Star Wars: Rise of the Empire

Review by kenobys — June 18, 2009 @ 7:24 am

Great Experience! Really enjoyable!
8.5/10!

Suggestions to reach the 10/10:
-remove Jar Jar completely by using materiel from Phantom Edit
-put Yoda’s fight from episode 2 back into the edit
-put episode 3 opening back into the edit using ADigitalMan’s Extended Edition

Review by Sunshine1970 — July 8, 2008 @ 4:22 am

I stumbled upon this by accident a few weeks ago. Finally got around to watching it yesterday. This is my first fanedit to watch. I think I’m hooked on them.

This version actually made me LIKE Jake Lloyd’s young Anakin. I also found the podrace quite exciting, as opposed to completely boring in the official version.
Episode III was always the weakest version for me. I find it boring. By the time the final duel happens I don’t really care what happens to any of the characters. But, by editing out a lot of the junk, adding many of the deleted scenes back in, I found myself engrossed in the battle.

I find Jar Jar a much more likable character, now.

Although there are some annoying spots, as SirMavins points out, especially Jar Jar’s dialogue, I wasn’t too bothered by it. It was still an improvement. I also agree about the cutting of Episode II, but IMHO, what this proved is that Episode II was pretty much not even needed. I do admit that the original Episode II is my favorite movie in the trilogy mainly due to Boba & Jango Fett in it so to see all the cuts was maddening at times. One huge improvement, though, is the chase of Obi-Wan and Slave I. To not have any of the dialogue between father & son, and instead concentrate on the chase really brought a lot of tension to the scene which it was missing originally.

There were also some cuts here & there that felt a bit abrupt but the overall story was not affected. It was much improved, and well done. Highly enjoyable, and one that will sit proudly next to all my Star Wars DVDs & videos.

Review by juk — June 8, 2008 @ 12:27 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

to lewis866. this is the first fan edit of the prequels that i have seen, but i think you delivered a great edit for what most people who hate jar jar and "annie" would have wanted. however, i really can't believe you spent over a year working on this, when the video quality is so poor, even for dvd. plus splitting it onto two dvds was a really bad idea, as it interrupted the flow immensely, especially having to watch your warning and lucasflim logo again. at the quality it was at, it could have fitted onto one disc. also, there are moments where the story jumps too far without enough explanation, like the arena battle in episode two. it just happens. as for jar jar, his subtitles could have been more menacing, giving the film an edge that the kiddie shelf originals didn't have. for example, there was no reason for him to discuss his father, since we don't really care who the senior gungan is. it would have been better if jar jar was screaming to spill the blood of the invaders, or something and his "father" later calling for death to the...er... droids? actually, it only occurred to me while watching your edit, that only real casualties in the "clone wars" were clones and droids - both of which are made in factories, so who cares if the get killed? still, a vast improvement on what that twat lucas did.

Review by spelledaren — August 4, 2008 @ 10:12 am

*This rating was given before reviews were required*