Dark Knight Saga Recut, The - Part I

It was a solid cut, to be sure, but I'd have to say I liked the original better. I watched this cut because although I loved Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, I feel that the trilogy as a whole does not feel like one cohesive work (and also, I'd love to see a cleaned-up version of The Dark Knight Rises, which I feel was the weakest of the trilogy). So I'm still planning on watching the rest of The Dark Knight Saga Recut and seeing what I think of it, but I'll definitely be going back to the theatrical cut next time I want to watch Batman Begins. I felt that a lot of the things NJVC cut made the narrative more confusing. I remembered why Batman was trying to stop the train at the end from the theatrical cut, but my wife was confused. All of the explanation for why the train needed to be stopped was cut out (unless I missed something, but reading through the cutlist afterwards, it seems that it was indeed all cut out). Additionally, I think that a lot of the humor that was cut really added to the movie, but that's definitely a matter of opinion and I can understand why NJVC cut it. But I personally missed it.
I will say that I did appreciate the color correction. This does look better than the original. And the edit was very professionally done. As I said, solid edit, it's just not for me.

While the editing is excellent throughout, I feel the editor was too liberal with his cuts. There is certainly a good amount of awkward and clunky exposition, this edit emphasises how much even poor exposition is needed over none at all. Plot elements appear and character actions take place with little or no setup or frame of reference, which is a cardinal sin in filmmaking, and smacks a little too much of the editor saying "I don't like that" instead of asking "is it really necessary?"

With a little more focus and fewer trims, this could be a definitive edit of Batman Begins, but ultimately I found it frustrating.

I absolutely loved this. This will be my go-to version of the film from now on. I'm excited to check out the other two edits.

A fine edit by njvc - I applaud your hard work. I have not seen the rest of the re-cut trilogy, but after seeing this one, I honestly can't wait!

Highly recommend!