Batman and Robin: Deep Freeze

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9.4
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9.6(22)
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9.5(22)
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9.6(22)
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9.2(22)
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9.0(22)
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Overall rating
 
9.6
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10.0
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I haven't watched this movie in many years, i found myself second guessing if the story was always this clear and focused.
The black & white was a perfect way to stop all the distracting bright colours of each batman scene.
Mr Freeze was barrable, i didn't cringe one time watching this movie, THATS A FIRST ! but his dialog was very limited due to this but id rather less dialog considering the only trade off is cheesy dialog, it raises disappointment in the lack of thoughtful dialog he was given in the original cut.
AI would highly recommend this to everyone that has seen the original i cant say it 100% redeems the original we would need addition scenes for that, however the edit makes this the only way i would want to watch batman & robin in future.

I gave audio a 9 due to some scenes dialog seemed lower but it wasn't a deal breaker but was noticeable.
but big positive was the inclusion of the Arkham batman music, completely changed the tone was awesome.

Thank you for your work MusicEd921

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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(Updated: June 30, 2022)
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Who knew I would ever watch BATMAN AND ROBIN again, never mind enjoy it?

BATMAN AND ROBIN: DEEP FREEZE is a fantastic edit, full stop. Music Ed gives the film an entirely new feel by removing dozens and dozens of lame jokes, adding new score sourced from the Arkham video game series, and applying a black and white colour grade.

Only a select few one-liners remain - the ones that are important for communicating plot and character, and a few that are legitimately clever. The new music works great, too. The Arkham music is recognizably “Batman” without really feeling dated in any sense, so it fits the movie well, and it blends perfectly with the original score cues that are left in. The movie’s infamous neon toy commercial sheen is removed, and the stylish lighting and gothic set design is allowed to shine instead.

Initially, I thought perhaps the editor had brightened the picture too much, but it’s honestly better for the picture to be slightly too bright, rather than too dark. The brightness ensures that none of the picture’s detail gets obscured by the black and white colour grade, and it has a fun effect: the movie now feels old-fashioned in a way it never did before, as the artifice of the sets and costumes and special effects comes alive. It feels fake, but in the best way possible.

Combine that old-fashioned feeling with the cast’s broad, 1960s Batman style acting, and suddenly I’m watching a long-lost campy Batman adventure that lands somewhere between Tim Burton and Adam West, while also feeling like something new entirely.

The editor’s choices are savvy throughout. The opening sequence in the museum is streamlined, and the entire episode onboard Mr. Freeze’s rocket is removed. You don’t even notice that it’s gone. All of the terrible scenes in South America with the mad scientist character are cut, and so is the entire Bane character, who is irrelevant to the story. The character of Pamela Isley gets a perfect introduction, and we don’t miss the explanations regarding her superpowers. She’s Poison Ivy, she’s a supervillain, get used to it.

I could go on, but suffice to say, this is pretty much everything you would want in an edit of BATMAN AND ROBIN.

The middle part of the movie is restructured extensively. I tried to keep track of all the scene shuffling, but I couldn’t, and it all played smoothly anyway. Everything clicks neatly into place and all of the character and theme development continues naturally, which is impressive. (On this note, I would enjoy reading the editor’s full list of cuts and changes, just so I can appreciate the work done even more.)

There are only a few choices that didn’t work for me.

The first is the removal of Pamela Isley convincing Commissioner Gordon to hand over the keys to the police station so she can steal the Bat signal. This is an important scene because it would establish definitively for the viewer that Pam and Poison Ivy are the same person. (Of course, we’ve all seen the movie, so we know this, but otherwise I don’t think it’s obvious until now.) This scene is also where Bruce observes who Poison Ivy is and how her love dust works. It feels strange later when Bruce knows this info without any explanation. The scene would also help break up a string of several scenes that nearly turn the movie into something you might reasonably call BATMAN AND ROBIN: MACGREGOR'S SYNDROME. I understand that seeing how Poison Ivy acquires the Bat signal isn’t important, and perhaps it doesn’t make sense for Julie to still be dating Bruce at this point, but I think the movie misses the scene for the reasons given.

The second choice is the editor keeping Mr. Freeze shouting “It’s time to feast!” right before he activates the giant freeze gun, simply because it doesn’t make much sense without the previous line about revenge being a dish best served cold. This isn’t a big deal, though, especially considering all of the other well-judged trims to dialogue.

The third is maybe more of a personal preference, but I didn’t feel the final shot of Freeze landed emotionally. The shot is obviously transplanted from a previous scene. The situation is the same, with Freeze sitting on his prison bed and gazing forlornly at an ice sculpted miniature of his wife. Even the supposedly dead guards from before are standing in the room. It’s all too gloomy - the scene would work better if it showed Freeze continuing his research in Arkham, as Batman stated earlier, but sadly there’s no footage showing that.

I apologize for running so long in this review! This is an editor at the top of his game, and DEEP FREEZE is one of the best fan edits I’ve seen in a long time. I got a chill watching it. Is Music Ed a gardener? Because he’s very good at cutting and trimming. This movie used to leave me cold, now it doesn’t. Insert plant pun. Ice pun. Trees. Winter. Okay I'll stop now.
P
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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
I admit that my expectations for this edit were high ever since I saw the thread for it in the FE.org forums, and I'm happy to say that this edit met my expectations and even gave me a few welcome surprises I didn't expect!

For starters, I love and respect the black-and-white aesthetic this edit went for. It did a lot to give this edit a film-noir feel that made me think of some of my favorite Batman comics, from The Long Halloween to Hush. Of course, this is an edit of Batman & Robin, so just to clarify, this still isn't a whodunnit. It is limited to the source material we all know (and most likely, hate). But the decision to make it black-and-white really does a good job of keeping this one in line with the atmosphere we all associate with Batman.

But even if I were to brush aside the B&W, and focus on the edit itself, I'm still impressed with what's been done to fix this movie. Yes, the sillier, more cartoonish moments have been reduced here (at least, as much as can be done to reduce it), but what caught me by surprise is Bruce Wayne's character arc as well as the theme of trust. It's enough to make this edit required viewing for any future faneditor! I'm also going to repeat dwight-fry's sentiments down below on how warm the bond with the good guys is in this edit. I loved this aspect of the group, and I'm glad that this edit highlights it.

The choice to place the focus on Mr. Freeze was a surprising one, but looking back, I'm glad MusicEd went with it. Mr. Freeze is arguably my favorite Batman villain because his issues are the most sympathetic of the lot. He isn't some deranged sociopath or a guy trying to cause trouble via riddles. He's just trying to save his wife. And I appreciate seeing more of that aspect (and less of those ice puns) in this edit. Sure, it would be better if Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't cast in the role, but it's a solid improvement, and the best it can possibly be.

Of course, this is still an edit of Batman & Robin, and as hard as it tries, some moments of campiness are going to be there no matter what. The worst scene I can think of is when Poison Ivy lies to Freeze about Batman killing his wife. A lot of the saturday morning cartoon logic in that scene is still pretty bad. But I don't think it can be removed, since it takes the plot from point A to point B. With that said, though, MusicEd made the right decision to treat it like something from The Animated Series, and it helped to make most of the remaining silliness easier to swallow.

I have very few complaints about this edit, and considering the source material, that's some high praise coming from me. Batman & Robin: Deep Freeze is a miracle in fan editing, and one I intend to see again!

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Yes
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Digital
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(Updated: August 11, 2022)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
It really is the sub zero "cheese" version. I'd say the majority of the frozen stale cheese within the film is melted away. The intro is exactly how it should have been done originally. The fight scenes look more slick and do not look as goofy. The one liners are mostly gone and the odd one or two which remain are just enough for a Batman film. Oh and Bane who?

The score actually sounds brilliant now. I remember it being extremely off-putting originally. The change of soundtrack improves the film alone. Changing from colour to B&W contrasts well with the ice visuals throughout the film. It makes Mr Freeze's blaster effects (and Mr Freeze himself) look much more deadlier too!

Batgirl and Robin? Well less is more in this case. Even Clooney wasn't great. I'm glad Batgirl's lines were cut short...everyone knows the entire script is awful....the speech is just terrible, but Batgirl suffered the worst in the theatrical release...Did she just not bother because the script was so bad? Whatever the case, it still shows here even with her mostly being cut right down....I never liked the whole racing scene either. Were Batgirl or Robin needed at all?

This edit seems more aimed towards an older audience. The original is strange for that reason as it really didn't seem to know who to capture, it seemed like a kids film, but the actual themes revolving around death, ecology (a very big theme in the 21st Century, was Poison Ivy just an extreme Greta Thunberg?) and sexual lust are quite adult for a kiddy audience, but then it would make sense why they added so much silly goofy humour and cartoonish visuals to hide it.

My conclusion on this "Deep Freeze" edit would be that if you ever wanted to watch Batman & Robin ever again then this would be the one to go for. I do recommend it and I didn't cringe...too much! ;-)

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
(Updated: October 03, 2023)
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
This edit did the impossible and made Batman & Robin a watchable movie by cutting down the cringe, noise, and neon. Though I missed Elliott Goldenthal's score, the new music chosen was fitting.

Removing Bane, Poison Ivy's origin, and that stupid gorilla suit improved Poison Ivy tremendously, and losing the puns (as much as I love them!) improved Mr. Freeze. However, even with the editing, Alicia Silverstone's Batgirl is barely tolerable and the plot is paper-thin (not the fault of the editor, some things can't be helped!)

Still, to echo the sentiment shared by reviewer mnkykungfu: if you're going to watch Batman & Robin, this is definitely the way to watch it.

User Review

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Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
B
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