Dark Knight Ascends, The

I enjoyed most of the narrative changes, some fixed plot holes, other removed minor (sometimes major) annoyances. The film is better because of them.

The removal of Robin works, that subplot goes nowhere (for me) and it was just sequel-baiting and too much in-the-nose. The changes on Bane and Talia’s stories also improve both characters.
And the most obvious annoyance on the original film is completely fixed: the stupid bomb timer. The bomb plotline is still stupid as hell, but it’s bearable and at least a bit believable now.

The only occasional flaws with the edit are audio related, like some previous reviews have stated. On some scenes, the audio shifts too much, from way too loud into way too hushed (checked the original film and these are not there). The most obvious portions are a lot of Bane’s dialogue lines. They stand out a lot (more than in the original film), showing the dialogue has been edited.

Edit 29-07-2023:
- the faneditor fixed the audio issues I've noticed, In the most recent version, the audio is just fine.
- i'm updating my review accordingly

The Dark Knight was a phenomenal movie and in no way did I had the same expectations from the third Dark Knight film. Actually, when I first saw it in cinema I liked it, although I was "feeling" something was off that I couldn't quite put my finger on because I was blinded by the excellent cinematography by Christopher Nolan. When I got past that, in future re-watches, I started to see aaall the problems with this movie and my enjoyment factor dropped to like a 6.

Technical wise, the audio and visual editing was outstanding! I didn't notice or "felt" that something was tampered with at any time.

On the narrative side of things, this edit salvaged the movie for me. I had watched a more aggressive edit before this and it didn't work at all. A quick note, the editor explained to me in a message his thoughts about Bruce/Batman retiring for the past 8 years, after like a couple adventures as Batman, and it really helped me to see this particular thing from another perspective and actually saved the first 40 minutes of the movie for me, because I could not stand it at first.

Also, as I mentioned above, the editor changed the ridiculous way that Blake knows Wayne is Batman. I mean, what, orphans have a secret code or something and see through each other? I wouldn't even have thought that this could be done, excellent job!

Loved the trimming of some scenes and dialogue here and there and the alteration of the time the bomb goes off. But, there is one part that the editor chose to keep and it was a shame. That Batman lives at the end and we see him at the cafeteria in Paris. I think, since how this trilogy went, it would have been a great ending if the editor changed the scene, as some others have done, and let him make this final sacrifice for Gotham. And if someone wants a more happy note, we can leave Blake finding the Bat cave, something that the editor has removed.

Besides that, definitely check this edit out! I mean, if you didn't quite enjoy the third movie and you want to have a closure when you rewatch Nolan's trilogy, this edit is the way to go! I know for me it will.

Thank you DonkeyKonga for all your hard work and thanks to anyone who read my review!

P.S. The editor of kind enough to work on two minor complaints I had with the edit and made this just perfect! Of course, I changed my review accordingly. Thanks again!!

At first I found it hard to tell if this was edited mainly because the vast majority of the cuts and edits between scenes and dialogue were so clean as such I than watched the theatrical cut afterwards to see what had been taken out than watched this edit again and despite some plot points such as the unraveling of Gordon’s concealed secret of Harvey Dent’s true nature at the hands and voice of Bane being cast out of continuity the film flows really well maintaining the escalating chaos of Gotham's reckoning.

The exclusion of other plot related elements and the alteration of others greatly improved characterisation and intelligence as Bane now being the child bestows this iteration of the character with more inhumanity, comic book accuracy and independence, removing that awful attempt at a subversive plot twist. This film was definitely an example of why certain tropes should be played straight rather than subverted, averted or deconstructed. The removal of his few lines of sympathy and curiosity help to establish, enhance and maintain his reputation as a tyrannical visionary with delusions of grandeur.

On both the IMAX showings and the officially released DVD & Blurey there was a huge vocal audio disparity between him and the rest of the cast as while everyone else sounded normal he sounded way to loud, thankfully DonkeyKonga has resolved said issue and Bane's voice is now much easier on the ears even during scenes where he's shouting and emitting his frenzied battle grunts.

I do think the compliment on the child's voice should have been removed as it makes it sound like he as some small form of appreciation for Gotham when his whole mantra is about destroying Gotham both figuratively and literally, continuing on the subject of characters this version of Commissioner Gordon is definitely an improvement thanks to the removal of his guilt tripping and the fact he essentially figures out that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same well before the final act thanks to some clever dialogue manipulation.

Though there are a few things I felt could have been cut with the first two being Selina Kyle's and Miranda Tate's expressions during the final portions of Gotham's chaos though as to why, for Selina the moment after she blows up the blockade telegraphs that she’s going to stay and fight for Gotham or more specifically Bruce which diminishes some of the tension during the second Batman and Bane fight where as excluding said scene would have made her sudden return more impactful and less obvious, as for the case for Miranda Tate's expression.

It telegraphs to early and easily that she’s in control of the whole situation and will soon backstab Bats when her personal connections and infiltrations to both his company and his compassion are much more subtle and carefully placed hints as to her true nature and intentions though the removal of the sex scene between her and Bruce in one of the files not only improved the pacing but said removal was hardly noticeable with the switch between the scene of Wayne putting down the picture frame and Blake visiting Gordon in the hospital flowing seamlessly.

The third and final thing that I think should have been removed were the scenes hinting at Bruces survival as the idea of the Caped Crusader dying in a heroic sacrifice and the sombre scenes that follow would have made for a much more emotionally impactful ending and a great way to symbolise the end of the trilogy as well as Christopher Nolan's involvement with the Batman film franchise, the other reason I say this is because there are to many hints to suggest that Bruce isn't dead such as Alfred's dream he mentioned earlier in the film and him looking over to what is intended to be an unknown figure across the cafe.

Otherwise the emphasis on ambiguity pertaining to the Dark Knights fate is definitely a step up from the theoretical cut both narratively and visually and speaking of visuals I found that there was a bit of an inconsistency with the footage ratio as some parts of said footage bore black bars beneath and above it where as other portions of the footage did not though the placement and usage of text for ‘’The Dark Knight Ascends’’ perfectly matches that of the films and enters and leaves the presence of the screen at just the right time though I wish it had replaced ‘’The Dark Knight Rises’’ text at the end of the credits.

Initially I found that the audio of the first part of the intro veered towards the right ear and a little bit of the centre rather than being heard from both sides of the ears but has since been amended so that it now flows and sounds like traditional and authentic 5.1 Surround Sound and despite some nitpicks I can honestly say that I throughly enjoyed your take on Christopher Nolan’s third and possibly final entry in the Dark Knight Trilogy.

Another Donkey classic! This editor has quickly shown a ton of skill and talent across all of their edits and this is no exception.

There was A LOT of crafting a new story here and the editor has made some interesting choices not seen in any other edit of this movie. It's truly an original idea that stands on it's own.

It's worth checking out for sure!

An excellent edit of the final chapter of The Dark Knight trilogy. All changes go a long way to remove much of the unnecessary clutter and focus the story on what's actually important.
With some very very minor exceptions, both audio and visual cuts are outstandingly smooth. I genuinely forgot I was watching a fan edit at one point.
Despite being someone who loves the original, this edit is undeniably a huge improvement and I can't recommend it enough.