Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi: Legendary

I quite loved the theatrical cut of The Last Jedi but even I will admit that the 2nd act is too much of a slog and has diminished my appreciation for the film upon subsequent viewings. Thankfully, Hal9000 has done it again and provided me with a better alternative that addresses all of my problems with that pesky 2nd act. Well done

Although I'm solidly in the "pro-TLJ" camp, there were definite problems that I had with the film, largely to do with Rose's character and the humour (which seemed more at place in a Marvel movie that in Star Wars) and this edit smoothes out nearly all of my problems. This will be my "go-to" version to watch from here on out. (In fact, with a bit of splicing in from the TFA trailer, as a "previously on..." you could almost call this version "Star Wars: The Epilogue" and have it stand completely on its own from the Abrams-directed entries. But I'll withhold making that fan edit myself until I get my eyeballs on Hal9000's cuts of those films!)

Wow. Just wow. When I finished watching this edit I thought to myself, "That was a great movie!" I think that is the best praise an edit can get.

It has been more than a year since I watched The Last Jedi so I was not hung up on what was removed or changed. I was able to watch it as a movie, not as a fanedit. And as a movie it was terrific. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Well done!

The details have already been covered well. For me the biggest help has been the big trims, mainly the Finn/Rose storyline and the casino. Those distracted and dragged the whole movie down. Now pacing is great; things move along and it's an enjoyable storyline. I'm not sure how to resolve Leia's spacewalk, and that's really the only weird hitch in the move for me now.

Been a long time since I watched the original and this is the first fan-edit I've seen.

The pacing is leagues better. Distracting tone-shifting humor and repetitive exposition has been trimmed and makes for much smoother scenes.

The excised sections of Canto Bight does absolute wonders, amazing how much more tolerable that section of the movies is. Do not miss it at all, almost forgot that it should have happened. You're more invested in the immediate action and forget that there was this whole slog about back-story and saving animals. Didn't feel too brief for me.

I'm not sure why the slave boy is still at the end. Where'd he get the ring? Is he oppressed? Is the New Order the reason he's oppressed? Where is he located, is it somewhere that the New Order is causing problems? There's no context for that scene. It also just bothers me that he's so clean. Those slave children just look like L.A. child actors to me.

Editing is very tasteful and a lot of the fixes are effective in their simplicity. I think the poppasketti music cue for the lightsaber toss is inspired and the removal of Roses' line after her crash introduces enough ambiguity that you don't know WHY she's being contradictory to her values rather than knowing the reason and it not making sense.

I did not like Finn and Roses' meeting scene in the original and this is better but it does feel a little odd. I looked at the change list and saw that the "breathe" line was re-instated but I'm not sure why. I saw this cold, didn't read the change-list or any forum discussions before and that popped out at me as un-warranted for him to say. She doesn't get excited enough for that to make sense, the shot really holds on him like it's a big joke but there was not much of a set-up.

I could do without Leia flying. It doesn't make me angry like it does with some, but it just strikes me as a bit silly. It doesn't look very convincing and it's not staged or directed in a way that feels powerful to me. Like, I have some problems with the hyperspace jump kamikaze scene on a story level but I can't deny the visual power. It's arresting, but I can't say the same for Leia flying.

Ultimately, the movie doesn't get better for me on a fundamental level. There's things that make sense to me even less than they did the first time. I more and more don't really understand what this movie is about or what Rian Johnson is actually trying to say. I get to the end of the movie and have so many questions about what this really adds to the discussion of myth in popular culture. It's subervise in ways that seem to really only work for people that already agree with its perspective, Johnson doesn't really use much rhetoric. There's not a lot of writing or filmmaking that's being used to help along people that aren't on board. I'm all for subversion, but you got to be a little more deft with your tools when you're working in pulp.

I'm not sure I'm really interested in a more radical edit, though. I have things I'd prefer to be changed but they wouldn't make my overall opinion of the base movie different. I think HAL9000 makes this just about as polished as it can be. A wonderful piece of editing and much easier of a watch.

Watched the 720 mp4 and it looked great, a very good encode for its size.