Dark Knight, The: Remixed by Jorge

Rated: November 17, 2011
Reviewed: July 26, 2012

Pre-Amble Ramble -
This was the second fanedit I ever saw, before I knew about this site. I knew fanedits existed but had only ever heard about the countless Star Wars prequel edits. So when I found this (however the hell I found it) I was eager to watch it as I love TDK like McAdams loves Gosling. I don’t need to go into how much I love TDK but I love it, warts and all.

So I watched this edit (in 2010) and didn’t care for it. I didn’t like the Memento style story telling and was upset that some of my favorite moments were cut. Much later once I had joined this site I gave this edit a 7/10 rating without rewatching it. I’ve felt bad about that 7/10 because I didn’t appreciate the idea of a FanMix and when I first watched it I cared more about the fact that blah blah blah was cut and didn’t watch it with an open mind. Now when I look at the history of fanedits, this is a big bright shining star so I felt I should revisit it.

So now that I’ve watched it fresh, here’s what I think.

Note: When it comes to rating the edit in terms of enjoyment/narrative as a movie in its own right, it is all opinion based on my own warped views.

Technically speaking, this edit is close to perfection. The only complaint I have (on the editing side) is the “Sin City B&W/color effect” that is applied spills over at times (mainly when it comes to Joker’s smile). But there are so many things Jorge did right with his editing I can easily overlook these moments.

But this edit still doesn’t work for me. I didn’t like the flow of the narrative, mainly due to the Memento-mix structure. Most of the scenes were too short and (especially in the beginning) it felt disjointed. I often had to remind myself that the original film still exists and I can always rewatch that version. If I hadn’t seen this movie a million times it would be hard to keep track of what was happening.

The Memento-mix works in Memento because the main character has no short term memory. The structure of that movie puts you into the main character’s shoes (to a degree) and the finale brings the two timelines together perfectly. This movie doesn’t have that lynchpin to really justify the structure. As an example, the final scene here feels forced and out of place, yet Memento’s final scene makes you rethink everything you just watched.

I know that Jorge’s intention was to create a new ride for people who have seen the movie umpteen times, but truthfully, I’m not sure how many more times I will watch this version of TDK. To be fair, it’s still Batman and (more or less) it’s still TDK.

Now let’s be unfair. I’m going to compare this edit to Jaws The Sharksploitation Edit. Both are FanMixes of beloved movies by top notch faneditors. Jaws Sharksploitation on the one hand is the perfect “Disc 3″ version to Jaws. If I want to rewatch Jaws I ask myself “Do I want to see the original classic or do I want to watch the crazy version?” It’s a coin toss for me, depending on the mood I’m in. With TDK, I’d rather watch THE DARK KNIGHT instead of THE DARK KNIGHT REMIXED. Is it fair of me? No. Do I love TDK as it is? YES. Did I enjoy The Dark Knight Remixed by Jorge? As a piece of fanediting history, that’s an emphatic YES. As a movie, I’d say “Eh, not really.”

OK, with all that being said, I applaud Jorge for what he did here. As a fanedit, this is a must-see. As a movie in its own right, this would collect dusk in my cabinet.

Let me add something. Having watched it again, I don’t know what the hell I was upset about Jorge cutting. I may have confused this edit with The Rise and Fall of Harvey Two-Face. All of my favorite Joker moments (except the shot of Joker with no make-up) are here. So that was sweet.

FANEDIT RATING – 9
Audio/Video Quality – N/A (The DL DVD is offline so I watched an xvid avi someone else made)
Visual Editing – 9
Audio Editing – 10
Degree of Editing – 8

(NOTE: “Degree of Editing” is a 100% arbitrary rating that I keep in mind when reviewing edits. This is not meant to insinuate that a faneditor is lazy or not. Some fanedits require a lot more work than others and I take this into account.)

MOVIE RATING – 5
(NOTE: Normally, Movie Ratings treat the edit as if it were an official theatrical release. In this case, because this isn’t a FanFix, I’m looking at it as if it were like a 10th Anniversary Alternate Cut. I know this edit doesn’t try to replace TDK.)

Narrative – 5 (Original, honestly, is an 8/10)
Enjoyment – 4 (Original is around 19/10)

OVERALL RATING – 5.5
(Damn...)

April 29, 2009
*This rating was given before reviews were required*

July 6, 2010

Very creative idea and interesting alternative way to watch the movie. My only 2 cents that hasn’t already been said is that I can’t help but wonder if there were another way to achieve the same essential results of shifting the focus to Harvey Dent without quite as many chronological jumps as there were. I suspect that the reason this edit works is because we have all seen the original a number of times. If this edit were the only version I had ever seen, I think it would have been very confusing.

April 19, 2009

Jorge had sent me a preview disc that was very close to a final version a short time back. This review (that I wrote at the time minus some other now expired information) is based on this preview version. I am aware however that not much of anything itself was changed in the final edit from the version that I saw:

I will be honest in that I had no idea what to expect. Right off the bat I knew I was in for something good.
when the film starts I did a double take but I knew it was setting things up for how this edit was going to be presented. Jorge's complete re-telling was brilliant. I also loved the use of black and white mixed with color. I do not have a 5.1 setup but the audio was perfectly balanced on my 2.0 down mix. The video quality of course was excellent with no hard cuts to be found

The story was very coherent and even if an individual has never seen the film before, by the time the edit is finished they will understand completely what they just have viewed.

The black and white mixed with color scenes were great, on occasion I was able to see some color that he did not want mixed in, but assuming there was no other way around it. It would happen every now and then with a frame or two (more noticeable when the joker crashes the party scene and you can see the flashes of his regular skin). Very minor and not distracting, but since this is a review, I did notice it

the layer break also was set well. I used pgcedit and img burn to burn my DL discs. It gave the best spot right before the officer riding with Gordon reveals his name and this is the tie-in with his wife at the hospital. It worked well. If it had been one second more that line would have been fucked by the break.

in short this is a completely alternate re-telling of this epic film and it was done extremely well

One of the better fanedits I have ever seen

10 out of 10—

April 23, 2009
*This rating was given before reviews were required*