Review Detail

9.6 4 10
Extended Edition July 06, 2012 2356
(Updated: August 31, 2012)
Enjoyment
 
9.0
August 8, 2011 @ 10:55 pm

As Extended Editions go, this was a real treat. Quite often the material left on the cutting room floor is there for good reason. They are often silly, distracting, or otherwise way off topic for the story. Screen writers tend to over-write, and some of that makes it through to the film-making process, only to have an editor then wisely carve it out.

With Up in the Air, these scenes are none of the above. What the do however, is change the tone of the film, and the arch of the main character. Elbarto’s inclusion of the deleted scenes drastically changes the tone of this from lighthearted, to a somber examination of Ryan Bingham’s life. By the time the credits roll, you have a completely different vibe than the theatrical. Where in the original the film ends without much feeling of growth on Ryan’s part, this extended edition presents a much deeper and complex character, one who finally opens up his heart and reaches out to another human being, and then suffers the sting of loss. His arc is far more compelling, and when the film closes you get a completely different sense of the life that he will lead from that point forward, compared to the theatrical.

I suspect that when push came to shove, the studio didn’t want to release a movie with the charming Clooney in it, that was such a downer, so they cut the material that gave the film heart.

The video quality is excellent, menus are professional quality, and the editing itself is seamless, both visual and audio. There were one or two point where I noticed a very slight stutter, but overall, this was great work and one of those instances where the EE isn’t just interesting stuff, but truly makes for a better movie.

9/10
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