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.

*This ratings was given before reviews were required*

As I had expected, I enjoyed L8′s version of Attack of the Clones much more that his take on the Phantom Menace. Where I felt the later, while improved greatly, moved along too quickly; this one felt natural and most importantly, and where L8 succeeded beyond my expectations, was to make me believe in the love story between Anakin and Padme.

Episode 2 for me is even more unbearable to watch than episode 1. The bad parts just make me want to stop the movie or skip the chapter where in episode 1 I’ll simply cringe and wait for the next scene. Some of the material in Episode 2 is so stupid and nonsensical that overall I’m tempted to say it’s the worse movie of the saga.

Thankfully, L8 had more to work with here than in Phantom Menace. Some of his editing choices were extremely bold but work extremely well. Whereas in Phantom Menace he basically trimmed the fat and the stupidity to create a leaner, meaner experience, here he was able to do that as well but also to play with the structure of the movie.

Where he most improved scenes that I previously found painful to watch, like the Zam chase scene, the droid factory and the arena battle; he did so in such a natural way that they now flow as if the movie had originally been edited that way. There is no feeling whatsoever that you are watching a fanedit. Gone is excessively long battles and CGI sequences, completely gone is 3P0 from the arena, gone is flying R2. He has actually managed the feat of turning some of these sequences that I hated most into some of my favorite parts of Attack of the Clones (his handling of the droid factory sequence is nothing short of brilliant). But most importantly and as I have stated, he managed to sell me the love story and considering it’s the movie’s heart, he has turned this movie around as my go to version.

Overall, I was surprised beyond my expectations at what L8 managed to achieve with the Republic Divided. I can’t wait to see his take on Episode 3.

Original rating for Attack of the Clones: 5/10
The Republic Divided rating: 8/10

I just watched the Single Layer cut of this edit, the Duel Layer is currently downloading. I’m on a bit of a mission at the moment to find a good Episode II, or at least enough good edits that I can Frankenstein my own definitive edit together. As a result, this is the 4th time I’ve watched Attack of the Clones (including the original) in the last week!

While l8wrtr’s cut of Phantom Menace is superb, on first viewing I wasn’t as impressed with The Republic Divided. Today was my second viewing, and given my current exposure to the film I can say I had definitely under-rate it. This is by far the best edit that I have seen.

- As with Shadow of the Sith, the dialogue is trimmed, tweaked and improved throughout the entire film.
- Anakin is relatively likable and sympathetic, and his relationship feels very natural.
- The action scenes have been cut down significantly, which adds to their drama.

Basically, the whole film is improved. However, I do feel this edit is held back by a few cuts/lack of cuts, which I will briefly mention:

The speeder chase -
While this is generally improved, I think it’s a real problem that the massive freefalling scenes are left in. This is the first action piece of the film, it sets the tone, and the way Lucas filmed it was as a cartoon. How are we ever expected to see Anakin and Obi Wan as realistic or endangered characters when we watch them plummet literally hundreds of feet, act like its nothing, and land completely unharmed. Having Obi Wan dangle so high in the air is thrilling enough, and for both of them to fall/leap even 10 foot when they’re that high up is pretty impressive. L8wrtr’s edits do a great job at grounding the prequels in reality, but this is a significant and universe-establishing scene where reality is forgotten. Others have cut the falling to much smaller distances (Spence for example), I wish l8wrtr would do something similar here.

Obi Wan –
This is really just a personal preference (well, most of these criticisms are) but I personally miss how much Obi Wan is cut from the film. I think Ewan McGreggor is the best thing about Attack of the Clones (he’s perhaps even better here than Liam Neeson was in Phantom Menace). While I understand that it’s hard to keep his scenes in, and many dislike things like the diner scene – I think it’s a good scene once you cut all the American droid-waitress’s dialogue! – cutting so much of Obi Wan out of both Shadow of the Sith and The Republic Divided doesn’t leave him with much of a character in the prequels.

Anakin/Padme -
As I say, these scenes are generally excellent. While I dislike Anakin’s pro-fascism speech (I don’t see Darth Vader as even remotely politically motivated, so see little need for foreshadowing in Anakin’s personality) I can see why it’s kept in. Btw, the family scene is exceptional and I really like the trims l8wrtr has made here too. Keeping Artoo playing with the children is a nice touch, this whole section of the film perfectly contrasts Padme’s upbringing with Anakin’s. But, as others have mentioned, the fireplace scene is really quite jarring, and I think it should either be developed or removed entirely.

Palpatine/Anakin –
I would prefer it if this scene ended after Palpatine tells Anakin with training he will be invincible, although I understand the inclusion of Anakin being ‘the most powerful of all the jedi’ fits in with the controversial decision to keep the prophecy in the prequels.

Assassination attempt/Newt Gunray -
Here is one of the biggest ways I think Attack of the Clones can be improved, and I’ve yet to see anybody incorporate it. Padme is voting against the Army, which Dooku/Sidius need approved. She then survives an assassination attempt. The most logical conclusion here is that Dooku/Sidius is behind it, the motivation for the attempt is revealed in the final scene: Sidius needs the war to start. L8wrtr hinted that this is where the edit was going to lead with his opening crawl, which established Padme as an influential senator leading the senate to vote against the creation of an army, and then he reinforces it with the intercom dialogue which mentions the fact that she is unharmed. However, as the film develops, New Gunray is still responsible. Not only is this silly (why would he hold such a severe grudge against her) but it means the plot strands have absolutely no connection to one another. Padme’s assassination has nothing to do with the Army she’s voting against, the whole film is held together by coincidences (read: poor writing). I wonder, would it really be impossible to cut Newt Gunray’s dialogue on Geonosis and then edit Obi Wan’s message to corruscant replacing “Newt Gunray is behind the assassination attempt” with “Count Dooku is behind the assassination attempt”?

Kamino –
This is another pet peeve that I have yet to see dealt with. When Obi Wan meets the president of Kamino, the line “and now to business” has always seemed pointless to me as they weren’t exactly having a conversation up until this point. As there is no other noise and you can’t really see the president’s lips moving, why not cut that line and simply have the president sit down and tell Obi Wan his army is almost ready.

(At this point it I will say that I think the whole of Tattooine is pretty much perfect. While him jumping off the cliff to get to the sandpeople camp is very Wile E Coyote, its no major problem, and the way he edited the garage dialogue is simply superb.)

Geonosis –
I really like how he’s edited most of Geonosis. I would reduce the Slave I’s laser attack on Obi Wan’s ship a little; the more times he gets shot and survives, the less danger he seems to be in. Also, the conveyer belt scene still feels a little clumsy, although this remains the best edit of it I have seen. Padme’s dialogue before they’re driven out to the execution is excellent, L8 has almost completely perfected the timing so that she no longer sounds like she’s talking mid-sentence (which of course, she is!)

Colosium –
The introduction of the creatures is well handled. This whole scene is pretty much the perfect example of how not to direct a monster movie, it’s like the exact opposite of the t-rex scene in Jurassic Park. L8 has managed to keep some drama in the opening scenes. Once the jedi get involved, I still think the whole thing can be tweaked a little. We don’t care about any of the characters on screen, and a lot of unnecessary action is thrown at us, so the battle needs to be a bit more focused on the protagonists, and the sense of danger/violence should be increased. The Phantom Editor did this particularly well if I remember correctly.

Geonosis Battle –
Same as the above really, although maybe its impossible to fix. But Padme’s dialogue when she falls out of the ship definitely needs editing!

I will stop here. Attack of the Clones is still my least favourite edit, but I feel The Republic Divided has gone the furthest of any fanedit to improve it. I think the few changes listed above would really help, although I’m really not sure if the film can be edited into a truly enjoyable Star Wars film. I look forward to watching the Duel Layer version, and maybe some my suggestions will have been incorporated (as I assume they are problems most people have, rather than just personal niggles. I find most of the criticisms of the prequels are almost universally shared!)

My rating for TRD:
For fanediting – 8.5/10
As a movie in its own right 7.5/10