Batman: Descent Into Mystery

There's a phrase which DwightFry said once in a thread on the forum... something which has stuck with me ever since. It was something along the lines of ... "You never complete an edit; you abandon it". How true that is. Indeed, DwightFry worked on his first edit for more than 2 years and looking at the thread in the "In the Works COMPLETED archive" it appears that he started before I even began work on my first edit (and I've now released 5 edits)! So, the anticipation for this edit was pretty high.

Now, I hadn't seen the original 1989 version of Batman for a long time. Probably not for a good 10 years at least. So, when I settled down to watch the blu ray a week or so before DwightFry's fanedit, I was taken aback a little at how dated the movie looked. I suppose in my mind Burton's movie had all the edge and darkness of Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, but truth be told, the director's visions are a world apart. However, at the same time I still greatly enjoyed Burton's movie. It's fun, has tremendous production design and an iconic music score from Danny Elfman - but most of all, it has Jack Nicholson as the Joker. Undoubtedly his character and performance completely dominate the movie and It's not surprising that the impact of Keaton's Batman is so overlooked. Overall then, I would still rank the movie very highly; and yet the main aspect which is addressed by DwightFry's Descent Into Mystery fanedit, is certainly the one area which cries out for fixing - that rather paper thin and ineffective romance between Vicki Vale and Bruce Wayne.

It doesn't take long to be impressed by DF's first foray into fanediting. Even though I had watched the theatrical version only a week or so before, the cuts which are made here are totally invisible. Not only that, but I can whole heartedly say that I didn't miss one of the scenes which had DF's editing scissors applied to them.

Not surprisingly, the edit's biggest plus point is in scrubbing the aforementioned romance between Vicki and Bruce. It genuinely improves the movie's central character, in that suddenly there is more mystery and intrigue surrounding Bruce Wayne and the Batman. True, it still doesn't redress the balance properly, as Burton's Batman remains very much geared towards Nicholson's Joker, even in this edit. However, it certainly enhances the pace and feel of the movie and somehow brings more substance to the story.

The concept of not having the Joker be responsible for Bruce's parent's death is a wise move for me. I prefer keeping that as a mystery, even if it admittedly carried some dramatic effect in the original theatrical version. Personal preference I'm sure, as I can see from other reviews that it's split people's opinions quite a bit.
As for not having Prince's music playing when the Joker arrives to meet Vicki Vale and thereby denying us the twisted pleasure of seeing many valuable paintings being defaced? Well, DF certainly edits it very well, but it was a scene which I quite enjoyed in the original version as it fits Nicholson's interpretation of the character nicely, so I can go either way with that one. It's not really missed, but it was a fun scene.

Technically, DF has done a fine job, with a subtle colour correction applied which particularly improves the blacks, giving a deeper, less flat feel to the film. Sonically speaking, everything sounded spot-on to me. No harsh cuts or audio drop outs to speak of at all.

On top of this, there's a very cool short edit entitled The Killing Joke, expertly edited as always by blueyoda (even if seeing Bale's fantastic portrayal of Batman made Keaton's look very weak in comparison), plus a nice little colour correction comparison scene, not to mention an interesting About The Edit piece.

Overall then, this is quite excellent work from DwightFry. Whereas in the past I never really believed Burton's film needed fanediting, having seen Descent Into Mystery, I stand corrected. Burton 8/10... DF 9/10.

Great edit!!

The pace of the movie at first seemed a bit hurried... Mostly cuz I've been watching the original for two decades. The film is indeed super dated these days... But DIM makes it feel like a real Batman/Burton movie. Until watching this, I had no idea how much the Vale/Wayne romance crudded the thing up.

My first fanedit experience... And I loved it.

Burton's Batman and its sequel were AMAZING back in the day. I remember seeing them both in theater and enjoying them a lot.
But, as for most of Burton's movies, they aged poorly, IMO. They are still watchable, they have nice settings, cool actors numbers
and all, but I don't know... I fall asleep each time I want to see them now. I'm afraid I find them... dated.

Dwight Fry's version of Batman (89) was a refreshing way to revisit this movie.
It's Still Batman (89) but the pace is better, it flows well. I did not fall asleep this time, lol.
Even if it looks like I'm the only man alive to still have a soft spot for Kim Basinger I did not mind some of her scenes being removed. She's still there, but enough to still be part of the story without slowing down the pace.

The Joker not being the killer of Bruce's dad an mom is well done, but I guess I so have the original movie version in mind that I found
something was missing... (maybe removing completely the scene could have also worked?)
But really, for someone who would never have seen the original I think Dwight Fry's version would work very well.

All the transitions, the music replacement at times, and all the cuts are impeccable.

My hat off to Fry for his work and patience during the long making of this fanedit. The result is very professional.

Hey everyone, growing up I would watch Batman '89 all the time. It was to the point where I knew the films ins and outs very well. I know most kids would normally get a disney movie to watch and that'd be their favorite. But mine was Batman '89. Michael Keaton is a great Batman. So when I heard that Dwight was fanmixing Batman '89, I was kinda curious to see how it'd turn out. It was a bit of a wait. However, I have to say that it was very much worth the wait.

It removes one of the clunkiest parts of Batman '89, the love story. It felt like it was shoe horned in. There were other scenes that just seemed to slow the film down. Instead of letting it play out. Now, Dwight has improved the film immensely by his changes. I'm not going to say what all they are to spoil it for those that haven't seen this yet. But, I'd highly recommend giving it a watch.

This has taken EVERYTHING that was poorly done in the original and made it the way it should have been. The choice of cut scenes, audio changes, and color correction are all spot on! Thank you to Dwight for all the hard work, I truly enjoyed this.