Batman: Descent Into Mystery

I enjoyed this a lot. The Vicky Vale romance was a always a bit contrived and distracting; likewise Alfred letting her into the Batcave; the removal of the=is subplot was much appreciated and worked well. I did however miss the Jack Napier/ Joker/ Wayne murders link more than I thought I would, and perhaps keeping this -- while ditching the Vale/ Wayne romance -- would make this really good fanedit a great one. Technically, its top-notch: edits are smooth and seamless. Thanks again!

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.

Like many reviewers, the 1989 Batman is a special one to me. It's the first superhero movie that I remember getting swept up in the marketing campaign for, and feeling crazily excited to see 'the real' Batman at last. I had the t-shirt, the making of book, the comic book (as featured on the cover of this edit!), and the toys, all before being allowed to actually see the film. The batwing was particularly cool. So, in short, I loved and still love Batman '89, flaws and all. It may even be my favourite Batman movie, although I certainly acknowledge many aspects have dated.

As for this fanedit, it is edited superbly. Dwight Fry's fine eye for detail is at work here, and it is clear that an enormous amount of thought and effort went into creating an extremely professional edit. There were no jarring cuts, and the whole thing flows smoothly. But overall, I missed many of the parts that were cut for a couple of reasons.

First, I think the movie has suffered in terms of character development and depth of relationships in this edit. Dwight has successfully removed the aspects he wanted to (vale/bruce relationship, joker killing bruce's parents etc), but to me this left the film feeling more hollow rather than more streamlined. I can buy that Vicki would be attracted to an intelligent, mysterious and dark Bruce Wayne - Remember she is no ordinary girl, and has been out in war torn areas as a photographer. She's attracted to darkness, hence her desire to learn more about Batman in the first place. And of course Knox is the everyman, who clearly has no chemistry with Vale whatsoever. So I don't agree that the love story feels shoehorned in to this movie.

Did Vicki need to see the Batcave? No. But again, it's an important character moment for all three of them in Burton's story - Especially for Alfred, who is really short changed in this edit. I missed the levity of their date scenes, particularly the scene in the kitchen between Bruce, Vicki and Alfred. I am pleased that you cut Bruce sleeping upside down though... That was always ridiculous.

Secondly, many of the scenes felt too rushed to me, particularly the climax in the church. While I understand the reasoning behind most of the cuts, this scene no longer felt worthy of the 'final battle' scene. It was over in a couple of punches. More true to the character? No doubt. More enjoyable? Not really.

If I was able to relate more to the understandable Bat-fan desire to see batman a) become more recluse/mysterious and b)not murder anyone, I think I would have enjoyed the edit more. As it was, I missed seeing Batman blow up the goons in the factory, and throw that guy down the stairwell at the top of the church. And I missed the lovely character beats that have been cut which may have strayed from Batman's origins as a character, but are essential to this particular telling in my opinion.

Overall, I commend Dwight Fry on his fantastic editing skills, and completion of his vision. He has accomplished his goals, and I would happily recommend this to anyone who wants to see a version of Batman closer in line with the comics, and anyone who doesn't have such a nostalgic connection to the original ;)

PS. Blueyoda's The Killing Joke is yet another masterpiece from the best editor I know. A beautiful and mesmerising work. Thank you for including it!

So I watched the original Batman just to refresh my memory before I watched this. I avoided the cutlist before watching the edit. I have to say I like the majority of Dwight's choices here. Excellent job on the opening credits. No silly love story (why does every movie need to shoehorn in a love story?!). Drastically cut down Prince music! My only gripe was the cutting of "Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight" but i don't miss it, i just didn't mind that in the original.

I'll have to look over the cutlist to see what changes I didn't notice, the editing was seamless so I'm sure I missed some things.

Overall an excellent firstling. Audio and video quality was good and you clearly accomplished your goals with the edit. Nice work Dwight!