Batman: Descent Into Mystery

As unfamiliar as I am with the character from the comics (having not read a single one), certain elements of Tim Burton's 1989 Batman never felt quite right to me, Dwight Fry's edit pretty much clears it up and makes for a much more enjoyable experience.

The removal of the flat "romance" and some sillier aspects (Batwing completely missing the Joker?) is seamless, as is the excision of Bruce and Jack's prior history. While some may say that this makes the flashback and associated scenes pointless, it doesn't seem out of character to me that this event is something that Bruce would dwell on, and besides is an important piece of backstory that the first "proper" film adaptation of the comics ought to include.

While still not a film I can claim to really like (unlike the sequel, for all its weirdness) this is definitely my go-to version, the theatrical cut may never leave its case again!

Maybe it is because I grew up with the original version, I prefer that one over this, but with all that, I still did enjoy this!

For my first viewing of this edit, I have to say I enjoyed it, maybe after multiple viewings I'll fall in love with it.

UPDATE: Even though, I guess due to nostaglia, I will always love the original, but this deserves to be on my dvd shelf! Dwight Fry, you did a great job with this edit!

Nothing to add, it is just perfect =)

I challenge you do the same to batman 3 and 4 =)

Everytime i'm gonna watch it, i'll watch this edit =)

I really loved this edit of the movie. At first, I really missed the Prince song Party Man, but as the movie went forward I realized how out of place that scene would have been in this cut--and we got Prince's "Trust" a little later. (I'm a Prince fan. He wrote a song called 200 Balloons for that scene, and it's a on a CD Single. If I ever re-edit this, I've always wanted to use that track.).
In general, there isn't any one thing I can point to that is "wrong" with this edit. The problem is that there isn't much emotional investment with anyone. The things you cut, I agree with. And yet if the Joker didn't kill Batman's parents, that fight in the belltower doesn't have much power to it, IMO. I mean, Batman seems super-pissed and taking the whole Joker-trying-to-kill-everyone-in-Gotham-including-Vikki-Vale thing personally. It just felt a little emotionally hollow.

I still have to say it was a really fun ride, perfect editing. The Joker was great--I found myself speaking dialogue out loud with him. I was glad none of the lines I remembered so well were gone.
In many ways this is much more fun than the original. Much tighter and the Joker is menacing and charismatic. Also, I thought the picture and sound were very very good on my tv, much better than I remembered it. This seemed to fly by!

It's hard to say how much better this film is than the original. The pacing is tighter, the tone is darker, yet you still get a cackling maniacal Joker, a tormented Bruce Wayne, and a brooding Dark Knight. What's missing is everything that wasn't Batman - every moment that made you think "Wait, would Batman do that?"
Ironically I had just watched Tim Burton's original Batman, listening to Kevin Smith's analysis from his "Fatman on Batman" podcast. Every point he made against the original is fixed here. If you loved the original, as I do, you owe it to yourself to check this out. You'll end up loving it twice as much.