War of the Stars II: The Future in Motion

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.

Boy, did TMBTM give Empire a wedgie. . . in a good way. This edit has so much fresh on it, it deserves a bootyload of notoriety.

One of the things I really like about this funkily creative film is that the future truly is in motion, that Luke's prescience is approximate. Another: Yoda the OG simply owns his entrance.

And every scene that's delightfully altered created anticipation for more, to the point that when I came across scenes that were largely unchanged, I felt twinges of disappointment. Laissez le bon temps rouler. But don't cry for me, Argentina—I still had a grand ol' time watching this.

In the second half, a few parts were a bit slow. Some of R2's lines were amusing, but as with the first WotS, there were unutilized opportunities for subtitled humor, as R2 often uttered "straight" dialogue (e.g., commenting on obvious points) or was not subtitled at all. But again, mere nitpicks.

Imagine you go on a camping trip in some place with pterodactyls and weeks later come back barely alive to find everything a little bit different—your favorite breakfast cereal, your teacher's haircut and gender, and that light saber movie that's better than a girl because when you love it, it loves you back (this is waayyy before you lose your virginity, duh). That alternate universe contains this version of The Empire Strikes Back. And certainly a Lucas-TMBTM hybrid being, maybe with two heads.

I didn't watch the first part yet, so I came to this fully fresh and unprepared.
---Spoiler-warning----
The first half and a little bit more of this edit are brimming with creativity and I was quite flashed by it, the second half is more like the original until the end that is, where Luke turned to the evil side.

I think that end is awesome in a sense of "What if"-scenario, in fact I would have made it even more evil by preventing the rebels from blowing up the death star and being completely destroyed. That is a pure evil end, that I made a few months ago for my edit, but then got the creeps and changed it back to a good ending. But in this edit it would have worked nicely.

TMBTM has amazing special-effect-skills: How he turned the emperor into a ghost, or the red eyes on Vader, the falling down of his ship, or making Luke enter Jabba's palace alongside Leia and many more instances of special-effects that he created for this, is simply amazing.

Narrative-wise I love how he changed the tree-vision to make Luke enter Lando's city before he actually gets there. As a what if-scenario I also love how he made Vader not being Luke's father. and how he made him show more his jealousy of the emperor: "You are weak old man"...

But there was a thing I didn't like and that was how the bounty hunter died, special-effect-wise pretty good, but the explosion could have/would have waken up Jabba's palace. But that's a minor point.

Also I missed Leia strangling Jabba, but that is personal preference, the narrative worked for this as is.

I loved the use of the deleted scene of the sandstorm, and I liked the use of subtitling of R2D2 to bring in some humour.

Like already said the second half dragged a bit, because the first half was so full of new ideas and changes, while the second half seemed to be more like the theatrical version, so that one expected more during that phase, until the great evil (that could be even more evil) end that is.

I've heard that the first part was grindhoused, I think that would have helped here as well with the integration of the deleted scenes that have lots of scratches.

Maybe there will be a version 2 of this to make the evil ending, even more evil, and to grindhouse this and to use a bluray-source to get the most out of it.

But to redo all those special-effects would make it probably a very hard and long work, so I can understand if TMBTM don't want to endure that.

---Spoiler-warning-end---

I highly recommend this edit for the brimming creativity of the first half, the great new ending and the masterful use of special effects. I downgraded audio/video-quality, because on my 42"-TV the picture looked flat as it is only SD.

Edit: I misunderstood something crucial about the bountyhunter and therefore amended that point in my review.
Edit2: After watching "War of the stars 1", I change my opinion and welcome TMBTM's decision to do without the grindhousing-effect.

War of the Stars 2 - The Future in Motion is another stellar fan edit from Mask, which only suffers because its inevitable comparision to its predecessor, War of the Stars.

In the original, Mask's heavy use of degraded footage allowed for the inclusion of imperfect video and sound in all editing choices and extra footage. Here, a more serious attempt at filmmaking is approached so when extra footage is markedly bad, it is jarring, not charming.

This film also suffers due to it's run time. Yes, the original movies all hover at about 2 hours. But here, the narrative has too many crests and valleys as it transitions from the Episode 5 material to Episode 6.

These complaints though, are really the only substaintial faults that can be leveled against this. Outside of them, the film is amazing.

Mask has done a brilliant job weaving dialog, scenes and nearly 100 unique special effects shots to create yet another ingenious reimagining of Star Wars. Suprises present themselves from its opening sequence all the way to the closing moments of the movie. This is truly indicative of the magic that comes with fan editing as scenes we're all familiar with become innudated with new meaning. I imagine that had Lucas had the same ideas Mask has had, maybe we'd have a different Star Wars altogether.

Like War of the Stars, this film isn't meant to replace one's OT of Star Wars, but it is a must-have compliment to it.

I know that, 6 or so years from now, looking back at Episodes 7, 8 and 9, I'll be thinking about what creative spin Mask is going to mold out of it all. And...I'll be looking forward to watching it!