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- Dark Knight: Why So Serious?, The
Dark Knight: Why So Serious?, The
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Updated
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2008
Original Running Time:
148
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
141
Time Cut:
7
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Additional Links:
Brief Synopsis:
Very small changes. The only narrative changes come at the end and they too are subtle. Which makes sense because the original movie is terrific.
Intention:
So here it is. The fanedit no one asked for. What is there to edit in a masterpiece, right?
Honestly, only 7 minutes of material. The reason I started this edit was because of the quite overwhelmingly positive feedback on my TDKR edit. And that movie was HARD to edit.
So an unnamed indivual who's name rhymes with 'cartisdead' asked me if I could take on the Dark Knight. My first intend was to add a few of Heath Ledger's Joker takes seen in the trailers, but not used in the movie. This edit also isn't meant to 'fix' the movie, because let's face it the movie is excellent. It's simply meant as an alternative take with a slightly faster pacing for those looking for something fresh and familiar with my editing style/choices. All the editing is relatively light apart from the final fight.
Honestly, only 7 minutes of material. The reason I started this edit was because of the quite overwhelmingly positive feedback on my TDKR edit. And that movie was HARD to edit.
So an unnamed indivual who's name rhymes with 'cartisdead' asked me if I could take on the Dark Knight. My first intend was to add a few of Heath Ledger's Joker takes seen in the trailers, but not used in the movie. This edit also isn't meant to 'fix' the movie, because let's face it the movie is excellent. It's simply meant as an alternative take with a slightly faster pacing for those looking for something fresh and familiar with my editing style/choices. All the editing is relatively light apart from the final fight.
Additional Notes:
Also made a version without the trailer shots and without the bloody knife and dead soldiers for people who only want the visuals from the original film.
Release Information:
Blu-Ray
Cuts and Additions:
- Cut the goon explaining Joker has warpaint to keep the element of surprise for the reveal for new viewers (wishful thinking but hey!)
- Cut 'Pity there's only one of you'
- Cut 'I'm not wearing hockeypads'
- Combined 'we uh kill the Batman' with 'We kill the Batman' from the trailer. Completely re-graded.
- Removed Lucius phone going off and Lau saying 'We do not allow cellphones'. Now it's actually sneaky.
- Removed 'hahahaha very good mr Lau.' Why is Lucius so disrespectful if he's undercover?
- Changed Rachel interrogating Lau. Now they talk about RICO befóre they start interrogating Lau. The original scene makes no sense.
- Changed 'Are you the real Batman' into 'Are you the Batman?'
- Replaced 'A little fight in you, I like that' with the trailer version. Regraded.
- Re-edited Batman and Rachel falling down to flow better and make it seem like the cape could actually slow their fall down. Silly scene in the original tbh and completely takes me out of the movie every time.
- Removed Ramirez stating the obvious 'Harvey Dent'.
- The guardmen that are tied up are killed in this cut. Added a bloody knife on the floor.
- Bruce doesn't get shot at by the snipers and doesn't touch stuff with his vingers.
- The snipers now shoot the goon in the leg.
- Removed 'You're the symbol of hope I could never be.' A bit too on the nose and metaphorical there, Batman.
- Removed a few idiot civilians during Dent's press converence.
- Removed 'You make your own luck'
- Removed 'Is that a bazooka?'
- Edited the Tumbler to flip a bit cleaner.
- Removed only the second 'Okay thats not good'
- Cleaned up the shot of the batscooter going through the glass.
- Batscooter flips earlier with the truck, cleaner edit. Kept it because yes rediculous, but equal amounts awesome.
- Removed 'Some kind of' by the doctor.
- Removed 'Why would they give us our own detonator?'
- Removed 80% of sonar vision and Fox's instructions. Kept only the initial exposition shot to help fresh viewers understand. Visual storytelling!
- Removed Lucius saying 'Hold up' when the sonar breaks, instead we keep the action going! Tension!
- Changed 'There won't be any FIREWORKSSS' to 'There won't be any!'
- Removed all the 'Sometimes... Sometimes... Sometimes' in the final speech. Annoying repetition.
- Made two slight changes to the narrative in the boat scene and Harvey Dent threatening Gordon's son. The result of the vote is changed and well.. Harvey tosses a coin with a different result is all I will say.
- Cut 'Pity there's only one of you'
- Cut 'I'm not wearing hockeypads'
- Combined 'we uh kill the Batman' with 'We kill the Batman' from the trailer. Completely re-graded.
- Removed Lucius phone going off and Lau saying 'We do not allow cellphones'. Now it's actually sneaky.
- Removed 'hahahaha very good mr Lau.' Why is Lucius so disrespectful if he's undercover?
- Changed Rachel interrogating Lau. Now they talk about RICO befóre they start interrogating Lau. The original scene makes no sense.
- Changed 'Are you the real Batman' into 'Are you the Batman?'
- Replaced 'A little fight in you, I like that' with the trailer version. Regraded.
- Re-edited Batman and Rachel falling down to flow better and make it seem like the cape could actually slow their fall down. Silly scene in the original tbh and completely takes me out of the movie every time.
- Removed Ramirez stating the obvious 'Harvey Dent'.
- The guardmen that are tied up are killed in this cut. Added a bloody knife on the floor.
- Bruce doesn't get shot at by the snipers and doesn't touch stuff with his vingers.
- The snipers now shoot the goon in the leg.
- Removed 'You're the symbol of hope I could never be.' A bit too on the nose and metaphorical there, Batman.
- Removed a few idiot civilians during Dent's press converence.
- Removed 'You make your own luck'
- Removed 'Is that a bazooka?'
- Edited the Tumbler to flip a bit cleaner.
- Removed only the second 'Okay thats not good'
- Cleaned up the shot of the batscooter going through the glass.
- Batscooter flips earlier with the truck, cleaner edit. Kept it because yes rediculous, but equal amounts awesome.
- Removed 'Some kind of' by the doctor.
- Removed 'Why would they give us our own detonator?'
- Removed 80% of sonar vision and Fox's instructions. Kept only the initial exposition shot to help fresh viewers understand. Visual storytelling!
- Removed Lucius saying 'Hold up' when the sonar breaks, instead we keep the action going! Tension!
- Changed 'There won't be any FIREWORKSSS' to 'There won't be any!'
- Removed all the 'Sometimes... Sometimes... Sometimes' in the final speech. Annoying repetition.
- Made two slight changes to the narrative in the boat scene and Harvey Dent threatening Gordon's son. The result of the vote is changed and well.. Harvey tosses a coin with a different result is all I will say.
Trailer
User reviews
4 reviews
Overall rating
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
9.8(4)
Audio Editing
10.0(4)
Visual Editing
10.0(4)
Narrative
9.5(4)
Enjoyment
9.3(4)
Overall rating
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
8.0
I've never been as enamoured with this film as much as most, so I was curious to see if an edit could fix some of my issues with it. In this regard, DonkeyKonga has succeeded, but, unfortunately, many of the flaws of the original remain. While Heath Leger's Joker is undeniably great, Bale often looks and sounds laughable anytime he's in the batsuit. And the action sequences, outside of the excellent vehicular scenes, are just plodding and dull. Worse of all, the film simply goes on far too long. This, however, is not the fault of the editor. I'd absolutely recommend this edit to anyone who has similar feelings towards the Dark Knight.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
B
Overall rating
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
9.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
9.0
I was pretty much on autopilot for the majority of the edit up until the bit with the dead bloodstained cops came along and I must say the blood and gore effects you added along with the knife and ground are so visually seamless that I actually thought they were apart of the original until I watched both the original and the non dead cops edit again, the inclusion of this graphic alternative fate adds a nice extra layer of darkness to the events that occur afterwards though I am curious to know if you used After Effects or a similar software to pull this of and if so I would really love to know how to do something like this for an edit or two someday.
On the subject of visuals there’s a bit of an inconsistency with the resolution between some scenes such as the china raid and building shots along with the assault and sonar vision scenes where it goes from 1080p without black bars to 1080p with black bars and vice versa though this seems to be a problem with the original source material, speaking of sonar vision the cutting of some the exposition that came with those scenes greatly improved the pacing and enhanced the visual storytelling and fight choreography throughout the whole ordeal though I do think there are two small dialogue bits that should have been cut.
The first being ‘’He missed’’ as it visually shows before said statement is uttered that Bats didn’t miss and the other being the Police Officers ‘’Is that a phone’’? as the camera shows the viewer that it is indeed a phone and Joker’s earlier quote ‘’I just want my phone call’’ telegraphs to said viewer or viewers that a phone will play a vital role in said scene, otherwise I’d say almost any problems that this great film had has been resolved and with said problems that have been removed or fixed it makes for a much better viewing experience and adding to the experience was the smeared bloodstained ‘’Why So Serious’’? Text graphic.
It not only captures the grittiness of the edit but was a great way to telegraph narratively to the audience that throughout the majority of the films events The Joker was in control.
On the subject of visuals there’s a bit of an inconsistency with the resolution between some scenes such as the china raid and building shots along with the assault and sonar vision scenes where it goes from 1080p without black bars to 1080p with black bars and vice versa though this seems to be a problem with the original source material, speaking of sonar vision the cutting of some the exposition that came with those scenes greatly improved the pacing and enhanced the visual storytelling and fight choreography throughout the whole ordeal though I do think there are two small dialogue bits that should have been cut.
The first being ‘’He missed’’ as it visually shows before said statement is uttered that Bats didn’t miss and the other being the Police Officers ‘’Is that a phone’’? as the camera shows the viewer that it is indeed a phone and Joker’s earlier quote ‘’I just want my phone call’’ telegraphs to said viewer or viewers that a phone will play a vital role in said scene, otherwise I’d say almost any problems that this great film had has been resolved and with said problems that have been removed or fixed it makes for a much better viewing experience and adding to the experience was the smeared bloodstained ‘’Why So Serious’’? Text graphic.
It not only captures the grittiness of the edit but was a great way to telegraph narratively to the audience that throughout the majority of the films events The Joker was in control.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
(Updated: March 30, 2024)
Overall rating
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
9.0
Enjoyment
10.0
Another killer Batman edit by Donkey!
I don't know TDK by heart, so I wasn't aware of most of the changes while watching. In fact, looking back at the changelist, I didn't notice anything other then some memorable lines that were cut and the changes made to the parade scene (which were definitely better).
The inserted lines and shots were done so well I had no idea they were even there except for the shot of the knife which I was looking for because of the ITW thread.
The sonar sequence was also much improved. I love the original, and this version basically removes all of the little issues I had with it to make it even better.
As for the narrative changes [SPOILERS] I have to say that I completely disagree with changing the result of the boat. Personally, I think it's very important that they, as a group, would murder the prisoners, but none of them individually could do it.
As for the other narrative change, it was so well done and down right sensible that I honestly couldn't tell what had been changed at first. I had to really think about how the original went before I remembered it because Donkey's version is frankly the way that scene should have been from the beginning.
So other than two audio issues, I'd call this a perfect edit. And if I want to watch TDK again, it'll be this version.
100% Recommend.
I don't know TDK by heart, so I wasn't aware of most of the changes while watching. In fact, looking back at the changelist, I didn't notice anything other then some memorable lines that were cut and the changes made to the parade scene (which were definitely better).
The inserted lines and shots were done so well I had no idea they were even there except for the shot of the knife which I was looking for because of the ITW thread.
The sonar sequence was also much improved. I love the original, and this version basically removes all of the little issues I had with it to make it even better.
As for the narrative changes [SPOILERS] I have to say that I completely disagree with changing the result of the boat. Personally, I think it's very important that they, as a group, would murder the prisoners, but none of them individually could do it.
As for the other narrative change, it was so well done and down right sensible that I honestly couldn't tell what had been changed at first. I had to really think about how the original went before I remembered it because Donkey's version is frankly the way that scene should have been from the beginning.
So other than two audio issues, I'd call this a perfect edit. And if I want to watch TDK again, it'll be this version.
100% Recommend.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
W
(Updated: September 13, 2023)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
I was looking for a minimal edit of this excellent movie, and I got it. Very nice overall.
I must say, I was very tempted to give this edit 1 star across the board because of the disgraceful act of removing the hockeypads dad joke towards the beginning. Oh the humanity!!!!
I really liked the trimming down of the sonar. It really helped the action flow much better. I never realized how disruptive it was until I saw this edit where things looked so much smoother.
I will not spoil anything, but I also wholeheartedly agree with changing the coin toss result at the end. The theatrical version of it, in my opinion, was a bit nonsensical.
As I look at the change-log after watching, I find myself agreeing with everything except for only one thing. I found the removal of the civilian stopping himself from blowing up the other ship a bit jarring. I liked the contrast with the criminal ship.
Edit: Removed prior criticism pertaining to removing the civilian who would not use the detonator. It took me a day and further explanation by the editor, but I now uderstand the removal. There was no need to include what would be an obvious end result.
Thank you for this edit. It is now my official version of the movie.
I must say, I was very tempted to give this edit 1 star across the board because of the disgraceful act of removing the hockeypads dad joke towards the beginning. Oh the humanity!!!!
I really liked the trimming down of the sonar. It really helped the action flow much better. I never realized how disruptive it was until I saw this edit where things looked so much smoother.
I will not spoil anything, but I also wholeheartedly agree with changing the coin toss result at the end. The theatrical version of it, in my opinion, was a bit nonsensical.
As I look at the change-log after watching, I find myself agreeing with everything except for only one thing. I found the removal of the civilian stopping himself from blowing up the other ship a bit jarring. I liked the contrast with the criminal ship.
Edit: Removed prior criticism pertaining to removing the civilian who would not use the detonator. It took me a day and further explanation by the editor, but I now uderstand the removal. There was no need to include what would be an obvious end result.
Thank you for this edit. It is now my official version of the movie.
User Review
Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
H