Batman Begins: Dark Cut

Finally got around to watching this,

When the thread was still going on about the edits I couldn’t wait for it, but for some reason I just downloaded and impatiently skipped to the newly edited things.

But after taking some time to watch it I must agree with everyone else here: this is a tremendous fanedit.
From a technical standpoint there are almost no problem (except at the end the new batmobile lines were a little low and the scene with Rachel at the end had noticeable louder music, but that’s just nitpicking) and the only things that detract from this edit are my personal opinions.

I love Batman Begins, I love extensive driving on the top of roofs, I love the fact that Gordon and Batman work together at the end since Gordon until then never had a shining role in Batman movies

But personal preferences aside: does this edit work?

Yes it does. Not having Gordon is my problem, the new take works as well as the original, it changes the mood of course, but it works nevertheless, same goes for the shortened chase sequence, I’m pretty sure that if you’ve never seen Begins you won’t notice the edits.

Katie Holmes’s voice works in 98% of the cases, only when the original voice tries to talk in a deep voice the new pitch sounds a bit awkward. A lot of cringy Rachel lines are thankfully gone as well and most of the things you don’t even miss.

Will this replace my DVD? No

But it is a very good alternate take on the source material: 8/10

WARNING: I have not seen this movie in about a year, I don't normally watch this movie as I don't really like it that much

This edit makes the movie significantly better, the changes made to the film are very subtle but improve the story drastically. The edit is called "the dark cut" and it does exactly what you would expect: it makes the movie darker. By removing campy humour, silly lines, and strange writing/directing-related decisions (looking at Gordon driving the batmobile). JMB also has done a great job at changing Rachel's voice in order to improve her (awful) acting.

Video/Audio quality was fine, nothing wrong that I noticed. Visual editing was great, cool effects with the batmobile's GPS/AI interface. Audio editing was superb, Rachel's voice was amazing and video game lines were perfectly integrated into the film. The narrative is now much better and flows quicker with more developed and less goofy characters making the story way more interesting.

I really enjoy this version of Batman Begins, it is now my go-to version of the movie if I ever feel like watching the movie. Good work, JMB! :)

I will start off with saying that I am not one of the people who was enamored with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. When I first saw it, I didn’t think it was all that captivating, thought the batmobile was atrocious, and missed the mystaire that Tim Burton’s Batman brought. But then, it’s a generational thing. A lot has come and gone in film since 1989, as well as in the audience’s preference.

I have come to appreciate it as a film, as I really enjoyed The Dark Knight. In retrospect, I think it undertook something that was very difficult, in bringing believability to a real life Batman. Especially after Batman Forever…

But I love this fanedit! It has definitely replaced the original as my preference for this story. The flow is tight, the action is strong, and the interest in the very convoluted story is fairly sustainable.
So, I give it 9/10 for effort.

The drawbacks I did not like are few, but kind of strong.

I really did not like the voice modulation for Katie Holmes. I could barely pay attention to what she was saying because it was so obvious. Not that I don’t think it was a good idea, but her voice is just so specific, it was hard to maintain the suspension of disbelief.

The biggest line for the description of this edit that stood out to me was “A more streamlined version of Batman Begins, with fewer cheesy jokes”. Then there was the ridiculous line Batman says about leaving a space for him to sign the check to pay for the damages to Gotham City. It was so corny! Right after he’s just left his mentor to die.

And has been brought up, there were a few scenes that seemed like the audio was not perfectly synced; though this was not as annoying as it sounds. (get it? sounds… never mind.)

Other than that, I was very impressed. I will definitely look forward to further work from JMB.
Great job, J!

The little things that bugged me about Batman Begins are almost all gone.

I really enjoyed this edit as it removed the silly parts, eg Gordon driving the batmobile, "gotta get me one of those" line, the rasta man, etc. I'm with Neglify with the voice change though. At first I liked it, but then it became very distracting.

Audio/Video: The quality is great, the menu is great, it's great. 10/10

Visual Editing:
Almost everything is smooth, but some of the cuts were a bit choppy/quick, eg. Rachel during her first conversation with Bruce/Batman. The video editing made her responses to quick imho. Also, the insert of a sniper was a bit jarring to me. Other than these examples, I really enjoyed your visual editing. Editing out the rooftop chase, the added drugged effects to Rachel's perception of batman during the chase and the mobile batmobile ui were great! The video editing was done very well. 9/10

Audio Editing:
Rachel's new voice is a little inconsistent as Neglify states. I liked it during the initial viewing of this edit, mostly for the novelty effect. But, after viewing this edit about 4 or 5 times, the voice just isn't working for me anymore. Other than the voice, the rest of the audio editing is superb. 7/10

Narrative:
The story is played out pretty much the same as the original source. The only narrative changes come by way of Rachel and Bruce's relationship, which I feel wasn't necessary. The kiss at the end is even more awkward to me as they jump in emotion so quickly, almost akin to anakin and padme in sw2. The sniper was an interesting idea, but I thought the original narrative made Falcony more dangerous and menacing, ala Bane's men willing to die for him without thought. I also missed Rachel saying "Bruce?". I think this line is key to the scene. She isn't saying "bruce is batman" she's just exclaiming naturally as a person would. No insult to the audiences intelligence here imho. The narrative did uphold Batman's no gun rule for all the purists out there. I'm giving it 7/10 because of minute changes that I personally didn't care for and/or thought added awkwardness to characters and pacing.

Enjoyment:
Initial enjoyment was a solid 9/10. Returning enjoyment is an 8/10 due to narrative changes and Rachel's new voice. I still watch this version if I'm going to watch Batman Begins simply for the no rooftop chase and no Gordon driving the batmobile editing alone. Thanks for the edit! I'd recommend this to all Batman Begins fans.

I’m sorry man, this didn’t really work for me.

The Good -
All the cuts you made to the story were great. It definitely felt more like Batman. Especially the Docks.

The Bad -
Holmes’ voice. Very distracting for me. I understand the reason behind it but it just didn’t work. She didn’t sound like a natural human being to me. It screamed of digital editing. Every time she would talk brought me out of the movie. It’s ironic because Katie’s natural voice brings you out of it, so I guess now I know how you felt.

Certain parts sounded perfectly fine but other lines sound way off. A great example is around the 1:20:18 mark. When she answers the phone, the first part (“Rachel Dawes… who authorized that?”) she sounds like a transvestite. Then the next part (“Get Crane down there right now…”) she sounds like a normal person.

Sad to say but the new manly sore throat voice was a deal breaker for me.

FANEDIT RATING – 8

Audio/Video Quality – 9
Visual Editing – 10
Audio Editing – 7
Degree of Editing – 9

(NOTE: “Degree of Editing” is a 100% arbitrary rating that I keep in mind when reviewing edits. This is not meant to insinuate that a faneditor is lazy or not. Some fanedits require a lot more work than others and I take this into account.)

MOVIE RATING – 7

Narrative – 8 (original is 8)
Enjoyment – 6 (original is 9)

OVERALL RATING – 7