Batman and Robin: Deep Freeze

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9.4 (22)
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Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1997
Original Running Time:
125
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
84
Time Cut:
41
Time Added:
3
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
Batman & Robin DEEP FREEZE doesn't attempt to be as serious as The Batman or as dark as the Nolan trilogy, but something closer to the feel of The Animated Series, just in live form. Mr. Freeze, now a more sympathetic villain, has little to no one-liners, Bane is completely excised and Poison Ivy isn't created by a mad scientist pushing her into a shelf. There is no Elliot Goldenthal Batman theme, but a lot of his music is still included. New opening titles and a small set of end credits have been created (and of course giving Bill Finger the credit he deserves).
Intention:
I happened to catch a little bit of Batman and Robin on TV and as I watched, my editing brain kicked on and I wondered what it would be like if it looked more like a noirish/German expressionist look while also scaling back as much of the cheese as possible. That accompanied with music from the Arkham games has led to the DEEP FREEZE cut, where Mr. Freeze is a more sympathetic victim, Bane doesn't exist, and Batman and Robin bicker less. Also, no dated "sexy sax" music whenever Ivy is on screen.
Other Sources:
-Batman and Robin blu ray
-Batman Forever blu ray
-Batman and Robin expanded score
-Batman Arkham City soundtrack
-Batman Arkham Knight soundtrack
Special Thanks:
DwightFry for helping me bounce ideas around in the early days of this edit prior to the official announcement and for the preview screening!
Release Information:
Digital
Cuts and Additions:
There were A LOT of cuts that totaled 41 minutes. Here is the basic idea:

-Converted the whole movie to black and white
-Added in a shot of the batsignal in the sky from Batman Forever
-New opening credits
-Cut the Schumacher Batman gearing up (including no butt shots)
-Cropped out all opening credits (this was to help mask big cuts from the museum sequence)
-Cut ALL Mr. Freeze "Arnold" one-liners
-Cut goofy cartoon sound effects when Freeze throws a guard into a wall or tosses a guard
-No ice skating heroes
-No rocket ship getaway, air surfing heroes or flying icemen
-Trimmed back all arguments between Bruce and Dick. They still bicker, but it really only happens once Ivy comes into the picture
-No Pamela Isley in South America and NO BANE!
-Mr. Freeze does not lead a chilling sing-a-long and isn't seen turning down his henchwoman's advances
-Cut out Bruce stammering after being asked about getting married. He's asked and immediately asks Julie to give him a hand.
-The first encounter between Bruce and Pamela is cut so that there is no reference to the mad scientist. Now, Bruce mentions he cut funding due to a difference in ideologies and it comes off as that it was due to Pamela's ideologies as she then proceeds to talk about saving mother nature. It worked so beautifully well.
-Mr. Freeze watches his home movies, is feeling remorse for what he is about to do as it cut to him closing his eyes while holding the newspaper about the Wayne diamonds and then back to him watching the movies and saying it's only one more diamond. No henchman interrupting the movie.
-A LOT was done to the gala scenes. NO gorilla suit, NO Bat credit card, The 90's sexy music for Ivy was replaced with Ivy's themes from Goldenthal's score and from the Arkham games.
-Freeze crashes the party and Batman immediately shoots the freeze gun out of his hands with a grapple hook. Freeze DOES NOT swing onto stage, but simple gets there during the ensuing fighting. He is polite to Ivy without asking what her dumb names are (Garden Gal for instance) and then takes the diamonds and leaves. There was a lot of restructuring of this action sequence.
-The chase scene is pretty much the same, but with some changes in the music. Freeze doesn't obnoxiously laugh or say anything after he crashes.
-The movie was heavily restructured from here as we deal with Barbara's antics, Bruce and Julie and Dick trying to catch Barbara.
-Freeze is broken out by Ivy just by her using her methods of getting in, killing the guards with a kiss and recruiting Freeze. That's it. We don't need to see anything else. If she got herself in, she could get them out.
-In order to cut Bane related stuff, I cut Batman and Robin watching any video footage of the escape while at Freeze's lair. They find his wife and then go after Ivy. Freeze subdues the police and gets his stuff without encountering them. Batman and Robin climb down in the boiler room area and find nothing (this was where the Bane encounter happens, but it's been cut). With Freeze outta there and Batman and Robin on a wile good chase, Ivy emerges and unplugs Nora.
-At the Turkish bathhouse, I cropped out Bane as Ivy grabs one of her mutant plants. To help cover some of this and the reframing, I doubled up on shots of Freeze looking at her.
-Cut Ivy getting Gordon to give her the batsignal. Most of this was because of Bane. Also, I felt that with the Bruce/Julie/Ivy scene, Julie would've broken up with him and that gave her an ending since it really doesn't go anywhere due to scenes that were either cut or not filmed with her fate.
-Trimmed back on the bickering between Bruce and Dick as they finally bury their issues.
-Barbara, excuse me, Batgirl's new theme starts to lightly play as she discovers the batcave. No suit up nonsense with her either.
-No "ta da" music when Ivy's Venus flytrap bed is shown. Their dialogue between each other has been trimmed back as it was just bad.
-Batgirl crashes in and there is very little dialogue left during their fight because it was soooooooooooo bad. I did of course leave her revealing "this is a one woman show" for later.
-With their dialogue cut and removing an obvious reverse shot of Robin struggling for air, it moves much quicker. The awful dialogue between Batman and Batgirl has been restructrued so Batman says "and you are?" to which Barbara replies that it's her to which Batman then responds "I know". Felt much more like a Batman thing than the PC speech he gives. The Arkham City theme plays as they unite as a team.
-Some cropped shots due to Bane being around at the observatory
-We see the Batfamily driving to the observatory, but no encounter with any henchmen. There was some head scratching decisions made in the original cut that I don't know why it went into the final draft.
-A LOT was done with the climax. Here's the gist.....lots of rescoring, lots of new sound effects, Robin and Batgirl do not encounter Bane, but are stuck until Batman gets them after the telescope falls. Freeze doesn't throw a quick hissy fit when he keeps missing punching Batman. Their brawl is more streamlined and I think much better paced.
-Robin doesn't say "you're pretty good at this little girl". It's just "you're pretty good at this" to which Barbara's response has been altered to say "well, watch and learn".
-Batman plays a recording for Mr. Freeze of what Ivy said about unplugging his wife. It is now an audio recording and NOT a video recording along with matching soundwaves.
-Mr. Freeze does not deliver his last one-liner of "take two of these and call me in the morning".
-Changed the music for our visit to Arkham. Ivy is in her cell ALONE. After we see her, I used an earlier shot that I removed and placed here of Victor looking at his ice sculpture of his wife while looking sad. I felt that this was the best way to end his story.
-I cut Barbara saying "that was me" twice while referencing how she kicked Ivy's "botanical butt".
-As Barbara asks them to be partners, we start to hear the '89 Batman Finale music arranged by Joel McNeeley.
-As they all join hands, we crossfade to a pan up some Gotham buildings (curtesy of Batman Forever) to see the Batsignal in the sky and then onto our hero silhouettes running toward the screen off on their next adventure.
-Brief custom end credits (as well as a credit for myself)
-New credits music.
Trailer (Password: fanedit.org)

User reviews

22 reviews
 
82%
 
18%
5-7 stars
 
0%
3-5 stars
 
0%
1-3 stars
 
0%
Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.6(22)
Audio Editing
 
9.5(22)
Visual Editing
 
9.6(22)
Narrative
 
9.2(22)
Enjoyment
 
9.0(22)
View all user reviews View most helpful
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
I haven't watched this movie in many years, i found myself second guessing if the story was always this clear and focused.
The black & white was a perfect way to stop all the distracting bright colours of each batman scene.
Mr Freeze was barrable, i didn't cringe one time watching this movie, THATS A FIRST ! but his dialog was very limited due to this but id rather less dialog considering the only trade off is cheesy dialog, it raises disappointment in the lack of thoughtful dialog he was given in the original cut.
AI would highly recommend this to everyone that has seen the original i cant say it 100% redeems the original we would need addition scenes for that, however the edit makes this the only way i would want to watch batman & robin in future.

I gave audio a 9 due to some scenes dialog seemed lower but it wasn't a deal breaker but was noticeable.
but big positive was the inclusion of the Arkham batman music, completely changed the tone was awesome.

Thank you for your work MusicEd921

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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(Updated: January 16, 2024)
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
What Superman Redeemed did for the Superman Franchise, DEEP FREEZE has done for the Batman Franchise. This is a fantastic fan edit that truly deserves a 10 across the board. It may even be the most improved superhero film I've ever seen by a fan editor and therefore the best fan edit of all time in my book. Even if you despise Batman & Robin like I do, you should check this edit out. It's a completely new film. Every actor gives a better performance now and it's trimmed to 84 minutes.

No disrespect to other editors and their versions of Batman Forever (there are many great versions, especially Virtual Workprint) but fingers crossed for a Batman Forever edit by MusicEd921 that gets a similar treatment with the neon removed and a new score and similar tone to that of DEEP FREEZE.

Impressive. Thank you so much.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
10.0
Deep freeze is an absolutely fantastic edit, I was astounded on how good it was. It really shows the impact editing has on a film and how almost anything can be greatly improved upon. The score from the Alkham games, black and white photography, and the removal of all annoying and cheesy humour completely changes the film, elavating it to a whole new level. The genuinely moving subplot with Alfred can really shine, the simple quiet drama here is refreshing and unexpected from this film. Clooney's performance as Batman is greatly improved, and his Bruce Wayne is even better here. Freeze's character is far more real here and sympathetic, again his pain for Nora can be seen far more clearly in this film. To me, I love how the film feels like a 1940s comic book noir film, I especially enjoyed this due to my interest in films from the Golden Age of Hollywood and in the Batman comic world. The B&W cinematography is visually appealing and suitable for the character. The pacing is also now perfect. I can not understate how exceptional this edit it, completely transforming and changing the film. Also, it does not feel amateur or fan edity in any way, extremely professionally executed. Highly recommended 10/10

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.0
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
7.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
Went into this edit completely blind, having never seen the original nor any idea of what it contained. Suffice it to say that there was little to indicate that a third of the runtime was missing, did not know that the character of Bane was ever included until I started reading these reviews!

Given the original’s reputation I was surprised at how watchable this edit was, only a few places where I think further tinkering might have benefitted: the rubber lips could probably be circumvented (not sure how cleanly this could be achieved) and the bike race scene dragged on a bit, maybe a different soundtrack here would help.

Using black and white definitely makes the visuals easier on the eyes, looking at mere stills of the original in colour is almost too much for me! Nothing seems amiss with either the audio or visual aspects, though perhaps a slight boost in contrast would improve the latter.

Thanks Ed for putting this together, don’t think I ever would have given Batman & Robin a go otherwise, along with the enhanced "Red Book Edition" I have two perfectly decent ways to complete the Burton/Schumacher saga. Again the question now is whether to give the original a chance!

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Top 50 Reviewer 82 reviews
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Overall rating
 
8.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
8.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
9.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
7.0
This Edit is a great successor to Batman Forever Redbook addition, and I do believe that it's the best version of Batman & Robin that could exist, but unfortunately that still isn't a very good movie. I don't think there's much value to be gained from it except for seeing how different it is to the original.
The black and white recolour works well, and I think it was a great choice, but it's still clear in many places that the film wasn't meant for black and white and it did look a little crummy at times.
I was pleasantly surprised by how well the Arkham music fit in many parts of the film, and I think that that alone made for a great improvement of the tone, but there were one or two places where it didn't quite fit, hence the 9/10 on Audio.
None of the cuts were missed at all, I think every change is for the better, and the seamlessness of the edit was top-notch, but a good movie can't be made from thin air, and this edit is sadly dragged down by the lacklustre original.
Overall, I'd recommend this edit due to how infamous the original movie is just to see how this one's better, but unlike Redbook I don't think this edit would be worthwhile to anyone unfamiliar with the original, unless you just want to put something on for your kids for a while.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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Top 500 Reviewer 14 reviews
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