War of the Stars II: The Future in Motion

April 30, 2012 @ 3:12 am

***SPOILERS***

TMBTM, you’re a genius. A genius. This was probably the most brilliant edit I’ve ever seen. Personally, I thought it was a ton better than the first WOTS, which I only gave 7/10 (maybe it was just not for me). I was wowed the whole time I watched this.

Technical quality – 10/10 – it was a tad fuzzy and some added scenes had worse quality than others, but given the type of edit this was it did not affect the viewing experience at all.

Editing – 10/10 – that rotoscoping and 90 new SFX shots… WOW. Just wow. I don’t know HOW you did the stuff you did, but it turned out wonderfully. My jaw was dropped the entire time I watched the before and after video – some of it was stuff that I didn’t even notice when I was watching because it was so seamless.

Entertainment – 10/10 – as I said, this is probably the cleverest edit ever. The new opening explaining Vader’s survival is just beautiful. Then there’s a marathon of one jaw-dropper after another: the new snow creatures on Hoth, Yoda’s new entrance, the wonderfully color-corrected deleted scenes, the new sequences with Boba Fett, the revised Tatooine rescue, Boba’s explosive new death, and the ending… oh, the ending… I’ve already given a couple things away in this review, but I don’t want to give this away… all I can say is that it was splendid – the rotoscoping was perfect, and it was just a brilliant idea in general… WOW. Wow, wow, wow. There were plenty of other things that amazed me, so many that I can’t even remember them all to list them. There were only a couple issues I saw: one, sometimes the new footage looked too obviously animated, but that’s ok. And sometimes the new lines did not go along right with the lip movements. There were only 4-5 times where this really stood out. As long as you were doing that much rotoscoping, maybe you could have just modified their lip movements a little bit. But it’s ok. Overall, this is still a stunning edit, two hours of sheer amazing. Thank you, TMBTM, for this fabulous fanedit experience. It was crazy insane awesome.

Presentation – 10/10 – cool cover art. The menu was nice and creative. The before and after montage was really interesting. Good job overall here.

Overall – 10/10

May 30, 2012 @ 9:41 pm

So many good things going on here. I thought the last part was the best, some mind blowing awesomeness going on, story-wise and editing wise. A real treat, just for us.

I think a rating should be based on everything about the edit, and not everything is perfect, not because the editor fails, but because this material can’t be perfect. Can’t rate the final product higher than 8/10.

Highly recommended, I know I’ll be watching this again.

Update sep 9 2012

With the new rating categories, this can be judged in a different manner. Enjoyment up to 9.

Original review: May 8, 2012

Brilliant. Bursting with creativity and imagination, not to mention technical wizardry. I loved watching empire and jedi with the deleted scenes reintegrated, that actually would have been enough. But in addition to that, we get a whole new story, achieved by…well I have no idea how to be honest. But it was completely entertaining. Congratulations TMBTM, this is one to be shared and savoured.

TMBTM is a crazy genius. Lightning really has struck twice with his The War Of The Stars treatments of the Star Wars OT. The apparent ease he’s breathed new life into 3 films (now edited down to 2) that I’ve seen hundreds of times, and loved since I was a kid, is nothing short of breathtaking. They’re Star Wars… but not as you know it.
The War of the Stars II – The Future in Motion picks up exactly where the first film finished and takes things to a whole new level. You can’t say what’s undeniably great about it without spoilers and this is one film you really don’t want to spoil for people. I watched this with a smile planted firmly on my face from beginning to end… and then did it all again straight after. For me, this was as special as the first time I saw the original Star Wars back in 1977.

The mixed sources mean the video and audio quality varies throughout but it’s never distracting and, aesthetically, it feels perfect for this presentation. I love that it’s based on the original theatrical releases of The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, complete with the model shots and matte lines George Lucas has sought to erase from history. It’s gloriously retro and exactly the kind of thing I’d have been renting on video every weekend when I was 12. The new fx shots are really well done, some are pretty much perfect and others are deliberately hokey looking, either way it works.
And even though I nearly cried laughing… I’ll never look at a force choke the same way again

Normally the top score would be 10 out of 10. This one goes to 11

Excellence.

TMBTM has achieved something truly special here. Every second of this edit is endlessly interesting and wholly original. Never before have I seen anything like this, and it’s hard to believe I will ever see anything like this again. TMBTM has managed to take the films that we all by heart and make them feel new again. I was constantly asking myself “what next?” In a good way of course. Partly because I really had no idea at any given moment what would be changed, added, reworked, etc.; and because I kept wondering how TMBTM was able to make refreshingly new cuts in every scene.

Sure some of the audio/visual differences are jarring, but they are very easily overlooked. Honestly, my attention was on the story and the characters the whole time. Which are very different. Special note must go to the new music which greatly changes the tone of some scenes, and, well, it’s brilliant.

The new plot is insanely intriguing. And awesome. My favorite parts must be the opening, the cave sequence, the Vader/Emperor hologram conversation (the funniest part, I think), the hilarious fact that even though Boba Fett is extra bad-ass in this he still goes out like a punk, the sandstorm scene (perfect use of the War Horse soundtrack), and the killer ending (did NOT see that coming).

I was originally disappointed that this wouldn’t be a grindhouse edit, but my reservations were cast away fairly early. It might not be as fun as the first, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun, because it’s definitely fun. And really funny too. In the end, even though it’s not grindhouse, it still feels like a sequel to the War of the Stars.

In closing, I want to say it’s been a true pleasure to watch this edit (and I’m sure I’ll see it many more times to come). Thank you The Man Behind the Mask. You have given us the greatest fan edit of all time. Because of that, I give THE WAR OF THE STARS PART II 10/10.