War of the Stars: A New Hope Grindhoused

Thank you TMBTM! This is fucking epic! :]X

War of the Stars in an inspiration for all potential fan editors and general fans of Star Wars. His reimaging of Episode 4 as if it were a 70's grindhouse feature gives the classic guts and charm not existent in the original. It will not replace A New Hope, but it's not designed to do so. This is done for fun and for love, and likely watchers are going to experience both when watching it.

Mask's approach to this project allows himself a certian lenience that other editors will not necessarily be able to employ in a more serious venture. For example, heavy use of poor quality extra footage fits easily into his version because the overall quality itself has been lowered to reflect a less refined attempt at filmmaking.

This is evident not only in extra footage, but in the audio track as well. The dialog track is flat and purposely so, which allows Mask to insert his own dialog changes that, even when they come of inelagently, it only adds to the charm of the film.

However, where this movie really shines is Mask's descisions to resequence certain scenes in the film. In particular, his retooling of the scene in which Death Star is destroyed. It is unique, unexpected and, with the greatest decision he makes in the whole film, hilarious.

It's hard to find fault with such an edit particularly because every bad splicing job, every poor audio cue and every bad bit of pacing can really be attributed to the overall style of the film. It's a clever way of hiding mistakes.

This really is a must see.

Audio/Video Quality: The video quality is intentionally bad in most places, and unintentionally bad in others. This is a limitation of the source material in some cases, and an artistic decision in other cases. The point is for it to look bad, and it succeeds.


Visual Editing: The visual editing is quite good. New effects have been added, blood spurts and things of that nature have been integrated, it's great. At one point the "film" burns through the projector and we have a (monty python-esque) moment where the projectionist has to restart the footage. [This leaves a small hole in the narrative, and prevents an otherwise impossibly awkward transition. Think of it the same way you think of the "Missing Reels" in Tarantino's Grindhouse.]
Audio Editing: Some of Vader's lines feel very out of place. This works because of the style of the edit. Accept it, move along. None of the overdubbing is distracting enough to prevent you from enjoying the film.
Narrative: This is where this particular film wins. Telling a new story in the star wars universe is a feat in and of itself. Telling that story using only footage from the original films (and deleted scenes and fan films) brings us another level of skill.

The fact that the new story works so well, and is (probably) closer to what Star Wars would have been if George had cared a little less, is really impressive.

Enjoyment:I loved the movie. I love this nature of edit. TMBTM has taken his source material, flipped it on it's head and created something new and other. I want to see more people take this approach (not, necessarily, the grindhouse, but the telling of a new story rather than "fixing" problems with the old story.)

There aren't many people in the world who wouldn't benefit from seeing this film. I've personally watched it three times this month, and it grows in impact, rather than shrinking.

The premise, that The War of the Stars is just another spaghetti space opera, is beautiful. The editing is beautiful. The ending is a bit of a twist, and all the better for it.

This edit is certainly one of my favorites, and really not just one of my favorite edits but one of my favorite films of any kind. The only thing that really beats it to the top (well, aside from Doc Savage:Detartnished) is its sequel.(That's right, there's a War of the Stars part II, and it's even better.)

review from March 29 2012

Hard to say much about this edit that hasn’t already been said, but I loved this edit to bits. Bursting with creativity, technical wizadry, respect and love for the original, but allowing us to experience this great film in a whole new way. Personal highlights – Vader’s dialogue replacement, new soundtrack while Luke stares at the two suns (this edit was the inspiration for me to try soundtrack replacement edits of my own), and the brilliant Cantina scene. Neil Young!! Can’t wait for part 2.

Review Date: August 23, 2011

THE WAR OF THE STARS by THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK

It seems there’s not much to say about this edit that hasn’t already been said, but I’ll review it anyway as I feel something this good must be. This edit is simply INCREDIBLE. There is so much awesome in this edit that I don’t even know where to begin, but rest assured, TMBTM has done exactly what he set out to do, and its great. I won’t go through everything, for everyone else seems to have already done this, so I’ll stick to my personal reactions.

There were quite a few laugh out load moments, many during the Death Star battle, but for me the best was the shot of Luke’s landspeeder that accidentally reveals why it needs no wheels. I think the single sequence that best adheres to the Grindhouse idea is the Cantina scene which is simply AWESOME. Actually, almost everything in this edit was awesome.

Somethings, though, were awesome in the wrong way, in the fact that they were actually awesome. I’m really just referring to any time John Williams music was used. I think it would have been better if the whole movie was completely devoid of Williams because, well, were talking about the greatest film score of all time, something that doesn’t belong in a Grindhouse movie. Also, the picture quality was noticeably not as terrible whenever footage was used that wasn’t actually from the movie (though the inclusion of Troops was great). In addition (though not really a bad thing) the music used in the celebration regurgitated memories that should never be regurgitated, though honestly, good call putting it in.

Overall, this edit is highly recommended to Star Wars fans. I feel this is THE reason why fan edits exist. This thing is honestly just completely awesome. I think I’ll be watching this again in the very near future, and I feel I’ll continue watching it in the times to come despite its minor flaws. Because of that, I give THE WAR OF THE STARS 9/10.