My Star Wars Force Awakens Redux Cut

[THE BAT-MAN]

Hi Everyone,

I wanted share with all of you my finished Redux Cut of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.  Me and a good friend of mine began working on this fan edit back in 2015 and we completed it sometime in 2017 Long before the release of The Last Jedi.  The reason it's taken so long to get this out is because I've been having alot of trouble going viral with it due to copyrights with Disney. 

I've never been a fan of what Disney and Kathleen Kennedy has done with Star Wars and as far as I'm concerned the franchise is dead.  However,  my friend encouraged me to make this cut with him.  We both tried our best to make this cut feel more like a Star Wars movie and less than a Disney film.  Our Cut is completely different from the original theatrical version.

Anyway, I sincerely hope that if you love Star Wars and were disappointed with what Disney has done with the franchise you at least give me and my friend's cut a fair chance.  Hope you all enjoy and may the force be with you all.

Star Wars Force Awakens Redux Cut
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iwDoNiet0NRaXw4QWSwn5IiR3j0_ZGYc/view

Audio Commentary
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Egg2SscFoUT948CoWD2ARhyIieA1GEu8/view?ts=5c25ed7a

[THE BAT-MAN]

Here is a general list in no particular order of some the changes made in the Redux Cut of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.


1. New Opening Crawl

2. Film is sequenced differently to feel less like Episode IV: A New Hope

3. Kylo Ren never removes his mask until his Encounter with Han Solo.

4. All dialogue or scenes from other characters revealing Kylo Ren's real identity is removed or sequenced differently.
 
5. New Subtitles have been added.

6. New Additional Music has been added throughout especially scenes that never featured any music before. 

7. Never before seen footage has been added

8. Rey's character and abilities have been altered quite a bit.  "No Jedi Mind Trick" The cut does it's best to humanize her and there are hints that she may possibly be a darksider.

9. New Footage of Darth Vader is added

10. Less is more with Finn.  Finn's character is not a comic relief.

11. The Film's tone is much more serious.

12. Poe's return is much more mysterious

13. Phasma raises the alarms when she is captured by Han and Finn

14. Han is not a Smuggler. NO RATHTARS. NO Kanji Club

15. Leia doesn't hug Rey

16. The Final Battle is sequenced differently.

17. Most of the bad acting/dialogue has been removed

18. New Extended Ending.

19. Sadly Less is more with Han and Leia

20. There are many more suprises and easter eggs throughout the movie that differ from the original

[THE BAT-MAN]

Has anyone watched this yet?  I would really like to hear some of your guys opinions on it.

[BatmanFurst]

Hey man I just finished checking it out. The film feels a bit tighter now, and I like some of the alterations to the music specifically in the light saber duel.

BIG POSITIVES:
1. I really like that alternate crawl. The lack of explanation for the First Order has always bothered me, so I liked your explanation for where they came from.
2. I also liked how you reshaped the ridiculous scene of Rey using the Jedi mind trick. Your version is MUCH better, and most importantly it doesn't break the rules of the Star Wars universe unlike the original scene.
3. Finn being quickly discarded in the Light Saber duel was very good as well. It helps to keep Ren as a threat.
4. I like that Ren doesn't take off his helmet until Han asks him to.
5. Where did you get the footage of Vader vs Ren? That was surprisingly well done.
6. I liked the two deleted scenes that you integrated back into the film.

I was confused about a couple choices.
1. Why did you omit Snoke calling out Han as Kylo's father, along with Leia telling Han to bring their son home?
2. I was a little confused with Rey seeing what Kylo's fear is in the duel. Did she beat him because his fear was exposed, or was it something else?

I've also been very disappointed with the way Disney has handled this franchise. After Episode 9 I think I'll be done with checking these films out. I skipped Solo and I still have no desire to check it out.

Force Awakens is a very middle of the road film unfortunately. It does piss me off that they could've taken this series in any direction after Return of the Jedi, and what they settled on was a rehash of the original Star Wars. Not a fan of Galactic Empire 2.0, and I really dislike what they did to Han. To be honest I'm even more disappointed in that than what they did to Luke in Last Jedi. Han's my favorite Star Wars character so to see them undo his arc from the original trilogy, and reset him to being a smuggler again was heartbreaking. I know Lucas would've treated the original trilogy characters much better.

Do you think you'll tackle The Last Jedi?

[THE BAT-MAN]

Hey man I just finished checking it out. The film feels a bit tighter now, and I like some of the alterations to the music specifically in the light saber duel.

BIG POSITIVES:
1. I really like that alternate crawl. The lack of explanation for the First Order has always bothered me, so I liked your explanation for where they came from.
2. I also liked how you reshaped the ridiculous scene of Rey using the Jedi mind trick. Your version is MUCH better, and most importantly it doesn't break the rules of the Star Wars universe unlike the original scene.
3. Finn being quickly discarded in the Light Saber duel was very good as well. It helps to keep Ren as a threat.
4. I like that Ren doesn't take off his helmet until Han asks him to.
5. Where did you get the footage of Vader vs Ren? That was surprisingly well done.
6. I liked the two deleted scenes that you integrated back into the film.

I was confused about a couple choices.
1. Why did you omit Snoke calling out Han as Kylo's father, along with Leia telling Han to bring their son home?
2. I was a little confused with Rey seeing what Kylo's fear is in the duel. Did she beat him because his fear was exposed, or was it something else?

I've also been very disappointed with the way Disney has handled this franchise. After Episode 9 I think I'll be done with checking these films out. I skipped Solo and I still have no desire to check it out.

Force Awakens is a very middle of the road film unfortunately. It does piss me off that they could've taken this series in any direction after Return of the Jedi, and what they settled on was a rehash of the original Star Wars. Not a fan of Galactic Empire 2.0, and I really dislike what they did to Han. To be honest I'm even more disappointed in that than what they did to Luke in Last Jedi. Han's my favorite Star Wars character so to see them undo his arc from the original trilogy, and reset him to being a smuggler again was heartbreaking. I know Lucas would've treated the original trilogy characters much better.

Do you think you'll tackle The Last Jedi?

Thanks for the kind reply and for taking the time to view the whole cut.  I'm glad you enjoyed the changes that were made in it and very much appreciate your thoughts and questions.

The reason why some of the dialogue was removed or omitted concerning the character of Kylo Ren was because in our cut we wanted to keep Kylo Ren's real identity and lineage a complete mystery until the very moment He confronts Han Solo and removes his mask.  We also felt that the less you know about Kylo Ren the more menacing and mysterious it makes him as a villain.  We even had a discussion of possibly having Han Solo yell out the name "Luke" as opposed to "Ben." Which would have given the audience a brief moment of shock and disbelief especially since Luke Skywalker hasn't been seen for a majority of the film.  Everybody would be thinking "Oh My God, what has happened to Luke?" And then it would be revealed when Kylo Ren removes his mask that it isn't Luke Skywalker underneath but the face of the son of Han and Leia.  However, in the end we decided to keep the original name "Ben."

As For Rey seeing Kylo Ren's fears through the force.  We wanted to give a good reason for how Rey could defeat Kylo Ren in combat considering she's had no prior training.  In our cut it's implied that Rey is a possible Darksider who's abilities appear to be dormant.  When the sabre calls to her in the basement of Maz's Palace there is a somewhat dark presence that is luring her, The Vader motif plays in a eerily way when the sabre is revealed to her. After she touches it she get's a nightmarish force vision.  Our approach is that she is wielding Anakin's Sabre which in some form is still part of Darth Vader. When Kylo Ren knocks Rey out with a force push against the tree it's possible that her dormant force abilities have been awoken.  The sabre is calling for Her to wield as if it's possessing her.  However, She is fighting more or less as a darksider.  Her attacks are out of rage, hatred, and anger.  The music in our cut signifies this and cements that there is something unsettling about Rey's destiny.  The force vision she sees is on a much more psychological level that enables her to have an edge in defeating her opponent.  When Kylo looks back at Rey, He see's his deepest fears come to life in the form of Vader in which Rey becomes the embodiment of that manifestation.  This in turn allows Rey to have the upper hand in defeating him.

The Darth Vader footage that we used was filmed by Jonas Lawes and his production film crew in Sweden.  I loved his footage and thought it would be perfect to use for our cut.  So we contacted him and he granted us special permission to use his footage.

Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the music alterations that were included in the cut. I myself composed some new music for it. I wrote a variation of Rey's theme using glockenspiel, harp, and celesta instruments.  And for the final lightsabre sequence of Rey's vision of Kylo "You're Afraid." I composed additional music utilizing a dark gothic variation of Vader's Motif with about 25 different instruments   

All in all If you would like to learn more about the Redux Cut.  Then I strongly recommend that you take time to listen to the audio commentary that I recorded with my co-editor.

As for doing a Redux Cut of The Last Jedi. I sadly have no real desire to try and fix that trainwreck of a movie. However, If my co-editor wanted to work on it with me then I might reconsider it, but as of right now the Star Wars sequel trilogy is dead and the only good installment so far is this Redux Cut of Force Awakens which I'm glad is now finally finished.

[BatmanFurst]

Hey man I just finished checking it out. The film feels a bit tighter now, and I like some of the alterations to the music specifically in the light saber duel.

BIG POSITIVES:
1. I really like that alternate crawl. The lack of explanation for the First Order has always bothered me, so I liked your explanation for where they came from.
2. I also liked how you reshaped the ridiculous scene of Rey using the Jedi mind trick. Your version is MUCH better, and most importantly it doesn't break the rules of the Star Wars universe unlike the original scene.
3. Finn being quickly discarded in the Light Saber duel was very good as well. It helps to keep Ren as a threat.
4. I like that Ren doesn't take off his helmet until Han asks him to.
5. Where did you get the footage of Vader vs Ren? That was surprisingly well done.
6. I liked the two deleted scenes that you integrated back into the film.

I was confused about a couple choices.
1. Why did you omit Snoke calling out Han as Kylo's father, along with Leia telling Han to bring their son home?
2. I was a little confused with Rey seeing what Kylo's fear is in the duel. Did she beat him because his fear was exposed, or was it something else?

I've also been very disappointed with the way Disney has handled this franchise. After Episode 9 I think I'll be done with checking these films out. I skipped Solo and I still have no desire to check it out.

Force Awakens is a very middle of the road film unfortunately. It does piss me off that they could've taken this series in any direction after Return of the Jedi, and what they settled on was a rehash of the original Star Wars. Not a fan of Galactic Empire 2.0, and I really dislike what they did to Han. To be honest I'm even more disappointed in that than what they did to Luke in Last Jedi. Han's my favorite Star Wars character so to see them undo his arc from the original trilogy, and reset him to being a smuggler again was heartbreaking. I know Lucas would've treated the original trilogy characters much better.

Do you think you'll tackle The Last Jedi?

Thanks for the kind reply and for taking the time to view the whole cut.  I'm glad you enjoyed the changes that were made in it and very much appreciate your thoughts and questions.

The reason why some of the dialogue was removed or omitted concerning the character of Kylo Ren was because in our cut we wanted to keep Kylo Ren's real identity and lineage a complete mystery until the very moment He confronts Han Solo and removes his mask.  We also felt that the less you know about Kylo Ren the more menacing and mysterious it makes him as a villain.  We even had a discussion of possibly having Han Solo yell out the name "Luke" as opposed to "Ben." Which would have given the audience a brief moment of shock and disbelief especially since Luke Skywalker hasn't been seen for a majority of the film.  Everybody would be thinking "Oh My God, what has happened to Luke?" And then it would be revealed when Kylo Ren removes his mask that it isn't Luke Skywalker underneath but the face of the son of Han and Leia.  However, in the end we decided to keep the original name "Ben."

As For Rey seeing Kylo Ren's fears through the force.  We wanted to give a good reason for how Rey could defeat Kylo Ren in combat considering she's had no prior training.  In our cut it's implied that Rey is a possible Darksider who's abilities appear to be dormant.  When the sabre calls to her in the basement of Maz's Palace there is a somewhat dark presence that is luring her, The Vader motif plays in a eerily way when the sabre is revealed to her. After she touches it she get's a nightmarish force vision.  Our approach is that she is wielding Anakin's Sabre which in some form is still part of Darth Vader. When Kylo Ren knocks Rey out with a force push against the tree it's possible that her dormant force abilities have been awoken.  The sabre is calling for Her to wield as if it's possessing her.  However, She is fighting more or less as a darksider.  Her attacks are out of rage, hatred, and anger.  The music in our cut signifies this and cements that there is something unsettling about Rey's destiny.  The force vision she sees is on a much more psychological level that enables her to have an edge in defeating her opponent.  When Kylo looks back at Rey, He see's his deepest fears come to life in the form of Vader in which Rey becomes the embodiment of that manifestation.  This in turn allows Rey to have the upper hand in defeating him.

The Darth Vader footage that we used was filmed by Jonas Lawes and his production film crew in Sweden.  I loved his footage and thought it would be perfect to use for our cut.  So we contacted him and he granted us special permission to use his footage.

Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the music alterations that were included in the cut. I myself composed some new music for it. I wrote a variation of Rey's theme using glockenspiel, harp, and celesta instruments.  And for the final lightsabre sequence of Rey's vision of Kylo "You're Afraid." I composed additional music utilizing a dark gothic variation of Vader's Motif with about 25 different instruments   

All in all If you would like to learn more about the Redux Cut.  Then I strongly recommend that you take time to listen to the audio commentary that I recorded with my co-editor.

As for doing a Redux Cut of The Last Jedi. I sadly have no real desire to try and fix that trainwreck of a movie. However, If my co-editor wanted to work on it with me then I might reconsider it, but as of right now the Star Wars sequel trilogy is dead and the only good installment so far is this Redux Cut of Force Awakens which I'm glad is now finally finished.

Oh ok, now the ending with Snoke makes more sense with that in mind. Btw nice job integrating 2001 footage in there.
I also liked the inclusion of Asteroid Field music during the Starkiller Base battle.

I'll definitely check out the commentary sometime soon.

[THE BAT-MAN]

Oh ok, now the ending with Snoke makes more sense with that in mind. Btw nice job integrating 2001 footage in there.
I also liked the inclusion of Asteroid Field music during the Starkiller Base battle.

I'll definitely check out the commentary sometime soon.

I'm glad I was able to help clear some of the confusion.  Feel free to ask me any more questions, I'll be glad to answer them.  Especially, if the audio commentary doesn't cover it. 

Also, thanks again for taking the time to watch the full redux cut and for noticing some of the small details.  It really means a lot.  Hopefully, more members here will take the time to watch it and comment on it.

[BatmanFurst]

Oh ok, now the ending with Snoke makes more sense with that in mind. Btw nice job integrating 2001 footage in there.
I also liked the inclusion of Asteroid Field music during the Starkiller Base battle.

I'll definitely check out the commentary sometime soon.

I'm glad I was able to help clear some of the confusion.  Feel free to ask me any more questions, I'll be glad to answer them.  Especially, if the audio commentary doesn't cover it. 

Also, thanks again for taking the time to watch the full redux cut and for noticing some of the small details.  It really means a lot.  Hopefully, more members here will take the time to watch it and comment on it.

You might get some more feedback on Originaltrilogy.com

[THE BAT-MAN]

You might get some more feedback on Originaltrilogy.com

Thanks for the suggestion, I've just signed up with them and started a thread on their website.  Now all I have to do is sit and wait for the replies.