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

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

Batman Begins: Dark Cut by JMB

review by boon23

Prologue:
I have been involved in the discussion of this project since it was announced a long time ago. I am also probably the only FE member who has watched the first release of this fanedit as it was sent to me by jmb. It was a fullscreen version, but it blew me away and I was patiently waiting for the final widescreen release with all the cool changes and improvements. JMB is one of the most devoted faneditors I have ever met. On the way to this release he went through so much fault and error, yet he never gave up and I have a huge respect for that.
I consider BATMAN BEGINS a great movie and more consistent and thrilling than DARK KNIGHT. This is not always the best premises for watching a fanedit that is supposed to even improve on the original, but because I knew the first version, I was aware that it was indeed possible.

As for all my reviews: this is just my personal opinion of this fanedit. I cannot tell anybody else, if he or she will experience it in the same way or the opposite. So my review is not objective and does not reflect the opinion of fanedit.org.

!!!!This review contains heavy spoilers!!!

The edit:
There are so many small but important changes to the movie that it is unnecessary to list them all, just that they work marvelously. Just 2 of many examples: Ken Watanabe’s appearance is a lot improved. The dock fight is so much more powerful and the lame one-liners are never missed at all. JMB managed to give a lot more depth to this movie and I enjoyed watching it for the most part.
The idea to not have Gordon drive the Bat mobile was well done and worked well, yet to me the entire final battle scene felt more flat than it was in the original. The panic over Gotham did not get to me so much, I was less thrilled and somehow pulled out of the movie.
The voices from the game did not work too well for me.
Rachel’s deeper voice is a very nice idea, however at some points she sounds artificial and there are several scenes, when an audio change (as if switching from mono to stereo) can be heard.
To me the edit was great for about 105 minutes and lost a lot of its drive in the last 15 minutes. Still it is an awesome job.

editing: 8 of 10 (beautifully edited, but the finale of the original had to me a lot more impact)
entertainment: 7 of 10 (original 9 of 10)(I love the original movie and although this one has many improvements, I will still rather watch the original).

Image and video quality:
The image quality is perfect and there are no hard cuts at all in the movie. The entire editing was done with an incredible amount of care and considering the huge changes a piece of art.
Video quality: 10 of 10

Audio editing and audio quality:
The audio was unfortunately a problem at times as mentioned above. The change of Rachel’s voice did not work perfectly IMO and lead to some occasions that pulled me out of the movie. The game voices did not match the movie voices. There are a few scenes, where an audio channel switch is noticeable. But for 95% of the edit the audio is perfect and it was a great effort to make this possible.
audio editing: 8 of 10
sound quality: 9 of 10
resulting in a 9 of 10 for overall audio

presentation:
It’s an avi and it looks great. Cover art is attached and the info given is very detailled. The DVD will come with a few nice extras and animated menus. The beginning was altered and the end credits were self created, looked great and were perfectly synced with the music.

This results in a 10 of 10 rating from me for presentation.

Final result: 8 of 10 (because I do not rate a fanedit more than 1 point higher or lower than its entertainment to me).

This is hereby approved for fanedit.org.
Thanks, jmb, for creating and releasing it. We have been waiting for this for a long time and it’s a really nice fanedit. Recommended.

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.