Suicide Squad: Assault on Arkham

Updated
suicidearkham_front
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Franchise:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
2014
Original Running Time:
76
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
70
Time Cut:
6
Subtitles Available?
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
The very first Suicide Squad movie ever made (originally in everything but name), now trimmed to make it less cheesy and more worthy of being both called a proper Suicide Squad film and a spin-off of the Arkham videogames.
Intention:
2014's "Batman: Assault on Arkham" only had that title because of marketing value, but it was in all aspects a Suicide Squad movie with Batman as the guest star. Born as a spin-off of the Arkham videogames, the result was neither here not there because the need was felt to add some elements that departed from the dark and serious tone of the games, such as a few attempts of being "artificially badass" via silly montages and dubstep, having Killer Frost and King Shark be improbable lovebirds, and getting a few bad one-liners here and there. This version removes that stuff (Frost and Shark will still bond, as the narrative demands it, but much more progressively and in a non-romantic way) and tries to get the tone closer to both the Arkham Asylum and Arkham City games, and to a proper Suicide Squad story, which in my opinion should ideally play as "The Dirty Dozen in costumes" and not as some sophomoric idea of so-called coolness.
Other Sources:
- "Bring Her Back to Me" from the "Batman: Arkham City" soundtrack for the fight against the guards.
- "The Dark Knight" for the helicopter crash foley work.
Special Thanks:
Blueyoda, for forcing me to improve the edit inmensely through blood, sweat, and tears; and G1orkatsos for his Photoshop wizardry.
Release Information:
Digital
Editing Details:
Sony Vegas Pro 13 for the main editing, Audacity to separate the audio into six .wav files and mux it back to .ac3, and Photoshop for the painful process of animating new credits and visuals frame by bloody frame. MkvToolNix for final .mkv creation.
Cuts and Additions:
- Added FE.org logo at the start.
- Cut Riddler's line "Riddle me this: why didn't I quit when I was ahead?"
- Cut cheesy roll call montage.
- Replaced title card with custom made one.
- Trimmed helicopter scene to remove a lot of dead space between the lines.
- Cut Frost laughing at Shark's "Do it and I'll bite it off" and them exchanging looks.
- Cut Frost's line "Good one... good shark".
- Cut sewer scene, due to Shark carrying Frost on his shoulder.
- Trimmed Penguin scene so he is no longer Jabba the Hutt eating like a pig. The big plate of raw fish is still unavoidably there but now it is implied to be part of the decoration.
- Cut dress-up scene.
- Sped up batarang bullet time.
- Cut shot of Batman not reacting at Harley dodging the batarang.
- Added "Heart rate: normal" text to the "bat-lie detector" to make it more prominent while removing the same smaller text from the right of the screen.
- Cut Killer Frost's ice pun and Boomerang's reply.
- Cut bullet time in Joker's cell.
- Cut Captain Boomerang's line "My goolies!"
- Cut King Shark's line "I hate Italian food".
- Cut the Squad walking down the hallway like rock stars.
- Cut King Shark's "USA! USA!"
- Replaced the generic and rather cartoony background music of the fight against the guards scene with "Bring Her Back to Me" (AKA the Mr. Freeze boss fight theme) from the "Batman: Arkham City" soundtrack.
- Cut Harley's explanation about having worked in Arkham as a psychiatrist and her bickering with Boomerang.
- Cut Frost's "Glad you made it".
- Cut Frost's "He knows how to turn off the bombs". It's information we already have.
- Cut Frost's tender-eyed closeup towards King Shark.
- Cut King Shark's line "Did we win?".
- Cut pause before "It's the electro-shock".
- Cut pause after"...fry your bombs"
- Cut Nigma pointing to "Black Spider" with his gun before shooting.
- Cut some frames of dead air at the end of Joker's "Yahtzee!"
- Trimmed Joker's reaction when confronted by Deadshot in the corridor, so the latter punches him faster.
- Added additional foley work to the helicopter crash.
- Trimmed Deadshot brutally beating the Joker. He may be pure evil, but he's physically frail in comparison, and such a brutal beating is excessive.
- Trimmed Gordon's last shot, muting his "Aaand I'm talking to myself. Again" line.
- Cut Amanda Waller's "bat-blog" line.
- Cut Deadshot saying "Bang" at the end. Now he just smiles.
- Customized end credits. Added faneditor credit with acknowledgements, kicked Kevin Conroy's name down from top billed to getting a special guest star "and" spot, and added Bill Finger as the co-creator of Batman to the end scroll.

User reviews

4 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0(4)
Audio Editing
 
10.0(4)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(4)
Narrative
 
9.8(4)
Enjoyment
 
9.3(4)
Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Despite the heavy association with other media, this edit really helps the movie stand on its own. The much more restrained humor and more realistic relations between the characters made for a very consistent and enjoyable experience. The title of suicide squad is very fitting for this project, well done.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
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
Very cool edit, the cuts are great and improves the movie far beyond my expectations! I recommend it strongly.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
D
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 1 0
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
This was a blast, and *almost* felt like it could be the bridge inbetween the two DCEU SS movies! I didn't actually expect to enjoy myself considering its relationship to a video game, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised!

Don't miss this one! Technically solid and a fun ride!
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 2 0
(Updated: September 11, 2021)
Overall rating
 
9.8
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
10.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
From my understanding, this is an animated adaptation of a videogame and it does feel that way in its very straightforward plot and "missions" format. But what it lacks in originality it more than makes up with superb animation, interesting characters, funny dialog and awesome action scenes. Only 6 minutes were cut from this but having seen some of the original scenes, those 6 minutes change the overall tone of the movie, especially if you consider that Dwight also changed the dumb techno soundtrack with much better orchestral music that he probably took from some other Batman soundtrack.

It's also worth mentioning that Dwight added Bill Finger's name alongside Bob Kane's as co-creator of Batman in credits. This is something I'm sure Finger would have appreciated as he was robbed of the credit during his lifetime.

This was massively entertaining and clocking in at a tight 70 minutes, it's easily squeezable into a movie night. Strongly recommended.
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 2 0