Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back: Revisited

After almost a decade of anticipation, The Empire Strikes Back: Revisited is finally here... though I’m a little late to the game because I wanted to wait until The Last Jedi came out. Nevertheless... does this edit live up to the hype? BIG YES.

The Empire Strikes Back has never been better. The effort put into it is amazing. Once again, it’s still Irvin Kirshner’s The Empire Strikes Back, but all the technical issues that should have been fixed in the Special Edition, has been fixed. It’s absolutely phenomenal.

Probably my favorite improvement is the Emperor hologram. Neither the theatrical nor the Special Edition Emperor works for me. The theatrical edition, while I appreciate the effort put into creating him, and like his look more than the Special Edition Emperor, is simply inconsistent with Return of the Jedi and the Prequels, too much for me to accept him. However a big plus to him was how he was hidden in shadows and how mysterious he was. I love the feel of the scene with the theatrical Emperor.

The Special Edition Emperor, while this time fits in the continuity, unfortunately removes all mystery he had. They shot the scene during the shooting of Revenge of the Sith, and his whole face is showing, removing any feeling of mystery and fear. He just appears as a generic evil lord.

Thankfully Adywan has created a perfect “best of both worlds” version of the Emperor. Not only is he consistent with the saga, both by looks and by voice, but he’s also covered in shadows and is very mysterious, very much like the theatrical Emperor.

I also LOVE that Jason Wingreen’s voice as Boba Fett has been restored. I don’t care if he’s a clone, there are many factors that affect voice, and Temuera Morrison just sounds like he doesn’t give a fuck. Wingreen’s gravely voice is just awesome and complements the coolness of the character, even if I’m not head over heels for him like most other fans do.

Other than these obvious ones: the color correction is fantastic, the continuity kept is great, all fixed technical details are fantastic, all additions are fitting and looks amazing. Empire was never better. Thumbs WAY up!

What a labour of love. Not much to say about this edit that hasn't been said already. It's pretty much flawless. All of the changes are intergrated nearly seemlessly and really enrich the world.
I suspect the most controvesial additions will be during the AT-ATs scenes on Hoth which are probably the most obvious changes. Personnally I think they look great and perfectly fit in with Adywan's mission to proceduce what the special editions should have been. Many of the other changes are pretty subtle and I suspect someone watching for the first time would assume that they were part of the original release.
There's the odd scene which still stands out. The effects for Luke's fall in Bespin are still a bit ropey but at least we've got rid of the bizzare scream as he's falling.
Overall, this is essential for star wars fans and will be my go to version.

As someone who enjoyed ANH:R's changes, this one felt too similar to the Despecialized Edition. The one major change from the theatrical version that I thought improved the film is the new Emperor hologram. The new special effects are nice, but they were mostly minor improvements that add up over the course of the film.

Once a masterpiece, now even more so. Incredible work.

Brilliant!