Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi: Rekindled

We have to go back to the 17th of December, 2015 when a not even 20 year old boy sat in a theatre at midnight, crying through the entire title crawl of The Force Awakens 'cause he loves Star Wars since he was 6 years old but never thought he‘d see the premiere of a Star Wars Episode at the theatre. And boy oh boy, did this boy love that movie.

Two years went by and it was the 14th of December, 2017 - again at midnight. I was hyped like only a few times before in my life. And maybe that was the ultimate reason for the utter and bitter devastation that followed. How I hated that movie. How I hated everyone that defended it.

Fast forward again two years. After seeing The Rise of Skywalker I decided to give TLJ another go. It had been the only Star Wars movie I‘ve only ever watched once. I couldn‘t get myself to and I didn‘t want to watch the movie in it‘s original form again. So I‘ve searched for a fanedit and found „The Fallen Knight“ which doesn‘t change the movie from the ground up but removes most of the shenanigans that bothered me so much and left me with a version of the film I neither love or hate. Instead it left me like Luke at the end of his life: in peace.

I was beginning to wonder if there could be even more done with the source material. So next time around I went with DonKamillos "Definitive Anti-Cringe-Cut". The first and second act are perfect. Seemless editing and a narrative which made me really enjoy this film.

Because hidden under all the unanswered questions/unsatisfying answers (Who are the Knights of Ren?, Who is Snoke?, Who are Rey‘s parents?), all the dumb humour ('Yo Mamma' jokes, porgs and the mighty Luke sucking space milk from an alien tiddy), all the aimless storylines (Finn/Rose/Rey love triangle, Canto Bright, DJ, Captain Phasma) and all the other mischiefs (CARRIE f*cking POPPINS and Luke tossing away the lightsaber after THE most anticipated cliffhanger ever) lies an amazing movie after all!

Unfortunately the Definitive Anti-Cringe-Cut had some choices made for the last half hour which change the story in such a major way that it even effects the continuity of the next film so this can't be the replacement I'm looking for. It just wasn‘t for me.

So, The Fallen Knight made me not hate it anymore, the Anti-Cringe-Cut made me like it and Hal’s TLJ: Legendary made me love it. Perfect video and audio quality/editing (visually TLJ has always been an impressing film) and 100% improved storytelling by getting rid of all disctracting things (which there too many of to name them all).
Only things I didn't like that are still in the Legendary edit: the shot of Luke drinking milk, Carrie Poppins and Rose saving Finn.

Gladly TLJ: Rekindled by poppasketti builds up on that edit and fixes all of my remaining problems with the film. It totally holds up by video/audio quality/editing (really amazing work!) and has become my definitive go-to version ever since. It holds it‘s very well deserved place on my Blu-Ray shelf for fanedits.

Thank you so much for your really great and hard work!

If anyone is interested my shelf consists of:

Episode I: The Phantom Menace ‚Faster, More Intense‘ by octorox

Episode II: The Approaching Storm by Hal9000

Episode III: Labyrinth of Evil (Alternate Ending) by Hal9000 (still have to watch Revenge of the Sith 'Another Happy Sanding' by octorox)

Episode IV: Project 4k77 by TeamNegative1 and Despecialized v2.7 by Harmy

Episode V: Despecialized v2.0 by Harmy

Episode VI: Project 4k83 by Team Negative1 and Despecialized v2.5 by Harmy

Episode VII: The Force Awakens Restructured by Hal9000

Episode VIII: The Last Jedi Rekindled by poppasketti

Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker Ascendant by Hal9000

Rogue One: Hal’s Rogue One edit (a half-assed version of DigMod’s) by Hal9000

Solo: The Coaxium Heist by DigModiFicaTion

I really enjoyed this edit. I've been apathetic towards TLJ over the years. There have been things I liked and things that I didn't about this movie. I really enjoyed the effort that this edit makes to foreshadow Rey's heritage and makes hints of Palpatine returning in TROS, which felt so out of left field when it happened originally. I also totally agree with the decision to remove Leia Poppins.

I never hated The Last Jedi, like a lot of people did, but it did have it 's flaws. Leia's space walk and Canto Bight were the biggest issues to me, along with some smaller things. This edit does a great job of cleaning a lot of that up. It is flawless! Fantastic work! This is now my go-to version.

This is really as perfect as fan editing gets. Superb job here from HAL, poppasketti, and the contributors on OT. I already liked The Last Jedi, and this edit improves the film so much more. From the removal of Leia Poppins to the VFX work to the sand speeder scene, the Phasma scene, and the added shuttle scene, this is a definitive cut. Every artistic choice of poppasketti is made through the eyes of a talented film editor and works well. Note: this review is of the non-Palpatine version.

I usually watch fanedits of movies when I think the movie had something interesting in it, but it had too many flaws. TLJ was a prime candidate for me. I'm in the minority who actually liked this movie. It's got new stuff, new ideas, it expands on the previous movies while examines and even subverts a lot of SW ideas in good ways. Still, it had a lot of flaws for me. And I'm not talking about the usual SW fan gripes; it's the silly humour or Johnson's compulsion to subvert expectations.
I wish I could watch the other fanedits to compare them, but for now this is enough and I can say poppasketti made an excellent job. Again, I already like the uncut version, but poppasketti made it even better, and I'd recommend this version for a first viewer. The best reason for this is that I cannot even tell what's been cut or changed except for 5 prominent (and good) examples. Every other change is therefore seamlessly made and are good choices.
The length is more bareable this way, with cutting the blighted (haha) Canto Bight plot. It feels a little abrupt how quickly they leave the planet, and maybe there were a few dialogues there that were thematically relevant, but overall I'm glad it's shortened. Finn's and Phasma's confrontation is also cut, after which our heroes' escape is again abrupt, but it's good for the pacing (also, remember that the ship has just been torn in half, so there's supposed to be a sense of urgency).
The other two examples are massive upgrades: Luke's saber toss is almost dramatic with this music choice (Ryan, must you subvert everything?), and I was surprised how seamlessly Finn's sacrifice was changed - now it actually works and we don't have to suffer Rose's bullshit explanation.
And a bonus: I knew from the description that Kylo's hinting was cut, but I was still surprised to see how effective it was.
Most of the silly jokes are also cut, although the ones still in there are difficult to cut (like when Rey mistakes a blade of grass with the Force). Still, I like how this editor "retained the lighthearted spirit."
Johnson has a few other choices that I don't agree with, but those can't be fixed by faneditors. Overall, I really like Rekindled as it improves TLJ greatly.