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Batman: The SilentPete Edit
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Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1989
Original Running Time:
126
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
83
Time Cut:
43
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
Batman '89 was/is a pretty solid film, but it does not get Bruce Wayne quite right, in my opinion. Also, the film itself does drag a bit. Therefore, I wanted to see if a slimmed down version of the film would play better than the original. In my opinion, it does.
Intention:
My intention was to speed the film up and remove the Vicky Vale love sub-plot story, which is mostly out of character for Bruce Wayne, at least with how he is presented in this version of Batman.
Other Sources:
The commercial Bluray was used.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
The primary strategy was to remove the Vicky Vale romance and keep the plot moving a bit quicker.
Cuts and Additions:
The film now opens directly on Gotham City and the family getting attacked by the two goons.
The interaction between the two goons has been shortened.
The credits now follow the teaser introduction of Batman.
Both of the the political speeches by and with Harvey Dent have been removed. Those scenes served two purposes. 1, they set up Gotham as a city in peril. That is still achieved without the scene, however. 2, they are a set up for Dent himself who would have continued as two-face in sequels had they not changed their minds. So, they did not really serve a purpose.
Now, the film goes straight from the rooftop fight to the credits, then back to the aftermath of the rooftop and Knox doing his investigation.
The sub-plot of Jack having an affair with Grissom's girl has been reduced to implying it versus showing it. So the scene of Jack and Grissom's girl is gone. It is only there to give Grissom more of a reason to get rid of Jack, but Jack's defiant attitude really serves that function well on its own. The implication of the affair is intact, just not actually showing it.
At Wayne mansion, Bruce's absent-minded behavior is removed, as is his interactions with Vicky in the middle of the party. Instead, we meet Bruce with Vicky and Knox in the statue display room.
Batman does not try to save Jack after he falls over the rail. Instead, he just falls. Batman trying to save him shows him to be a good guy in front of Gordon, and that needs to be a mystery to Gordon at this point.
Bruce's date with Vicky has been removed.
The scene of Bruce asking for the file on his parents has been moved and now takes place just before the Joker surgery scene.
Bruce looking at the police files about his parents and his flashback to their murder has been moved to just after Joker kills Grissom. This now serves as a continuation of Bruce asking for the files from Alfred. The sub-plot of Jack being the killer of Bruce's parents has been removed, so moving the scene here keeps the story focused on Bruce and takes the place of Vicky sub-plot.
The sub-plot of the Joker putting his toxin in house products and various people getting infected has been removed. In my opinion, it just slowed the film down. He is still working on something having to do with chemistry, but what that is is saved until the end with the big street attack and gas balloons.
Because Jack did not kill Bruce's parents, he has simply seen the Joker at the attack on the street and recognized him as Jack, prompting at look at his police file and noting his interest in chemistry.
The Joker's trip through the museum has been mostly removed. No Prince song and antics.
Bruce going to Vicky's and his interaction with the Joker has all been removed.
Everyone's accent to the top of the church has been trimmed down.
Vicky meeting Alfred at the end has been removed.
There are various cuts and trims here and there, but that is the bulk of it.
The interaction between the two goons has been shortened.
The credits now follow the teaser introduction of Batman.
Both of the the political speeches by and with Harvey Dent have been removed. Those scenes served two purposes. 1, they set up Gotham as a city in peril. That is still achieved without the scene, however. 2, they are a set up for Dent himself who would have continued as two-face in sequels had they not changed their minds. So, they did not really serve a purpose.
Now, the film goes straight from the rooftop fight to the credits, then back to the aftermath of the rooftop and Knox doing his investigation.
The sub-plot of Jack having an affair with Grissom's girl has been reduced to implying it versus showing it. So the scene of Jack and Grissom's girl is gone. It is only there to give Grissom more of a reason to get rid of Jack, but Jack's defiant attitude really serves that function well on its own. The implication of the affair is intact, just not actually showing it.
At Wayne mansion, Bruce's absent-minded behavior is removed, as is his interactions with Vicky in the middle of the party. Instead, we meet Bruce with Vicky and Knox in the statue display room.
Batman does not try to save Jack after he falls over the rail. Instead, he just falls. Batman trying to save him shows him to be a good guy in front of Gordon, and that needs to be a mystery to Gordon at this point.
Bruce's date with Vicky has been removed.
The scene of Bruce asking for the file on his parents has been moved and now takes place just before the Joker surgery scene.
Bruce looking at the police files about his parents and his flashback to their murder has been moved to just after Joker kills Grissom. This now serves as a continuation of Bruce asking for the files from Alfred. The sub-plot of Jack being the killer of Bruce's parents has been removed, so moving the scene here keeps the story focused on Bruce and takes the place of Vicky sub-plot.
The sub-plot of the Joker putting his toxin in house products and various people getting infected has been removed. In my opinion, it just slowed the film down. He is still working on something having to do with chemistry, but what that is is saved until the end with the big street attack and gas balloons.
Because Jack did not kill Bruce's parents, he has simply seen the Joker at the attack on the street and recognized him as Jack, prompting at look at his police file and noting his interest in chemistry.
The Joker's trip through the museum has been mostly removed. No Prince song and antics.
Bruce going to Vicky's and his interaction with the Joker has all been removed.
Everyone's accent to the top of the church has been trimmed down.
Vicky meeting Alfred at the end has been removed.
There are various cuts and trims here and there, but that is the bulk of it.
User reviews
7 reviews
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
9.4(7)
Audio Editing
9.4(7)
Visual Editing
9.6(7)
Narrative
8.6(7)
Enjoyment
8.9(7)
Overall rating
7.8
Audio/Video Quality
8.0
Audio Editing
8.0
Visual Editing
9.0
Narrative
7.0
Enjoyment
7.0
Watched black and white version, cropped to 'scope aspect ratio.
I enjoyed this edit more than the original film, which I am admittedly not a fan of, the removal of the subplots was done very cleanly from a story point of view with the only giveaways being a few audio transitions. For example, while I liked the restructured the way the music fades in and out makes the fact that the scene has been shifted here from later quite noticeable. The film still feels quite flat to me, but I think this js less to do with the reduced runtime than its source, and my great fondness for Batman Returns and all it's delightful weirdness.
AV quality was generally very good, the only time I noticed the cropping was the Warner Bros card at the start, but sometimes found the image dark enough that I couldn't quite understand what was being shown. A boost in lightness and/or contrast should solve this, and if the originally-yellow title text could be redone to appear more white than grey that would help too.
On the whole, I think that I slightly prefer Dwight Fry's less aggressive take, but this edit is a worthy addition. I'm not sure if 1989's Batman could ever be made into a great film in my opinion, but in this form it's definitely a watchable one.
I enjoyed this edit more than the original film, which I am admittedly not a fan of, the removal of the subplots was done very cleanly from a story point of view with the only giveaways being a few audio transitions. For example, while I liked the restructured the way the music fades in and out makes the fact that the scene has been shifted here from later quite noticeable. The film still feels quite flat to me, but I think this js less to do with the reduced runtime than its source, and my great fondness for Batman Returns and all it's delightful weirdness.
AV quality was generally very good, the only time I noticed the cropping was the Warner Bros card at the start, but sometimes found the image dark enough that I couldn't quite understand what was being shown. A boost in lightness and/or contrast should solve this, and if the originally-yellow title text could be redone to appear more white than grey that would help too.
On the whole, I think that I slightly prefer Dwight Fry's less aggressive take, but this edit is a worthy addition. I'm not sure if 1989's Batman could ever be made into a great film in my opinion, but in this form it's definitely a watchable one.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Overall rating
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
8.0
Narrative
8.0
Enjoyment
9.0
This was a great, streamlined version of Batman 89. The storytelling in the original version is so weak, so it's hard to do much to change that. The deletion of Jack being the Waynes' killer is great and handled well (with some clever audio editing). Taking out the Vicki romance is a great idea, but it leads to a couple problems. Mostly that it leaves us with fewer Bruce Wayne scenes, which the original version was already lacking. There are also a few instances in the first half of the movie where the cuts between deleted scenes are awkward. There are three Jack/Joker scenes that are scrunched together and don't make a lot of sense timing wise. I also missed the Smilex subplot. But you've gotta make cuts somewhere if you want a shorter movie.
However overall I really enjoyed it. Moving the opening credits was an inspired idea (even though I personally would have cut to black before them instead of fading in, but that's complete nitpicking). The museum scene was MASTERFUL visual and audio editing. You should watch it just for that if you're on the fence. Thanks so much for letting me watch, Silentpete!
However overall I really enjoyed it. Moving the opening credits was an inspired idea (even though I personally would have cut to black before them instead of fading in, but that's complete nitpicking). The museum scene was MASTERFUL visual and audio editing. You should watch it just for that if you're on the fence. Thanks so much for letting me watch, Silentpete!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
B
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
I have a weird relationship with this movie. First of all, I grew up with Tim Burton's Batman films. At first I loved them both. Later, I only liked the first one and recently, when I rewatched them in preparation for the extremely mediocre Flash movie, I realized that I prefer the second one because a) it was more "mature" because Burton had the experience with the first and bigger budget, and b) Batman (1989) was just sooo long.
This edit is a testament to how useless was the romance between Bruce and Vicky. Plus, I didn't mind at all the light trimming of some of Joker's over the top silliness and the removal of him being the one that killed Bruce's parents. I didn't miss the removed scenes for a second and if this would be your first viewing of the movie, I guarantee you would never even know that there was a romance between Bruce and Vicky. That's how good this edit is. So, job well done SilentPete!
The reason I removed one point from narrative is because at the beginning at the gala where Knox and Vicky go, Knox nods Vicky to check out Gordon because he is discussing something seemingly important with the police officer, but then we abruptly cut to the scene in the armory room where Vicky and Knox went and Bruce enters and tells them he bought the armor in Japan. I was like, what? but this my only complaint.
For anyone who felt that either Batman was too long or the romance was unnecessary, this is your edit! I assure you this will be your go-to version in the future! I know it will be for me!
Thank you SilentPete for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!
This edit is a testament to how useless was the romance between Bruce and Vicky. Plus, I didn't mind at all the light trimming of some of Joker's over the top silliness and the removal of him being the one that killed Bruce's parents. I didn't miss the removed scenes for a second and if this would be your first viewing of the movie, I guarantee you would never even know that there was a romance between Bruce and Vicky. That's how good this edit is. So, job well done SilentPete!
The reason I removed one point from narrative is because at the beginning at the gala where Knox and Vicky go, Knox nods Vicky to check out Gordon because he is discussing something seemingly important with the police officer, but then we abruptly cut to the scene in the armory room where Vicky and Knox went and Bruce enters and tells them he bought the armor in Japan. I was like, what? but this my only complaint.
For anyone who felt that either Batman was too long or the romance was unnecessary, this is your edit! I assure you this will be your go-to version in the future! I know it will be for me!
Thank you SilentPete for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Overall rating
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
The original Batman '89 was always a mixed bag for me. On the plus side, I loved the Batsuit and the Batmobile, and Jack Nicholson's Joker was arguably the best villain of the first four Batman movies. On the negative side, I've never liked the Vicki Vale romance and the idea of Jack Napier killing Bruce's parents. This edit takes care of all that, and the result feels like an extended episode of the 90's animated series in the best way. Highly recommended to all Batman fans.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
B
(Updated: June 22, 2023)
Overall rating
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
9.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
9.0
SilentPete's Batman (1989) hits its goal of removing the Vicky Vale romance subplot bs and enhancing the film's pacing. By trimming certain scenes and eliminating specific subplots, SilentPete made a more focused and streamlined Gotham adventure. While some narrative elements may be missed by fans of the original film, this fan edit provides a fresh and engaging alternative viewing experience for those seeking a more streamlined take on Batman's. the subplot involving The Joker infecting house products and people with his toxin. While it contributed to the original film's complexity, its removal here allows for a more focused narrative. The Joker's involvement in chemistry remains a key element, with the reveal of his gas balloons and the street attack saved for the climactic finale.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
W