The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - The Spence Edit

[spence]

Hi all!

This is my first streaming series edit, so hopefully I've done everything right. This originally released in April 2021, over a year ago.

Like many of the other Disney+ MCU series, this clearly felt like it was originally envisioned as a film that was then stretched out to fill out a limited series. It's a good story with some great moments, but it drags on and is stretched too thin. This edit attempts to reorganize the fairly simple plot into a single film of 2 hours and 22 minutes, an average run time for an MCU film.

- Eliminated a lot of the first episode, including the opening action scene, that doesn't add much to the overall plot.
- Simplified Bucky's arc while still giving his character growth. It's now more about how being alone is what's holding him back. There's less focus on him trying to directly make amends beyond what's discussed in his first therapy session.
- The tension of Sam and Sarah having to sell the boat is still there, but I removed a lot of the plot surrounding it, such as them trying to secure a loan.
- There's less focus on Zemo, a character that doesn't end up adding a whole lot to the plot. As the characters say, he's a means to the end.
- Cut Valentina out of the story.
- Karli gets a lot of cuts, specifically the discussion of how people will rise up to help her, as they never do and it's never a plot point.
- Walker's wife and his sequel set up is removed. A lot of scenes with him tracking down Karli are cut.
- We no longer see how Zemo escapes prison, making the scene where he just shows up in a guard uniform and Sam's reaction much funnier.
- Zemo does not explode Karli's troops from prison, the last time we see him is when the Wakandan's take him away.

Tons of other cuts for time and pace of course, but I think this fits pretty well as a movie.

 

[ArtisDead]

This edit is a substantial improvement upon the series. It is a much more enjoyable way to watch it and, in my opinion, sets a benchmark for what can be done to improve these limited edition series. Disney in particular. Excellent as always, Spence.

 

[ArtisDead]

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• ArtisDead
• Nov 13, 2022

The Spence Edit
Poster by ArtisDead

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• ArtisDead
• Nov 13, 2022

The Spence Edit
Poster by ArtisDead

SPJL3.jpg

• ArtisDead
• Nov 13, 2022

The Spence Edit
Poster by ArtisDead

 

[recordwrangler95]

This edit is a substantial improvement upon the series. It is a much more enjoyable way to watch it and, in my opinion, sets a benchmark for what can be done to improve these limited edition series. Disney in particular. Excellent as always, Spence.

Easily ties with Shang-Chi now as my favourite Phase 4 entry, thanks to this edit.

 

[spence]

Easily ties with Shang-Chi now as my favourite Phase 4 entry, thanks to this edit.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. Would you mind dropping a quick review on IFDB to help spread the word?

 

[recordwrangler95]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. Would you mind dropping a quick review on IFDB to help spread the word?

Absolutely; I've got a running list of reviews I need to write up (including your great Miami Vice and Return of the Jedi edits), I'll get them posted in the next week or so.

 

[ArtisDead]

Absolutely; I've got a running list of reviews I need to write up (including your great Miami Vice and Return of the Jedi edits), I'll get them posted in the next week or so.

Wow. I've got a list so long, I've forgotten where it starts. I can only remember the last few at this point.

 

[Gieferg]

Try starting with Three Bears

 

[Editzilla]

Easily ties with Shang-Chi now as my favourite Phase 4 entry, thanks to this edit.

Really? As one who think Shang-Chi is the best of the MCU, this just peaked my interest in this edit.

 

[Gieferg]

For me Shang Chi is in Bottom-3 of the whole MCU (along with Black Panther and Captain Marvel), but I seriously doubt that edit may be that bad as I quite enjoyed the series in its original form (even if during watching I still was like "I'd cut that, and that, and that too").

 

[JosephDQuinn]

Was there a change to the rules regarding streaming services / owning the source? Or was there a blu-ray release of Falcon and the Winter Soldier? Either way, I'm very excited to check this edit out! I saw one other that runs about 3 hours long, but this sounds much better! (Although I'm disappointed to read that Val was cut, since shes being set up to be pretty important in Phase 5)

 

[Gieferg]

Was there a change to the rules regarding streaming services / owning the source?

There was.

Site Update Regarding Streaming Services – Fanedit.org

ifdb.fanedit.org

 

[JosephDQuinn]

Is there a link for this? I would love to take a look this sounds great. Good work!

Hey Brandon, it goes against the rules of the forum to ask for links publicly. Please read through the FAQ and contact the fan editor privately.

 

[tgiokdi]

Holy toledo this is amazing, definitely better as a movie than as a tv series, excellent work!

 

[boazz750]

I loved the edit - it gracefully streamlines the plot and trim away many unnecessary bits. This edit really shows how bloated the limited series was. I don't miss any of the omitted scenes, as they seemingly are indeed not integral to the plot.
However, I believe there is some room for improvement. Here are my suggestions:
(1) The beginning of the movie can be reordered to better serve the narrative. Here's my suggested scene order:
a. Museum scene (same as now)
b. Switzerland attack - To imply that Cap's absence has contributed to the attacks.
c. Sam driving to see the boat and sees his sister
d. Sam sees the video of the attack on his boat and apartment and learns about the new Cap
e. Announcing the new Cap
f. Bucky sees the new Cap
g. Bucky meets the psychiatrist (currently the second scene in your edit)

(2) John Walker should be completely cut from the final fight, as he contributes nothing to it - the new shield fails almost immediately (which makes its preparation montage [1:46:55-1:47:24] redundant and unnecessary), he doesn't save the truck from falling, and essentially does nothing of consequence until he and Bucky catch the two runaways.

(3) The ending is a bit lackluster. I suggest the following:
a. The film ends with Sam flying away after his speech.
b. The mid-credits scene will show Sam taking Isaiah to the museum and the boat montage.
c. The end credits scene will show Carter in court being reinstated, and the very last shot would be her smile. I suggest completely cutting the phone-call as it adds nothing to what we know.

(4) I noticed a few minor technical issues in the edit:
04:43 The music fades out slightly too late
33:31 The transition feels thematically weird - moving from Bucky and Sam's conversation to the football game in Latvia feels like two completely unrelated scenes and weakens the cohesion of the film. Maybe move it elsewhere or completely remove it?
41:15 Again, the music fades out slightly too late

All in all, this edit is really well made and I recommend it.

 

[spence]

I loved the edit - it gracefully streamlines the plot and trim away many unnecessary bits. This edit really shows how bloated the limited series was. I don't miss any of the omitted scenes, as they seemingly are indeed not integral to the plot.
However, I believe there is some room for improvement. Here are my suggestions:
(1) The beginning of the movie can be reordered to better serve the narrative. Here's my suggested scene order:
a. Museum scene (same as now)
b. Switzerland attack - To imply that Cap's absence has contributed to the attacks.
c. Sam driving to see the boat and sees his sister
d. Sam sees the video of the attack on his boat and apartment and learns about the new Cap
e. Announcing the new Cap
f. Bucky sees the new Cap
g. Bucky meets the psychiatrist (currently the second scene in your edit)

(2) John Walker should be completely cut from the final fight, as he contributes nothing to it - the new shield fails almost immediately (which makes its preparation montage [1:46:55-1:47:24] redundant and unnecessary), he doesn't save the truck from falling, and essentially does nothing of consequence until he and Bucky catch the two runaways.

(3) The ending is a bit lackluster. I suggest the following:
a. The film ends with Sam flying away after his speech.
b. The mid-credits scene will show Sam taking Isaiah to the museum and the boat montage.
c. The end credits scene will show Carter in court being reinstated, and the very last shot would be her smile. I suggest completely cutting the phone-call as it adds nothing to what we know.

(4) I noticed a few minor technical issues in the edit:
04:43 The music fades out slightly too late
33:31 The transition feels thematically weird - moving from Bucky and Sam's conversation to the football game in Latvia feels like two completely unrelated scenes and weakens the cohesion of the film. Maybe move it elsewhere or completely remove it?
41:15 Again, the music fades out slightly too late

All in all, this edit is really well made and I recommend it.

Thanks for the feedback! This edit is locked and released and I don't plan on making changes to it. However, I can clarify why I made a few of the decisions that you mentioned. As always, these are just my opinions, but I do think about these things quite extensively when making cuts, especially when a larger runtime is being so significantly shortened.

The opening needs to start with both Sam and Bucky, we can't wait that long to meet our co-protagonist. We as an audience need to catch up with both of them and set the status quo before hitting them with the big obstacle, which is the new Cap.

Though Walker technically "accomplishes nothing" in the fight from a physic point of view, his shift from "angry revenge arrrgh" to helping Bucky and Sam and saving people over going after Karli is really important to his character. If he disappeared before that, he wouldn't have a complete arc.

I also think that keeping the ending is important for Sam's arc. The entire film is about Sam refusing the call because he doesn't think the world will accept a black Captain America. Isaiah is our representation of that idea. So he needs to prove that he can be accepted as Captain America to himself, the world, and to Isaiah. Cutting the rest of the ending would have him just proving it to himself, which is much less satisfying.

A lot of these plot points are actually things that I think make the story stand out over a lot of the other Marvel stuff that's been released lately, and partly why I thought this was worth editing in the first place. You may have noticed that I haven't done any other MCU edits, and it's mainly because I find them to be fun but empty and predictable. FATWS had some great characters arcs, challenging storylines, and stakes that aren't always present in a typical MCU project.