Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi: Anti-Cringe-Cut

I approached this edit with the mindset that one can only do so much when polishing a turd. I didn't think it was possible for an edit to make this movie not only entertaining, but also rewatchable. And yet, here I am. Dumbfounded, awe-struck, and genuinely hyped for the Anti-Cringe-Cut for the next movie, which I'm about to watch. The last time I felt this way about a Star Wars fanedit was the first time I saw the Anti-Cheese edits for the Prequels, and I thought that was only possible because Lucas had legitimately good ideas in those films that just needed tweaking. Here is a movie made for the sole purpose of spitting in fans' faces, transformed into a slightly (endearingly) awkward flick that only wants to be its own thing. Yes, Luke is still a sad, pathetic hermit, but at least there's better reasoning behind this change in character. Yes, Rose Tico is still in this movie, but at least her inclusion no longer hinders the plot. Heck, even Holdo's subplot, of all things, gets a much-needed touch-up. I'm a little on the fence about the Death Star cannon on Crait, but let's be honest; polished turds still have bits of crap here and there, and DonKamillo really did the best he (she?) could've done, given what he (she?) had to work with. As an added bonus, whether intentional or not, this fanedit fits practically seamlessly with DigModiFicaTion's Heir to the Force fanedit, so you can have your cake, and eat it too! Definitely worth checking out.

As others have said, anyone trying to recut this mess is in for a lot of work. Trying to turn TLJ into a decent film might seem impossible, but DonKamillo has done just that. You might think he'd have to cut a lot and you'd be right. This guy is aggressive, but dang if this movie didn't need it. For quite a while, my favorite cut of this film was "The Clean Cut" which is a big improvement on the original, but this goes farther and takes more risks. You won't watch thing and have to stop and wonder if you're actually watching the theatrical release. You know it all the way through. And not because it looks bad or sounds messy. The cuts and clean and mostly unnoticed. But most of all, the movie is a good looking movie, even if the story is awful. Don fixes a lot of the story and retains the slick and shiny presentation which is the only thing Rian Johnson seemed to have any talent for. This is probably my go to cut and I can't wait to see what he does with RoS. Thank the maker for fan editors like DonK

Let’s just say that to me, TLJ is the worst Star Wars movie ever and that I don’t consider it even a Star Wars movie.
With that said, this edit is better than the theatrical cut, but that was so bad it’d be hard not to.
So I’ll go with what a liked and disliked about this edit.

Good:

- Luke lived
- Casino, Finn Rose gone
- most of Holdo Poe gone
- Leia dies in space

Bad
- without the casino scenes the movie is a complete bore as it focuses on Rey/Kylo/Luke etc too much and barely anything happens at all.
Again this is Rian’s fault and not the edit.

I plan never to watch any version of this movie ever again.

I mostly watched this edit because I wanted to see DonKamillo's Rise of Skywalker edit, which sounded super interesting to me because I greatly disliked that film. I really enjoy The Last Jedi so I was curious to see what Don would do with a lot of the elements that don't personally bother me and most of which I enjoy.

It was a pretty good edit to be honest. Moving chronologically, the edits during the opening battle were seamless. It's actually quite impressive how he managed to cut that stuff without it feeling like something was missing (I particularly liked the cut from Poe in the cockpit to him attacking the dreadnought). I did miss BB-8's shenanigans but that's a personal thing. The edit of Luke having the lightsaber and giving it back to Rey was perfect! I don't mind the original scene but it felt like that's what might have really happened and I dug it. I thought that the deleted scene of Luke mourning Han wasn't added very well, the edit felt very obvious mostly because of the random shot of Ahch-To Island that is obviously slowed and then suddenly the Star Wars theme kicks in and right before it's supposed to crescendo, it awkwardly cuts back into the Kylo elevator scene. It felt very fanedited and I wasn't a fan. Same with the deleted scene of Poe talking to Finn about what happened since his coma. I love that scene but the placement/edit of it wasn't that great to me. The deleted scene of the island native was seamlessly included though, it felt very natural and I almost didn't notice it was new.

Leia's death was handled really nicely though, cutting it was a really good move in my opinion. While I like the rest of her scenes in Last Jedi, I do really dislike her inclusion in Rise of Skywalker so I guess with what we have available, this is a good spot to have that happen. I missed Chewie's Porg scene, and the Porgs in general, but the edits were nicely handled so no points lost there. I absolutely love that deleted scene of Rey's third lesson. I had never seen that before, and it fits into the film perfectly. It absolutely should have been in there from the start.


Although I don't think it's very necessary, I do like the edit of the vision during Rey v Luke where Luke sees what will happen with Rey. It's well done. Same with the cutting down of Luke's recounting of what happened with Ben at the temple. That's one of the changes I'm personally totally fine with, mostly because it quickens the pace of that scene really well. Great edit of the scene there. Although I don't necessarily feel like the Poe/Holdo subplot needed to be cut, the cuts were well done even if it does feel a little quick. I absolutely love the new scene where the Crait plan is explained over a quick montage. It's really well cut together and great.

Due to having to cut around Leia being dead and the way you chose to do Crait, the initial scene on Crait does feel a little weird especially with Finn just showing up again after being out of the movie for like an hour. Cutting the other stuff before the battle starts is executed quite well though. Another problem that occurs due to the cuts is that the focus on Rose in the Crait battle feels weird because we don't know who she is. Still, the editing during the battle of the Falcon's entrance is great, and the cut of the sacrifice and kiss was really well done even if it did feel just a little sudden because of it. During the Resistance members trying to escape, the music was well chosen but it often overpowered the dialogue in the scene which made it feel unnatural.

The recut of Luke's entrance on Crait to have Leia not there was really well done, it doesn't feel edited at all (even though I do miss the Leia scene terribly). The cut of Hux getting thrown around for questioning Kylo going down to fight Luke was great. I forgot about it for a few seconds until I remembered, so good one there! The cut from Luke falling down and the wide shot of Ahch-To to Kylo coming into the base was very well done and worked really, really well. It didn't even feel edited. Having to cut around Leia in the final scene on the Falcon was kinda meh for me, it didn't really fit right but that's not a huge quibble. That final scene with Luke still being alive and using the prologue from TROS was brilliantly done, even if it felt more like it should have been a mid-credits scene or something. It worked really well in terms of bridging the gap between the two films, and I really liked how it kinda felt like the end of Attack of the Clones. The last shot though was a weird one to end on, personally.

For what this edit seeked out to accomplish, it's quite impressive. If I was someone who really didn't like The Last Jedi, I think it would be a great edit for me. The Canto Bight removal is brilliantly executed and it feels like it was never meant to be there, so great job with that edit! As someone who does, I found some of the exclusions to just be kinda sad and I missed them. Still, despite some technical missteps in a few moments and pacing issues due to the amount of cuts, this is a really good edit of the film and I would definitely recommend it if you didn't like TLJ.

This review will come from someone who actually appreciates what Rian Johnson gave us, but I'm always open for fresh new views.

Being a professional editor I can tell you a lot of work went into this and was very well-made.

This was a fun watch and almost replaces the original film for me.

It's definitely worth a look!