Dark Knight, The: Remixed by Jorge

When I saw the original Dark Knight in the movie theaters, I was massively disappointed. It felt long (I checked my watch several times near the end of the movie) overly complicated and had no real emotional center.

I am glad to say that Jorge has improved on the original immensely! This is without a doubt my go to version of Batman!

What works? The memento style is brilliant to me. It is not a gimmick because it makes much clearer how and why Harvey Dent fell. The first and last scenes are with him and I think the last scene of the movie is quite powerful and tragic due to the way the movie was structured.

Also I believe this movie has much more momentum than the original. Like I said the original movie just began to drag for me. The new structure and aggressive cuts make this a leaner and more interesting movie.

Great idea, great execution, great movie!

April 21, 2009

The Dark Knight – Remixed by Jorge

review by boon23

Prologue:
Unlike the masses I was not a huge fan of the original movie. Maybe my expectations were too high or maybe the movie was too weak. I liked the Joker, but I did not really like Batman in this one, I hated how Harvey Two Face was handled and despite the movie being long it seemed to come short all the time.
Jorge’s concept fascinated me from the very beginning, because it was a bold one.
As for all my reviews: this is just my personal opinion of this fanedit. I cannot tell anybody else, if he or she will experience it in the same way or the opposite. So my review is not objective and does not reflect the opinion of fanedit.org.

!!!!This review contains heavy spoilers!!!

The edit:
It took me a while to get into the completely changed mood for this movie. The idea of focusing the story on the Rachel/Harvey event from both the future and the past was artsy and took away the thrill of the movie, only to replace it with something else, which happened after the confusion settled down: fascination.
What Jorge managed with his fanedit is to exactly address what bothered me about the original: a flat batman and a flat presentation of Harvey Two Face. Both of them get in this one what they rightfully deserve: scenes with impact and subtlety. The madness the Joker brings on Gothham is so much clearer displayed, the helplessness of Batman so much better delivered. I cannot else but applaud this fanedit and the man behind it: Jorge. You have done an outstanding job.
While I believe the masses might not find the approach for this take as it is no longer a dumb action movie, it gave me a version I truly enjoyed.
I liked it a lot that the Joker did not die and neither did Gordon.
The editing was done masterfully, both visual and sound-wise. So many changes, such an incredible amount of work. I could see the inspiration that came from the Batman Consecution project (Bat Memento and Mayhem & Mistletoe). Yet this was a complete and consistent take on a movie. The inclusion of B/W scenes along with the red showing was great.
little problems:
The very tiny flaws (like red showing on other parts than Joker’s face) could be totally ignored.
The ferries part came a bit short. Some scenes were still not great (like when Batman frees the hostages). I found the inclusion of the Batman Begins scenes good, but not all of them necessary (Raz Al Ghul was great, as was the conclusion with Gordon). At least one time I noticed the color difference of BB and DK.
This was an awesome fanedit and I cannot but deeply bow to the skill of Jorge.
editing: 10 of 10,
entertainment: 9 of 10 (original 7 of 10)

Image and video quality:
Image and video quality were great, especially when taking into account on what a huge level things were changed.
Video quality: 10 of 10

Audio editing and audio quality:
The audio editing was superb, especially taking into account on what a huge level things were changed.
audio editing: 10 of 10
audio quality: 10 of 10

presentation:
This fanedit comes with all a fan can ask for. Nice bonus material, a lot of Jorge’s fanedit trailers, great menus (except for the still rather bad looking bonus and scene selection menus). The included cover art is nice.
DVD menus: 9 of 10, cover art 8 of 10, extras: 10 of 10, existence of menus, chapters and extras: 10 of 10

This results in a 9 of 10 rating from me for presentation.

Final result: 10 of 10.
Highly recommended.

As soon as I read about combining Chris Nolans two best films I was hooked.

the idea is very good and well executed. There are no plot holes because of deleted scenes. Even things like gordon not dying flow extraordinarily well. At first I thought “wow that’s not very believeable, bats goes to maroni and right after maroni’s “lesson” he wants to turn himself in” but in this edit it seems more like batman understood maroni and planned everything with dent – at least for me.

the flashbacks from batman begins were brilliantly placed. everytime you used something from Batman begins i wondered why it was inserted, but those flashbacks were one of the highlights for me, especially the “we burned the forrest down flashback” – the rachel as a kid flashback really moved me and brought back the knowledge of how long and how close bruce knew rachel

there are some audio issues when it comes to certain transitions for example the music is louder than the talking, but I don’t want to complain to much.
The story is interestingly told and the best parts are beginning and end. In the beginning it’s exactly like memento, you don’t know what the hell is going on, than black and white, ok this happened, back to dent, ah ok he was threatening the boy flashback and so forth – a fun puzzle but in the middle part it gets very confusing because the jumping forth and backwards makes it hard to remember all the plotlines (i am talking as if i would have seen dark knight for the first time) there is just an awful lot going on, but jorge managed the flow of the finale. The decision about maroni was great and i started laughing after the cut from bar to maroni falling – very good.

another great cut is when bats and rachel crash on the car and we jump to harvey in the hospital

the black and white and colour contrast worked and also the joker’s mouth is a nice touch that makes this enemy stand out.

SPOILERS FOR THE NEW ENDING

This the only thing that really bugged me. The ending per se is a well made choice to cut from gordon to batman begins when they talk about the joker. it bring back batman and gordon’s partnership, makes us clear how they underestimated everything and what it would cost. I was prepared that it would end with rachel’s letter and bruce apolgizing to harvey, but the way it turned out was handled perfectly.
my complaint is that the joker is the person that suffers most from this edit. Oneof the reasons i like Dark Knight so much is because of the juggernaught the joker becomes, at first he’s nobody and he gets more and more dangerous. By making dark knight memento style the joker looses steam and just appears now and then. Also the gambol scene seemed out of place as the line about getting rid of the joker was cut – don’t know why. but know it seems just like a random kill that doesn’t have a direct effect on the story.
This adds to the afforementioned confusion because in memento it was more like a connect the dots watching experience, here, apparently because of the source material not everything flows from a to b which is not the editor’s fault.

I just felt that focusing the ending on gordon batman and joker took away from the harvey dent angle of the edit

SPOILERS END HERE

Anyway I had such a good time watching this edit and the technical execution is great, the feel is different and fresh, everything i could have hoped for

10 out of 10

P.S.: damn it I am using a similar credit scene the edit I am working on…

May 8, 2009

Phenomenal job!!
A thoroughly entertaining re-organization/edit of this already great movie. This is from a true skeptic. The use of B&W was simplistic, but at the same time ingenious, as well as the incorporation of the scenes from Batman Begins. I wish I could go back and watch this version first, not knowing what happens in the original, but I didn’t notice any plot holes. I cannot envision giving this any less than a 9 for entertainment value and plot. Minus 1 because while I enjoyed the edit immensely, I do still enjoy the original more.

As to the cuts, the A/V, and technical stuff, my untrained eye did not notice anything wacky. I’m thinking I can’t justify docking any points there. So if I take a shortcut and use two highly generalized criteria, it’s a 9.5.

Amazing!!

A very creative edit that restructures The Dark Knight roughly in the style of Memento. Additional footage from Batman Begins is used for flashbacks, and the Black & White scenes have a Sin City effect emphasising the Joker's makeup. This edit also puts the focus more on Harvey Dent. Really excellent job here with the cuts and rearrangement. Although I imagine someone who hasn't seen the original before will be lost, this is a great way to experience The Dark Knight on a rewatch, and it gives an entirely different feel to the film. Overall, highly recommended.