Batman Forever: Red Book Edition

Batman Forever is one of the best Batman movies, a finanical success at the box office, contained definitive performances from Carrey and Kilmer as a more beleivable and conflicted Batman, and Chris O’Donnel as a vengeful, aggresive, wise guy Dick Grayson whom a tormented Bruce must try to fend from straying to the path he has taken.

Batman Forever however, has often found itself more chastised than acclaimed. Fans are still sour over director Joel Schumacher allowing the camp to dominate aspects of this film, the fact that Tommy Lee Jones forsakes much of Two-Face’s duality and potential to play The Joker didnt help much either.

But perhaps the biggest criticicm, was that several scenes intergral to the story, scenes that were seen in the trailers, commercials, and even the comic and novel adaptations, were CUT from the film. This includes everything that has been restored here. Courtesy of the deleted scenes section of the two-disc Batman Forever Special Edition, these scenes have now been restored, complete with intense, beutifully added scores that serve to highlight the significance and darkness of these scenes. Two-Face’s rant is also slightly cut from the opening of the bank vault scene, barring his more subtle performance as the contemplative Harvey at the beggining.

The Bat-Butt transformation is gone, in its place is the gripping opening scene at Arkam Asylum, where Harvey escapes, followed by the now red-titled Batman Forever screen, then the Batmobile racing out of the Batcave. The film REALLY shines however, when you watch the restored scenes with the music undertoning the performances

Once you watch this movie, you will understand Batman Forever on a much deeper level than before, whilst you may still think Carrey’s performance, retained here for the most part, is too camp, or Two-Face remains as less inspired by his source material, it does not take away from a very real, very different Batman story that adds gravitas to the potential of the character in cinema. Tim Burton’s Batman has Batman’s soul, THIS had Batman’s heart.

Special Features:

- A professionally edited trailer that, in comparison to most other fanedits, actually tries to look like a trailer you’d see in a THEATRE

- A small montage of deleted scenes, I’ll spare you the revelation of what happens at its conclusion, as it’s far too funny to spoil.

This edit is one of the few that I hold in the highest esteem. I consider it a classic fanedit. The look of the film now has a Sin City vibe to it, which in my opinion is a cool change. I love the color regrade, it was an inspiration for me to get into this kind of editing. It helps I loved the theatrical cut as a kid. It always had a slightly darker side to it in parts, and this edit wonderfully accentuates that.

I hadn't watched this since the 90s, so mostly I was coming at the film with fresh eyes. I had actually liked it more than Batman Returns, due to hating most everything about the Penguin, preferring Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne and Batman, and generally liking Jim Carrey. Actually, neither of the films have aged very well, though. But The Red Book Edition attempts to change that.

First, it has to be said that the deleted scenes are 99% amazing (except for one lame line reading by Kilmer: "I'm Batman") and they form a subplot that actually gives a REASON for the main plot of the film. It deepens Bruce's reason for survivor's guilt, justifies having Chase the psychiatrist being a potential lifelong love interest instead of just an old-timey harlot, and gives a more believable reason for Batman to retire than was presented in The Dark Knight Rises. As a serious film that holds up, these scenes MAKE the movie.

Unfortunately, they also highlight how different everything else in the film is. Well, mostly the villains. Schumacher was clearly raised on the old TV show, and the film frequently hearkens back to the improbable inventions and campy over-the-top antics presented there. He doesn't lean into it full bore like he did later in Batman & Robin, though occasional shots and sound effects emphasize the cartoonish aspect of scenes. Mostly it comes in the villains though, and sadly (even with the cuts) Tommy Lee Jones clearly has no idea what he's doing in this film. This Two-Face is a travesty compared to his portrayal in TAS, or even The Dark Knight. And while I was on board with Jim Carrey at the time, he's just horrible now. His hair changes back and forth every other scene, his crotch bulge is distractingly bad, and he's mostly channeling previous wacky characters rather than actually giving us The Riddler. Again, it's a travesty when you know what can be done with the character.

This is undoubtedly a better film than the theatrical release, and the new tone is created with great expertise and attention. Elliot Goldenthal's underappreciated work is the real star of this edit (besides the killer end credit songs), and the visual differences in the deleted scenes worked for me, for the most part. Also, Val Kilmer is given more to work with in this edit, enhancing the best part of the original film. I'd say this is now probably tied with The Dark Knight Rises for my third-favorite live action Batman film.

However, it's still not a great movie. Like TDKR, there are significant problems in this film that cannot be fixed by editing. If you're going to watch it though, this is the version to watch.

Batman Forever: The Red Book Edition is a fanedit I've been pursuing since late 2016, mainly due to its popularity with fans of Batman lore and especially the Burton/Schumacher films. Now, thanks to Masirimso17, I was finally able to watch it in January of last year, and I can certainly say — this cut lives up to its promise for me.

First off, the A/V quality isn't perfect, of course. It's ripped from a DVD source, so that makes sense. Everything else, on the other hand, makes this worthy of repeat viewings.

The editing, in terms of visuals and audio, is damn near seamless. There are certain bits that can come off as slightly jarring, but overall, Scaperat really has outdone himself with this cut. Most of Two-Face's laughs and jokes have been cut in order to bring him in line with his characterization from the comics, and it works beautifully.

The Riddler, however, remains almost completely untouched, and this is due to Scaperat being a huge Jim Carrey fan. I honestly can't blame him, since I really like Carrey's performance myself. As he said himself, "Jim Carrey is a comedic god."

The colour correction, while imperfect, brings a unique look to the film with its muted and noir-esque nature. It helps to highlight significant plot points in the film, such as the criminally underappreciated 'red book' subplot.

The deleted scenes have been restored to their rightful places, obviously, and they blend in perfectly. They contribute to darkening the tone of the film and character development, particularly Bruce's dilemma on becoming Batman and the guilt he expresses over his parents' death.

Unlike many other Batman Forever fan edits which tend to replace Elliot Goldenthal's score with Danny Elfman's epic soundtrack from the Burton films, this cut actually adds more of his work, specifically from Alien 3 and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. And their inclusion actually succeeds in emphasizing intensity and reflecting the mood of certain scenes.

One thing to keep in mind, this cut sticks with the altered timeline as presented in the theatrical cut, but the changes and additions made are a major contributing factor to making it work. Plus, Chase's clearly-redubbed line "Last night at the bank..." fits pretty well here.

On a personal note, I consider Batman Forever to be an underrated gem hidden beneath the earth, and one that has recently been overlooked by Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment. Director Joel Schumacher has expressed his interest in piecing together a director's cut in the near future, but due to the film's drop in popularity, it seems unlikely that we may ever get to see his vision come full circle.

But we can always keep on trying to convince Warner Bros. to let him shine in the spotlight. In the meantime, this cut has succeeded in being a darker version of a 19-year-old movie that was affected by the underwhelming performance of Batman Returns. A highly recommendable fan edit, and well-enough worthy of completing your Batman movie marathon!

Recently I decided that I wanted to watch the original Batman trilogy, and seeing as the edits of Batman and Batman Returns weren't particularly strong I decided to watch the Tim Burton originals followed by this version of Batman Forever. I think Joel Schumacher in his first attempt to take over the reins of Tim Burton's franchise did an adequate job, though this edit definitely brings out the strengths in this movie that were not necessarily present in the DVD version. I wouldn't say this is still Tim Burton's Batman Forever but it's definitely closer to what I imagined it would have been.

Overall I thought this edit was really smart. I liked Jim Carrey's role and the cartoonisness in this was toned down for both the Riddler and Two-face (Tommy Lee Jones wasn't a bad casting choice, but imagine Nic Cage doing two-face? :D). While it's been almost 10 years since I have seen this movie, I thought the depth of Bruce Wayne's madness was explored much better and that Nicole Kidman's role was largely more believable and that she made a pretty foxy psychiatrist.

The edits weren't really really noticeable in my opinion, though I thought the black-and-white scenes were kind of odd and somewhat out of place (it's hard to win with color correction, it always seems to be either too much or not enough, very rarely just right). I think these black and white scenes worked well when we want to highlight specific objects in the room such as the red book, but in general I thought it was a little bit too much. Overall a lot of the stupidness is taken out and I enjoyed the majority of the edits to make the movie more serious. Overall a very good effort and my preferred version of Batman Forever.