Review Detail
9.8 3 10
Overall rating
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
This edit removed a lot of bad shots, almost all of the Dutch angles, a lot of the ADR bits (which have to be some of the worst Automated Dialogue Replacement lines of any film ever) and trimmed / removed most of the egregious sections.
It actually turns an awful film into a much more bearable one. Impressive work!
The intro is much better. Removing this entire section that just gets repeated later (in the original) makes for a better narrative flow. What were the original director + editor thinking?…
Many of the awfully delivered Cassie lines were removed, like the “what are you even doing over there?” bit. The more Dakota Johnson cringe lines the edit takes away, the better the film becomes.
To make the Ezekiel’s dream scene bearable, 95% of it had to be cut; the original film’s dream is awful. And in this edit, it becomes a bit cryptic for the audience, we just watch a snippet of what Ezekiel experiences.
The Ezekiel / Cassie dream-vision-discussion was tightened and is now much easier to watch. The original is a sound and visual FX monstrosity, and includes dozens of cuts trying to hide the huge amount of ADR.
Also, was Dakota Johnson sarcastically reading the (original, now-removed) line “The girls? The girls have powers… In the future?” or was she actually acting?
The diner scenes were trimmed very effectively. The original “girls dancing on the table” bit was just cringe and so hard to watch. Also, Sydney Sweeney’s character Julia is just so… bad, the less we see her, the better.
The new placement for “Us strays need to stick together” just at the end… It works, well done.
Side note: This is probably unfixable, but the final section is utterly ridiculous. Why are there fireworks coming from random directions, instead of just from below? And do the filmmakers really think that fireworks work like RPGs or missiles?
The infamous “I was” section at 01h20m14 was ingeniously edited, in order to remove the godawful digital zoom-in.
In my personal opinion, the “I was” should be fully removed, it makes no narrative logic. The line “But the girls were never your future” is more than enough. With the “I was” is removed, the story makes more sense; Ezekiel’s future is simply to die (because of the spider curse, or something like that). It’s not about either Cassie or the girls. He will die because he’s “destined” to it, and what he does throughout the film only hastens his own demise. We see him fall to his death just after this, mimicking his dream.
When Santiago is explaining things to Cassie, at 1h05m47, I really think this section could be shortened even more. It’s now better than the original, for sure, but Santiago still has about 5 lines and 3 of them include the word “future”. Also, I think the line “Great power will come” makes no sense, narratively. Cassie has “awoken” her powers and she was just able to experience the Past (and maybe interact a bit with it…); how much more “power” is Santiago still expecting her to acquire? This is it; the majority of her powers should now be available to her.
Small issues:
- at 1h20m10, when it cuts to Cassie’s face, a “click” sound is audible
- because of how the section was edited, we hear the same sound FX (the sound of the flying fireworks) at 1h20m12 and at 1h20m15
Disclaimer: I’ve previewed 2 earlier versions of this edit and I’m named in the “Special Thanks” section, but this has not distorted my Review.
It actually turns an awful film into a much more bearable one. Impressive work!
The intro is much better. Removing this entire section that just gets repeated later (in the original) makes for a better narrative flow. What were the original director + editor thinking?…
Many of the awfully delivered Cassie lines were removed, like the “what are you even doing over there?” bit. The more Dakota Johnson cringe lines the edit takes away, the better the film becomes.
To make the Ezekiel’s dream scene bearable, 95% of it had to be cut; the original film’s dream is awful. And in this edit, it becomes a bit cryptic for the audience, we just watch a snippet of what Ezekiel experiences.
The Ezekiel / Cassie dream-vision-discussion was tightened and is now much easier to watch. The original is a sound and visual FX monstrosity, and includes dozens of cuts trying to hide the huge amount of ADR.
Also, was Dakota Johnson sarcastically reading the (original, now-removed) line “The girls? The girls have powers… In the future?” or was she actually acting?
The diner scenes were trimmed very effectively. The original “girls dancing on the table” bit was just cringe and so hard to watch. Also, Sydney Sweeney’s character Julia is just so… bad, the less we see her, the better.
The new placement for “Us strays need to stick together” just at the end… It works, well done.
Side note: This is probably unfixable, but the final section is utterly ridiculous. Why are there fireworks coming from random directions, instead of just from below? And do the filmmakers really think that fireworks work like RPGs or missiles?
The infamous “I was” section at 01h20m14 was ingeniously edited, in order to remove the godawful digital zoom-in.
In my personal opinion, the “I was” should be fully removed, it makes no narrative logic. The line “But the girls were never your future” is more than enough. With the “I was” is removed, the story makes more sense; Ezekiel’s future is simply to die (because of the spider curse, or something like that). It’s not about either Cassie or the girls. He will die because he’s “destined” to it, and what he does throughout the film only hastens his own demise. We see him fall to his death just after this, mimicking his dream.
When Santiago is explaining things to Cassie, at 1h05m47, I really think this section could be shortened even more. It’s now better than the original, for sure, but Santiago still has about 5 lines and 3 of them include the word “future”. Also, I think the line “Great power will come” makes no sense, narratively. Cassie has “awoken” her powers and she was just able to experience the Past (and maybe interact a bit with it…); how much more “power” is Santiago still expecting her to acquire? This is it; the majority of her powers should now be available to her.
Small issues:
- at 1h20m10, when it cuts to Cassie’s face, a “click” sound is audible
- because of how the section was edited, we hear the same sound FX (the sound of the flying fireworks) at 1h20m12 and at 1h20m15
Disclaimer: I’ve previewed 2 earlier versions of this edit and I’m named in the “Special Thanks” section, but this has not distorted my Review.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched
Digital
