Star Wars - Episode II: The Republic Divided

Wow. Who knew Episode II had such a good movie hiding underneath? My hat goes off to you L8.

STAR WARS EPISODE II: THE REPUBLIC DIVIDED

Incredible. Simply incredible. L8wrtr has managed to turn a bad film into a really good one.

Attack of the Clones kinda sucks. Yeah, I know I’m not really the first person to say it. The acting isn’t great, and the pacing is terrible. L8wrtr has managed to reduce the wooden acting, and most impressively, give the movie a really good pace. My school of thought on Star Wars movies is usually that they NEED to be at least 2 hours long to feel like a SW movie, but L8wrtr has proved me wrong here. Somehow, the shorter length makes it feel even more Star Warsy than before.

Really all the cuts are good. I personally like Obi-Wan and Jango’s fisticuffs, but, well it would really only hurt the pacing of the movie. I use to like the Yoda and Dooku lightsaber battle, until I watched this and realized that there was absolutely no need for it. I think it might have been wise to keep the scene with Dex, as the whole thing with Zam revealing Kamino and then Obi-Wan going there doesn’t play out nearly as well as one might think. I feel like you’re kind of just left wondering what Obi-Wan is doing. I also don’t really like the last scene with Padme’s family, but that might be a personal thing. A big problem though, is the scene by the fire place. It last about 10 seconds, and there is no talking. It’s so short that it’s completely pointless. It really doesn’t do anything except make you think “what was that?” It needs to be either 10 seconds longer, or 10 seconds shorter. The only other big problem is at the end of the scene where Padme talks to Dooku, there’s a subtitle at the end thats there for about half a second. Also, I’m not too crazy about what the Geonosian guy says in the Coliseum, its kind of weird and I think the original dialogue works better. Oh, I almost forgot this little gem: “I truly, deeply love you.” Really not a very good line. It shouldn’t have been in this edit. These might seem like quite a bit of negative, but there’s so much positive that I could spend all day talking about it. These things are really just the only things that keep the edit from being perfect in my opinion. There is just so much brilliance in what L8wrtr has accomplished, but I think most of the other reviews have already covered what makes this edit impressive, or should I say most impressive.

Well anyways, I would give the original AOTC a 6 out of 10. As a movie, I would give the Republic Divided a 8 out of 10. Since this is an edit, and most its problems really can’t be remedied by anyone, I give STAR WARS EPISODE II: THE REPUBLIC DIVIDED 9/10.

Couldn't stand the diarrheal theatrical version. But L8wrtr hoses away the cringe and the stool to reveal a very watchable cut, a feat which I considered impossible, even by an extremely talented faneditor. In doing so, L8wrtr recaptures some of that Star Wars magic, which is what we really want when we watch these movies.

George Lucas, take this DVD, get into a fucking time machine, and redo your second prequel based on this. Just don't forget to pay L8wrtr mucho handsomely when you catch up to the present.

This is a close 2nd for my go to Episode II edit, although I may have to watch Hal9000's again to be sure.

Quality was good, but not quite as good as I'd expect for a blu ray, though still better than dvd. Some other edits just seem crisper.

Editing was top notch bar a couple of things. At the start of the film there were a few odd issues that I noted:

- Strange green lines flash just after disclaimer
- 20th Century Fox logo flashes just after L8wrtr logo
- Backdrop for open Star wars logo is very pixelated
- A ghost of the starting crawl flashes up at around 2:27 (blink and you'll miss it)

Other than that there was just one jarring transition - the very short scene with Anakin and Padme in the fire lit lounge.

On a personal level I missed the action sequence between Jango and Obi-Wan, Padme shouldn't say "... Truly, deeply..." and the droid factory is a visual abomination.

Narrative seemed more cohesive than in most edits, though due to the source material it can never be perfect.

Overall, highly enjoyable. Something L8wrtr nails with this and Phantom Menace is pacing. Both are mercifully short without there being anything particularly noticeable missing. The films just plod along in a very entertaining manner despite the absence of an interesting plot and before you know it they're over - and you feel relatively satisfied.

Good stuff. Now, onto Episode III...

There's little else I can add that hasn't all ready been said, the original movie was really awful but this edit vastly improves matters. Perhaps the only thing I'd like to have seen would've been the inclusion of the Anakin and Padme trial. It's a short scene and would have provided a nice bridge between the Padme, Dooku negotiation and the kiss scene. In saying that though this is definitely my favourite version.