, I'd appreciate it, if you could let me know where the abrupt audio transitions where.
Cheers!