Star Wars - Silent Edition: Episode VII

I have to say, truly impressed by this edit. Even with no actual sound from the actual playing video, everything just... works! I agree with the others, and have to say that TMBTM is seriously an expert editor. The narrative flows well, everything comes together nicely, dialogue cards are used well, does not take you out of the experience at all. What TMBTM has achieved is great, condensing TFA into just 55 minutes is impressive, and key elements, breathing room, emotional moments still have their place with nothing out of place. The music is great, very fitting overall, and also lets you feel the whole score with no other noise while making it fit emotionally, and TMBTM has done this excellently. The colour tint of the B&W scenes show emotion and tone of each scene, and more importantly each moment. The pan&scan 3:4 format, and then the vignette, grain, imperfections and all that good stuff are also done superbly!

I'll echo the others' once again too, I think I'll sit back and take a look at the other 6 edits, because this one was amazing. Stellar job, TMBTM!

This was an absolute joy to watch. At less than hour long, TMBTM manages to still maintain a consistent and clear narrative, capturing all the key plot points.

I dare say I enjoyed this more than the original. A delayed reveal of Kylo Ren as Han and Leia's son, very little Star Killer Base/Death Star fan service...all the bits I didn't like were gone, and a simple, but satisfying story remained, as did character charm.

It was wonderful hearing the soundtrack as a feature. It truly allowed me to appreciate elements of the music that I wouldn't normally notice.
Visually, this was gorgeous as well. The contrast in colour, black & white and sepia was superbly used and created an excellent visual dynamic. Music and colour told more about the emotion of the story and characters than you would necessarily expect (A key example being the death of Han Solo).

Now for the qualms, (the part of the review I hate). These are pure nitpicks compared to the beauty of the overall product:

I noticed a few music transitions, most of which would easily go unnoticed. There was, however, one jarring music cut at around 50:24. There was also one visual cut at around 46:54ish (possibly just before) that I found took me out of the experience slightly.

Overall, though? Wonderful. A genuine pleasure from beginning to end. I'd echo Q2 in saying that this makes me want to go and watch the other silent edits. It also makes an excellent recap of The Force Awakens - just in time for Episode VIII!

Excellent edit. Touches on the important and emotional story beats in half the time it takes to sit through the film. At times I wish there were better mixes of the music as there are moments of utter silence when a track runs out of time, but it rarely deters from the enjoyment. You don't feel lost at all.

I've always believed one should be able to watch a movie with the audio muted and still be able to know what is going on. Perhaps it's because I've seen TFA enough to know the story, but I like to believe it's more for the fact that TMBTM is an expert editor. He manages to cut TFA down to under 60 min. focusing on the very important moments with minimal text cards popping up. It's a rather effective and refreshing way to re-watch the seventh SW film. There's not much I can say about it: it's been cropped 4:3 with film dust and hair added, the film converted to black and white with color overlays to help convey mood, and as previously noted the text cards. It looks and feels like a silent film.

If you're not into silent films then this won't do anything for you, but for those that do enjoy them you'll probably get a kick out of this. I haven't watched TMBTM's previous silent film but after watching this I will have to add them to my to watch list.