Batman Begins: Dark Cut

for people who fanedit and like to watch fanedits their number one reason for doing so is to re-watch a film with a different experience to when they first saw the film. i fondly recall seeing the batman begins at the cinema for whatever reason i didn't rush to see it but instead saw the last screening of it. they was just me and a mother with her two sons at the front but i remember just being blown away with what i saw and that ending which led us into the sequel i still believe to be one of the best endings to a film i've seen. so of course i bought it and fast forward some years later and i'm looking to re-watch the series i thought why not try a fanedit version.

the problem with this trilogy is that it has to pander to the summer blockbuster audience so often these films have humor that seems so out of place. thank god this edit cuts this out (the homeless guy and the jacket) though the cuts made are all done very well because i've seen this film a few times now it often took me out of the film (i didn't read the cut list before hand) but this happens a lot with fanedits and is in no way a negative against JMB.

so the big selling point is the voice change to Rachel, for me it's not a major concern when i first saw the original but obviously for JMB it was. so doe's it work? strangle enough i found it doe's, while cuts may have took me out of the film the new voice i found fits perfectly. i'm sure the more times i re-watch the edit the more i'll pick up the imperfections. i pretty sure you could show this edit it any casual fan and they wouldn't know the difference until you told them at the end.

the only change to the story that i feel didn't work was removing Gordon from the Batmobile. while it's done really well and to a degree i myself didn't like his involvement on repeated viewings, his removal here impacts on the characters final. overall i just felt that why did batman want gordon to have the antidote. in the original batman of course needs gordon but here it just seems like batman saves gordon and rachael but to hell with everyone else. now all gordon doe's is knock-out / chain his work college so he doesn't kill anyone.

overall i say this is a really good fanedit, it takes what was a very good film and improves certain aspects to it. i'm not sure when it comes to re-watching batman begins again that i'll go back to this version but i can say that i enjoyed watching edit and would recommend it to anyone who would like to see a different take on batman begins

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

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

*This rating was given before reviews were required*