Director’s Cuts vs. Theatrical Cuts Part 1 of 2
http://www.filmwad.com/featured-theatrical-cuts-vs-director-s-cuts-2495-p.html
Filmwad always has some good articles, and this one is no different. There have been many times when Directors have gone back and re-cut their own films to their liking. (Note: People have bashed Lucas for changing things in his Special Edition Star Wars films, but he was re-editing A New Hope while it hit the theaters back in the 70s.)
I’d like to give you my two cents on some of their picks.
Payback: I never watched the director’s cut that was released recently, but the theatrical version was fairly good. I thought the ending was clever. I’m looking forward to picking this one up.
Kingdom of Heaven: This movie did feel a little disjointed and random in some places. Was it the studio that actually cut the film or Ridley Scott? I’m a huge fan of his work, so I was a little disappointed with the outcome. I’ll have to pick up the Dir cut sometime soon.
Daredevil: I did a review for the Director’s cut a year ago, and I was shocked how much was cut from the theatrical cut. They turned a darker film into love story, which is a disservice to the director. Yes, the Dir Cut nearly saves this film. What were they thinking? (Thank goodness they cut out the part where Jennifer keeps Daredevil from answering the call for help.)
End of Part 1
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3 comments:
Oh noes, i have the love story edition of DD, i saw it last night itself. no wonder the movie is a bit mushy than i recall.
My problem with George Lucas is not that he made "Special Editions," but that he cut into the negative of the original and keeps trying to say that only one version of the movie can exist. Make all the director's cuts you want, but don't punish people who like the original version by removing it from physical existence.
Spielberg does the same with his constant re-editing of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. But at least he put both versions of E.T. out on DVD.
Lucas and Spielberg were actually going to do the same to the Indiana Jones movies before the DVD release, but the episode of South Park making fun of the idea scared them off.
So, director's cuts and special editions, that's cool. It's usually interesting to see both versions, especially as an insight into a specific filmmaker's vision or what studios consider releasable. But I don't like it when people act try to erase their past.
Blayde: I almost got that version too. If I recall, the original cut (director's cut) had very little of Jen in to compared to the theater cut. They added more love story to market it better. It failed though.
SamuraiFrog: Yeah, I never thought about it that way. I forgot he cut into the negative. He's generally messed with A New Hope the most. He's never been happy with it. There comes a point when he needs to stop retouching it.
Close Encounters is another one with about three or four different cuts. I need a score card to keep up with the edits.
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