Review Detail

I actually liked a lot of the original cut of the Last Jedi, but often found myself disengaged with the humor and needless side stories. What hooked me was the engaging subversive drama revolving around Luke, Rey and Kylo and this edit brings the focus squarely onto that. At a nice pace, it does not drag and has such an abundance of material already that many of the things omitted here don't stand out as missing. The additions are seemlessly added in and provide no distraction. If there was one nitpick it would be the cringe that has to be kept in when Finn awakens from his coma in that suit, and maybe Luke's sass to R2D2 when he's showing him Leia's hologram. Speaking of Leia, I don't mind that she's killed off...it mirrors Carrie's real life passing and it gives the film additional stakes and feeds into Luke's character arc more. In some ways it helps subversive a film already so "subversible" (is that even a word?).

Overall, the anti-cringe cut doesn't just settle with removing the parts that make you wince, it creates a whole different take on the most divisive SW film of the modern era, one which gives you a distinct range of emotions and thoughts for the legends of old and the hope of tomorrow, and truly does restore a spark of balance to an uneven product.