Batman Begins: Dark Cut

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

Just finished watching this and enjoyed it.

Dark Cut is an effort to take out some of the goofier parts of batman Begins and make it a better, tighter movie. JMB succedded in his task. The biggest edits he made were changing katie Holmes voice and the scene with the Tumbler so that Gordon wasn’t driving. Both changes to me, were a success. I enjoyed the more mature voice of the Rachael character in this one and after finishing DC, I popped my BB dvd in to hear what was changed. Now I prefer the voice change in DC to that of the official dvd.

The other big change was taking Gordon out from driving the Tumbler and making it drive itself, which was a success. It gave it a life of its own and made it a more fearsome vehicle.

Aside from the other edits made to tighten up the story and remove the goofier aspects, JMB also inserted a voiceover from the batman Begins video game. To me, I felt it added to the story and didn’t distract me or throw in any useless information to disrupt the scene.

Audio and video were as great as you can find on an avi, perhaps even better. I did find a couple slight video breaks, but nothing major. No hard cuts or jumpy scene changes were found by my eyes either.

The new end credits were good too, though a bit “in your face” as someone previously mentioned.

In all, this is a 9 out of 10 and I anxiously await the dvd edition to put this on my fanedit shelf next to Jorge’s TDK.

Batman Begins: Dark Cut by JMB
review by blueyoda

Prologue:
Let me begin by saying that I only saw Batman Begins once. I’m one of the few who was annoyed by the movie. Although it was undeniably the best, most faithful adaptation of the comic book ever commited to screen in terms of tone, some things irked me enough that I never felt the need to see it a second time; Kathy Holmes’ atrocious performance and Batman’s cluelessness being two major points.

I am a huge fan of the Batman, mostly because of the comic book; The Dark Knight Returns, Year One and The Killing Joke are the “definitive” comics that left their mark on me when I was younger and shaped my idea of who Batman is and why he does what he does. I was really hoping that movie would capture the essence of what has made Batman such an enduring character for more than 70 years and although it succeeded in many aspects like the music, lighting and overall mood it let me down so hard on other, much more important elements like Bruce Wayne’s whole character arc and the way he becomes Batman that I never went back to it. This edit completely changes that.

The edit:
There are many, many small changes in this movie that completely change our perception of it. Batman is a much leaner, much more focused and dangerous character than in the theatrical version of the movie. I remember not thinking much of the dock fight in the theater but here the scene is incredibly effective, almost playing out like a horror movie. Batman is now a force of vengeance, the symbol Liam Neeson taught him to be, a shadow from which no criminal is safe. Like the best boogeymen in movies he is unseen but terrifying and from then on it is clearly established that this is a man who has become “more than a man”. He has become fear itself.

One of the biggest change in this edit is to Kathy Holmes’ character. JMB, in a stroke of genius, has altered her voice in every single one of her lines of dialog to make her sound deeper and more intelligent. Gone is the giggly cheerleader voice that took me out of the movie and made me cringe at every single one of her appearances; her character now has depth. Saying her character is improved would be a gross understatement; her performance is completely transformed into something that, not only no longer sticks out like a sore thumb, but is actually believable and up to par with the other great performances in the movie. This is truly the essence of fanediting; being able to think outside of the box to create a better viewing experience for the audience.

The other major change is the Batmobile. It now has a life of its own, quite litterally; Gordon no longer drives it at the end, it drives itself. Like Batman, it has become much more dangerous and is now a symbol of fear, becoming more than just a vehicle. It is now a monstruous beast, Batman’s faithful stead born out of the same darkness and who’ll follow him thru hell. I cannot underline how big an effect this change makes to Batman’s character who is now completely in control of the situation. No longuer dependant on other’s collaboration, Batman knows exactly what he’s doing and you better not stand in his way.

Editing: 10 of 10 – Seamless. No lost frames, not hard cuts and a much tighter movie and it is hard to believe this is a firstling effort.
entertainment: 9 of 10 - see below.

Image and video quality:
Perfect image quality. If the avi looks this good, this will simply look stunning on DVD.
Video quality: 10 of 10

Audio editing and audio quality:
I did not notice the other reviewers’ qualms about the videogame audio used; everything flowed beautifully to me. Perhaps a second viewing would make me notice it but in the heat of seeing this new take so masterfully done, it has gone by unnoticed by this reviewer. One part, which only lasted a few seconds, could have been more “rounded” but it came and left so quickly that it didn’t have time to really draw me out of the movie.
audio editing: 9 of 10
sound quality: 9 of 10

Presentation:
The avi is as good as an avi can get. I did not care much for the end credits which to me felt a little too bold and in your face, giving it a TV feel, but by then the movie was over and this is honnestly just nitpicking.
9 of 10

Final result: 9 of 10

This is a replacement disc for me. This movie was enjoyed with someone who is not a fan of superhero movies and who had not seen Batman Begins. Typically she will talk endlessly during any movie that doesn’t draw her in but here she was silent the whole way thru – except during the dock fight when Batman takes out the first thug where she burst out in exitement: “You’re all f*cked!”.

This is the Batman I’ve always wanted to see on screen. The whole story now makes sense and respects its own plan laid out in the first part; for Bruce Wayne to instill fear into the hearts of criminals, he must become more than a man. He must become a symbol. Fear itself. And this is exactly what this edit achieves to make us believe. Batman Begins: The Dark Cut is now a movie worthy of its best source material and along with Donner’s Superman movies, one of the best superhero movies I’ve seen.

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.