Re: Movies with bad editing

It's tough because what you might interpret as bad editing could be a number of things like bad framing, bad sound, bad lighting etc. It's also noteworthy that "bad editing" doesn't necessarily mean bad editor. The Producers and Director can all have heavy influence in an edit suite.

Having said that, one thing to look for is bad rhythm. Or no rhythm. I thought Transformers 2 was horribly edited. Seemingly no lulls; all fast WHAM BAM in yer face. In contrast, The Terminator is made with impeccable rhythm; there are as many slower scenes as frenetic, high energy scenes which overall means a more emotionally involved (tense) film. I felt almost no tension in Transformers 2 despite the fact that the protagonist has more robots or whatever to fend off. That's not a rule of course, but rhythm is something that only the editor has control of.