Star Wars: Heir to the Force

Overall, a very strong edit of a film I wanted to love in the theater. I might have named it 'deAbrams cut' because the fluff, the comedy is gone. What remains is a tight narrative that strengthens the 'evil' portion of the story. The delayed Kylo reveal worked for me, your mileage may vary. Tempering some of his childish rage and evening out the fight with Rey also bold and favorable, IMO. As with most fanedits, some loss of context is unavoidable and for those with several watches under their belt. Nothing jarring, but some jumps leave you wondering what, if anything, was lost. Some VERY solid audio changes add a lot of great color and tone to what was previously quite flat. Definitely worth a watch

This is the first fanedit of Force Awakens I've seen and I got to tell you it's a very good one in almost every way.

To me the original Force Awakens was a really good movie but it had its flaws. After Rogue One was released these flaws stood out more as the movie had a "competitor" now, superior almost in every way (IMHO). DigModiFicaTion went far to fix most of the flaws.

Much of the silly humor is gone now. Unfortunately though some bits I actually liked were gone too like "You're cold". Many might disagree with me but I thought it was very funny, although not very Han Solo-ish (if you compare to original movies). Overall the editor did good job cutting the excessive humor.

Finn as a character is now much more likable. He's not that goofy any longer which is a major improvement. In the original version it seemed the actor/character was trying way too hard which bothered me. Poe is better as well, although the editor lowered his ace pilot status in one particular battle which I thought didn't work out that well. IMO he's supposed to be an ace, hero pilot and should get a heroic score (which is gone now as well) when blowing bad guys out of the sky.

Now, the biggest change is the portration of Kylo Ren. Very good job on this one! The original Kylo Ren wasn't badly portraited. To me he was just a different kind of a bad guy but DigModiFicaTion made him more mature and simply a better villain. The tantrum is gone and him removing the mask only in front of Han Solo simply works better.

R2D2 was handled ok. Not much to say about that.

I was afraid the ending wouldn't work as I loved the original island ending, but to my surprisement it worked out well. A very nice ending indeed. I might still like the original more but this was a very good ending as well. The hologram was a nice addition. Now the pirates and the monster... see, I have already forgotten their names because I always skip that part. I think the editor did some adjustments there which is nice but I personally would have find a way to cut the whole scene, it's just THAT bad.

Overall the editor has done first class job. I might disagree on some changes or cut out some extra dialogue or parts but this fanedit pleases me and I like this more than the original movie. The visual and audio editing was top notch work as well. I can only recommend this one to everyone!

(Sorry for a long review.)

The suspense of the identity of Kylo Ren was a great idea and it was beautiful edited
removing most of the humor was in my opinion a great choice
I really like this edit its defiantly better then the original
I highly recommend watching this version

Great edit. Many subtle changes made that can easily go unnoticed, but a lot of effort was clearly put in (Envy the editor, I do not). I don't agree with all the cuts (more on that below), but overall this is a much stronger version of TFA and one that I would probably choose to watch over the theatrical.

Visual editing was excellent, (new FX like lightsabers and holograms go way over my head), though I have some minor niggles:

- "Who talks first" removal felt awkward. Would work best with one less shot of Poes face IMO. In the last shot it looks like Poe is about to say something.
- I get that it was changed for consistency, but that sunset Tie fighter shot looked soooo good. Now it looks a bit washed out.
- Snoke hologram was a much needed change. I remember seeing the film in the cinema and genuinely thinking he was a giant alien. It honestly didn't clock that he was a hologram until made apparent at the end of the film. To be a nitpicker though, the blue was a little harsh on the eyes in some shots and didn't blend entirely seamlessly IMO. A deeper blue and less hologram jitter would work well.
- Masked Ren during Rey's interrogation was well done, but not to my taste. It's a good moment for him to be revealed IMO. She calls him out as a masked weirdo and he responds like a taunted teenager (which is exactly what he is). It shows a vulnerable side to him and gives weight to Rey's resisting of his powers. I also missed the look on his face when Rey says "you'll never be as strong...". This was well edited though. Some shots you could tell were taken from Kylo sitting on the other side of the room, but generally it was very convincing.

Audio editing:

Kudos on this. Bad audio editing is my pet peeve and I'm usually on it like a shark. I didn't pick up anything arry though and there was much eyebrow-raising when I read the cutlist!

Narrative:

- I never had a problem with the Tie fighter blowing up after sinking in the sand. Now that it doesn't, it kinda feels like Finn gives up on Poe a bit too easily. Whereas the explosion wiped out any hope of him being alive.
- I get this was cut for pacing, but I missed "that's not how the force works". It cracks me up every time ;)
- R2 not being asleep was a nice move, but is a bit shaky narrative wise - now it seems weird that we neither see nor hear of him during the film and then he turns up at the end magically weilding the needed map ('ello Deus Ex Machina).

Take a look at the cutlist though and you'll see these are minor complaints. A lot of great work was put into this and the film is stronger overall as a result. Great work, Dig!

Now... (cough)... Good luck editing The Last Jedi! ;)

Overall, this is a solid edit, though I did miss the Luke Skywalker reveal at the end, which he eliminated. Additionally, I did miss a few bits of the humor that DigModiFicaTion trimmed from the film. Though definitely some of it needed to go. Also, I agree with the-scribbling-man remark in his review that the tie fighter blowing up in the sand should have remained. Other than that the audio and video editing were superb.