Star Wars: The Coaxium Heist

So, I had mixed feelings about the theatrical cut of this film. I loved the arc of the character as it sets up a good-hearted origin for our lovable scoundrel. It functions as an anti-OT arc for Han. He once was idealistic and romantic, but the machine of the empire and world weariness crushed that as he learns the hard lessons of smuggling and trusting the wrong people. Even his love that motivates his actions throughout most of the plot ends up betraying him. I think my only complaint is that because MOST of the film revolves around good-hearted Han you can walk away thinking that he just IS a good guy. But that is not the intent of the film. By the end he shoots (coldly) his mentor and friend. He barely bats an eye at the betrayal of Quira. He is now the type of guy that would give Luke and Leia the gruff he gives in ANH.

For those reasons I enjoyed the film. My major problem that kept me from coming back was that L3 sexual nonsense. Star wars is "romantic." It is not, nor should it ever be, "sexual." This is my only real problem with Andor at the moment. Fairy tales just shouldn't be sexual. His cutting of a droid's and Lando's proclivities in the bedroom was by far the best thing about watching this awesome edit. And in turn I care so much more about these characters. I actually kind of enjoyed L3 in this cut. Awesome!

The other masterful tweak was the removing of Maul. Not because Maul is gone. I actually LOVED that moment in theaters. Rather, the removal of Maul from Quira's arc and choice at the end streamlines and clarifies the so many things. Anything that muddies that climactic moment with Becket and Quira at the end absolutely guts this movie. Make no mistake... Becket IS the Han Solo big brother to Han's Luke here. Quira IS the representation of vulnerable love for Han's life. Thus, I really feel like this movie strengthens Han's turn in ANH. He chooses NOT to betray and leave Luke in his moment of need... (the way Becket did with him) and he will not take the money and run from his love, Leia (as Quira did with him). ANH heals the wounds from these two vital characters in Han's past. It makes Han the person he should have been and establishes the Skywalker twins as a force for good and something rare in the Star Wars universe.

But we really lose that by the whole, "LOOK IT'S MAUL" distraction. Focus on YOUR film... YOUR characters... and YOUR themes and plot. This edit gives us all that by its laser tight focus. Thank you! I love it!

As for all the technical aspects, visual and sound fidelity is great. I especially love the boosted brightness to appreciate more of the great physical effects going on this film.

Tried watching through Solo a couple of times a while back but would always give up after a few minutes, had a few apprehensions on starting the edit but before too long I was properly enjoying it.

On reflection, I think part of the issue was attempting to reconcile my ideas of what Star Wars should feel like with the approaches taken by each instalment/sub-series, it will be interesting to finally watch through the original and see how DigMod's changes make a difference.

Coaxium Heist - everyone seems to be raving about this one and I’m not going to spoil that party. It’s awesome, and does indeed feel like a Star Wars edit.

When I saw this I did more out of curiosity, as in this day of faneditors howling at the moon to rectify Obi-Wan, Boba Fett, et al it does give us perspective…there just wasn’t all that incorrect about Ron Howard’s overall vision, IMHO.

That’s what makes finding and appreciating these fanedits so much fun - editors give us the gifts we didn’t realize we wanted. This one seamlessly stacks up now against the best of yer other SW edits, and there’s little in the way of awkwardness.

I personally really love the film’s arc at the end, the standoff with Woody, and how it feels like just another one of a million stories. Respect is paid there, where it belongs.

See for yourself the other changes and decide. For me, it took a film intrinsically just fine but have it another layer - an essential SW layer.

This is why I watch fan edits! I first saw this movie upon release and was greatly disappointed. It dragged in parts and this really tightens it up. It cuts down so much filler and keeps the film on a nice fast paced ride.

The edits are seamless and really well done. I like the new intro crawl and the transitions are fantastic. I greatly appreciate the removal of the blue filter as well as the final Maul scenes.

I'm not a fan of giving 10's across the board, but it really exceeded expectations and I had such a great time watching. This edit completely changed my opinion of the original source material, which is what it set out to do. It's well deserving of it's praise. Thanks for all the hard work DigModiFicaTion!

Before I begin with the review of the edit, a quick word about my feelings for the original film. I saw it once at the cinema and that was it. It's not that it was a bad movie per se, I just didn't enjoy it and also I was very annoyed with how Han got his last name and that over the top silliness and excessive humanization of the android L3. So, although I didn't remember much of the original film when I saw this edit, these two things I remembered clear as yesterday! So my overall enjoyment of the original was around 4.

Now with the edit! The audio and visual technical aspects where nothing less than perfect! I couldn't find a single scene where I could tell or 'feel' that something was tampered with. Also, since english is not my native language and the edit doesn't have subtitles, I had the volume pretty high up, so I would have spotted if anything was off. So job well done here!

But, technical aspects aside, the important part, for me, is always the narrative. I can forgive editing mistakes if, overall, the editor has fixed the movie. So, did this "simple" trimming do anything for me? You bet!! I couldn't believe it! I actually enjoyed the movie much much more. It is amazing, sometimes, what the removing of certain brief scenes or some dialogue, can do for the overall narrative of a film. This edit is a testament that there is not always a need for aggressive editing (unless you are called The Phantom Menace). Sometimes there is a perfectly good movie to be found by just removing simple, but important, things. And in case you are wondering, yes, my two major issues that I had with the original, which I mentioned above, are completely gone!!

My enjoyment is 8 because it doesn't change the fact that I am not THAT fond of this movie, but still. Now it's on my radar for any future Star Wars marathons. So either if you did not like the movie, like myself, or even if you did like it, I can't think of a reason why this shouldn't be your go-to version of the film! I just hope someday we'll get subtitles also.

So, thank you DigModiFicaTion for your excellent work, thanks to anyone who read my review and may the force be with you!