yads said:
The theatrical cut of TDW passed the time, but you couldn't help but think they'd cut it to pieces at the last minute.
Editing this has strangely felt like reverse-fanediting. Throughout I've been trying to re-arrange the placement of scenes that had been disorded in the original edit, removing or correcting shaky match-cuts, re-ordering mixed up footage and cutting noticeably post-dubbed dialogue. These are all things that I try to avoid when fanediting but sometimes I have to employ them to tell the story I want to tell. So it's odd to find them in a big budget pro-edited film.
The chief example would be the scene on Asgard where Jane has that glowing red Aether dream. Most of the shots have been borrowed from other scenes and cobbled together in the edit. One of the shots is a reused, flipped into reverse and re-coloured bit of CGI from earlier in the film for goodness sake. The fact that they didn't have time to render a new shot highlights how late this thing was being re-edited before it premiered. I thought that sequence was such a mess that I've removed and replaced it.
Don't get me wrong, if the red-dream scene had been fan-created I'd be very impressed, as you probably wouldn't spot the joins unless you looked really hard. But unlike us editors who do it for free with no resources, I'd expect a $170 million Dollar film to have shot a new scene.
yads said:
Also, I love the Shakespeare subtitles. Please keep them in, or at least something similar. Like you I thought the subtitled dialogue for these "characters" was generic and dull. Given how brilliant Whedon's dialogue for Illyria was in Angel it bothered me that he didn't come in and rewrite the Malekith dialogue. Whedon has a great ear for formal sounding dialogue.
I'm not keen on using actual Shakespeare as it's too recognisable but I might use Shakespeare-esque dialogue. As promised here is a compilation clip of all the Dark Elves' subtitles in Thor2 for anyone who wants to help make them better...
...and here are the subtitles themselves:
SCENE ONE - Dark Elves Awake
01.00.27 Malakith - The Aether awakens us.
01.03.10 Malakith - The Convergence returns.
SCENE TWO - Malakith Swears Revenge
01.46.04 Malakith - Look upon my legacy, Algrim.
01.50.13 Malakith - I can barely remember a time before the light.
01.53.17 Algrim - Our survival will be your legacy.
01.58.20 Malakith - The Asgardians will suffer, as we have suffered.
02.02.12 Malakith - I will reclaim the Aether,
02.03.22 Malakith - I will restore our world,
02.05.01 Malakith - and I will put an end to this poisoned universe.
SCENE THREE - Algrim's Mission
02.38.10 Algrim - The worlds are nearly aligned.
02.46.10 Malakith - You will be the last of the Kursed.
02.49.10 Algrim - Let my life be sacrificed.
02.51.22 Algrim - It is no less than our people did,
02.54.26 Algrim - or you have done.
03.04.12 Malakith - You will become darkness,
03.03.07 Malakith - cursed to this existence until it consumes you.
03.16.24 Malakith - Until then, no power our enemies possess can stop you.
03.23.12 Algrim - I will tear down their defenses and ensure your return to a universe reborn.
SCENE FOUR - Malakith Heals
04.32.16 Algrim - Heal. You will need your strength to reclaim the Aether.
04.37.13 Algrim - And when you wake, we will kill them all.
SCENE FIVE - Malakith Senses Jane
04.58.23 Algrim - We must strike now.
05.03.11 Malakith - No
05.05.11 Malakith - Asgard is meaningless.
05.10.02 Malakith - The Aether,
05.05.15 Malakith - It has found its way home.
SCENE SIX - Algrim Trusts Loki
05.05.34 Algrim - He is an enemy of Asgard.
05.37.17 Algrim - He was a prisoner in their dungeons.
When you write it all down you realise just how clunky it is at points. For example in Scene-4 Algrim is urging caution, then in Scene-5 he is urging action, when there hasn't really been any change in circumstances beyond the structure of the plot. Plus words like "Ensure" seem like 'corporate speak' (From my experience) rather than real dialogue e.g. "I will ensure my annual targets are met" aka "I will... ensure your return to a universe reborn".
I welcome any suggestions on improving the above, even if it's just a single word. Obviously a replacement phrase needs to be of a similar length but feel free to suggest radically different dialogue options, as long as it fits the performance and scene. For example, I'm considering changing Algrim's dialogue in Scene-6 to be him warning Malakith to be cautious of Loki's tricks (So them Malakith comes across as a little bit more deviously evil) or adding more information to Scene-3 about what the Kursed are.