Dark Knight Saga Recut, The - Part II

I sure miss superheroes and superhero movies that are fun. I guess Iron Man is still fun. But the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, for me, are downright depressing. I suppose that is a terrible way to begin this review of another absolutely excellent--perfect, as far I can tell--edit by njvc. But dammit, I miss Tim Burton and few songs by Prince or Siouxsie and the Banshees. (Dwight Fry's edit Batman: Descent into Mystery remains a big favorite of mine.)
This edit is just so perfect, the only things I can find to talk about are the movie itself--which is a matter of taste. To me, this movie is exhausting and too long, even this tighter edit feels like it goes on forever. This is not an issue with this edit--I cannot see any further cuts that would help, so I cannot even offer suggestions. I remember leaving the movie theater in 2008 just thinking "wow...I used to love Batman; like James Bond I used to think he was such a cool, awesome character to watch. But in 2 movies, his girlfriend is blown up, Wayne manor has been burned to the ground, the Bat-signal is destroyed, The Batmobile is destroyed, Harvey Dent is disfigured and killed and the whole city hates and blames Batman. Woo-hoo, fun." I realize the Batman of the 60's TV Show and the 2 Tim Burton movies is not the Dark Knight of the graphic novels, but jeez, I don't even really like this guy. And I guess that is why I only watched the Nolan movies one time in the theater and never again, until now.
I would say this is my go-to version of Nolan's second Batman movie, except I don't ever plan to "go-to" it again. But with a gun to my head, this is the easier choice. This cut is better than the original. I wonder if someday in the unforeseeable future there could be a Joss Whedon Batman? A light touch sure would be welcome. I am looking forward to the third and final one, as I recall liking it much more than this 2nd one--which might have to do with Anne Hathaway in tight-fitting leather.
I recommend this to fans of the Dark Knight. And I hope this negative-sounding review doesn't put people off from this edit, because all the negativity stems from the original script and plot--which is streamlined as much as possible here, I believe. It is an outstanding edit, a "tour de force" as dangermouse said.

A tour de force in editing.
TDK is a pretty good film with an *outstanding* performance by Heath Ledger, but is weighed down by a lot of crap, particularly in the 3rd act, which is very slow.
What njvc has done is trim the fat of the whole film, particularly the set pieces, and the 3rd act. And he's done it brilliantly.

I have only one *tiny* criticism - right at the end with Gordon's narration: we see Batman on the bike, then it cuts to Gordon talking to... well in the original, his son, but in the edit it looks like he's just a little bit nuts, spouting dramatic dialogue into the air! :-) I would recommend cutting the Gordon scene and extending the bike scene - either slowing it down or looping it or cutting in previous bike footage.

As with BB, video and audio quality is superb. Cuts are unnoticeable. One or two audio changes I could hear on my headphones (sounded like some dialogue shifted from centre channel to L/R channels), but barely noticeable.

Most of the cuts are totally unnoticeable little trims here and there. This is a masterclass in "trim" editing - leaving the film basically as it was, but with hundreds of little trims, all of which add up to a monumental improvement.

njvc did cut some good scenes - the scenes on the boat with the ordinary guy not being able to push the button, and the big guy who grabs the detonator then throws it out the window and then rejoins his prayer group!
Good scenes. But they weigh down the already bottom-heavy end - and Nolan should have cut them. Likewise some of the "we need to chase batman" dialogue.

njvc has produced the definitive version of TDK. This replaces the original, and then some.
Highly recommended!

As with part 1, this is gonna be short. I watched the entire trilogy this weekend and thought that NJVC made all the right cuts from all three.

Again, Audio / Video quality was superb and I detected no problem cuts whatsoever.

I rated my enjoyment of this one lower than the other two, because I find the film itself somewhat flawed. It has nothing to do with NJVC's editing choices.