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Spectre [Redacted]:
NOTE: I am a bit later in this review than I wanted, Aztec, but here it is.
SPECTRE was a movie I really wanted to like on release and just couldn't quite do it. It had beautiful visuals, the occasionally powerful moment, a gorgeous and interesting Bond girl, some impressive fight scenes, and one horrifying death trap. All the ingredients were there, and yet a multitude of little things held it back, and made it less than what it should've been. SPECTRE [Redacted] proved that, fortunately, those moments stuck out just enough to be effectively shaved off.
A/V Quality: 10/10
Both sound and video are top notch and everything meshed perfectly. This will always get a 10 out of me.
Visual Editing: 9/10
Nearly perfect, and impossible to detect any notable change if you're a first time viewer. There was one moment when Bond was standing over Blofeld and looked like he was about to speak before it cut to Madeleine looking in his direction, but even that could easily be construed as a facial tick or even a consideration, and it was still a better alternative to the theatrical scene.
Audio Editing: 10/10
This is a big one. What really made the edit stand out was the alternate title sequence track, in that it turned a bad start into a great one. Sam Smith's Writing's on the Wall was an awful mess of a song that felt nothing at all like it had any place introducing a bond film, or any film for that matter. Worse still, it was a horrible fit for what could be the franchise's most dark and unsettling opening sequence in recent memory.
Aztec's alternative, Bjork's Bachelorette, blended surreal with surreal; the track's symphonic power, catchy rhythm, and the trademark vocals were a great match for the skulls, tentacles, and inky phantoms that writhed through the screen. Where Writing's on the Wall contradicted the sequence and insulted the eardrums, Bachelorette only intensified its macabre tone, transforming it into an electrifying beginning that climaxed into a cold, jarring slam into the main narrative. Correcting bad production decisions like this with such efficacy is what fanedits are all about. This absolutely gets a 10.
Narrative: 9/10
The story itself was vastly improved by the simple act of redacting all mention of MI6 shutting down, which made little sense considering Nine Eyes was merging everything anyway. No bad line was left untrimmed, and the failed gags (like the old driver during the car chase) were thankfully removed. I find it amazing that the difference between a movie marred by unnecessary filler and a taut, focused thriller can be a mere 8 minutes.
Of course some narrative flaws remained, particularly near the end (the convenient net at the ground floor and the nigh-suspension breaking fight between a Walther PPK and a fleeing helicopter), but this time they were far and few between and did little to ruin the film.
Enjoyment: 9/10
Ultimately, SPECTRE [Redacted] still isn't quite as good as Skyfall (which, in all fairness, set the bar pretty high). That said it can finally stand next to the better films of the Craig era now that the redundancies and that awful, awful song are out of the picture. This is the send-off Daniel Craig deserved, and even through the few unavoidable flaws that remained, I enjoyed every minute of it.
http://ifdb.fanedit.org/spectre-redacted/discussions/8951/
NOTE: I am a bit later in this review than I wanted, Aztec, but here it is.
SPECTRE was a movie I really wanted to like on release and just couldn't quite do it. It had beautiful visuals, the occasionally powerful moment, a gorgeous and interesting Bond girl, some impressive fight scenes, and one horrifying death trap. All the ingredients were there, and yet a multitude of little things held it back, and made it less than what it should've been. SPECTRE [Redacted] proved that, fortunately, those moments stuck out just enough to be effectively shaved off.
A/V Quality: 10/10
Both sound and video are top notch and everything meshed perfectly. This will always get a 10 out of me.
Visual Editing: 9/10
Nearly perfect, and impossible to detect any notable change if you're a first time viewer. There was one moment when Bond was standing over Blofeld and looked like he was about to speak before it cut to Madeleine looking in his direction, but even that could easily be construed as a facial tick or even a consideration, and it was still a better alternative to the theatrical scene.
Audio Editing: 10/10
This is a big one. What really made the edit stand out was the alternate title sequence track, in that it turned a bad start into a great one. Sam Smith's Writing's on the Wall was an awful mess of a song that felt nothing at all like it had any place introducing a bond film, or any film for that matter. Worse still, it was a horrible fit for what could be the franchise's most dark and unsettling opening sequence in recent memory.
Aztec's alternative, Bjork's Bachelorette, blended surreal with surreal; the track's symphonic power, catchy rhythm, and the trademark vocals were a great match for the skulls, tentacles, and inky phantoms that writhed through the screen. Where Writing's on the Wall contradicted the sequence and insulted the eardrums, Bachelorette only intensified its macabre tone, transforming it into an electrifying beginning that climaxed into a cold, jarring slam into the main narrative. Correcting bad production decisions like this with such efficacy is what fanedits are all about. This absolutely gets a 10.
Narrative: 9/10
The story itself was vastly improved by the simple act of redacting all mention of MI6 shutting down, which made little sense considering Nine Eyes was merging everything anyway. No bad line was left untrimmed, and the failed gags (like the old driver during the car chase) were thankfully removed. I find it amazing that the difference between a movie marred by unnecessary filler and a taut, focused thriller can be a mere 8 minutes.
Of course some narrative flaws remained, particularly near the end (the convenient net at the ground floor and the nigh-suspension breaking fight between a Walther PPK and a fleeing helicopter), but this time they were far and few between and did little to ruin the film.
Enjoyment: 9/10
Ultimately, SPECTRE [Redacted] still isn't quite as good as Skyfall (which, in all fairness, set the bar pretty high). That said it can finally stand next to the better films of the Craig era now that the redundancies and that awful, awful song are out of the picture. This is the send-off Daniel Craig deserved, and even through the few unavoidable flaws that remained, I enjoyed every minute of it.
http://ifdb.fanedit.org/spectre-redacted/discussions/8951/