Dark Knight Saga Recut, The - Part III

Njvc has taken an ambitious project and tried to fix some of the issues Dark Knight Rises had. I think many agree this movie was trying to tackle too much, but also at the same time there were missed tones. I did not like the fact Bruce Wayne would have retired for 8 years and though I really liked Tom Hardy's performance as Bane and thought Bane was a great character, the character contradicted itself in the sense is a terrorist? Freedom fighter? Then Bane was demoted to common goon (and not mastermind) under Talia's control, a let down for many.

In njvc's edit, the effort and cuts are good. I think there is quite a bit of improvement in the story and the pacing, but ultimately as much as I had hoped for this fan edit would fix the movie (and I was skeptical it could be saved given the reliance on source material), it is due to the source material that the movie could not be saved. I do recommend watching this cut, it is an improvement and the ending is bold, but it is not enough to be the movie we had hoped, wanted, and maybe hoped to deserve? :)

Well done though njvc, I look forward to your next edits! The editor's skills are not in question, the movie is seemless, even changes in dialogue go unnoticed. To the untrained eye, I don't think you can tell this was an edit and I do recommend watching this cut and for the viewer to make their own opinion if this is the movie they really wanted to see. Thanks njvc!

Just re-watched this edit, some... oh gosh, close to 10 years later. Time really flies! My original review is still up, and on re-reading it I'm a bit surprised at how much I loved it. I definitely don't feel the same way as I did then. That said, I do think it's a strong improvement over the original. Bear in mind, this review is written is with the caveat that The Dark Knight Rises is, at it's core, a bad movie. Certain scenes would need to be entirely re-shot and re-written to fix it, so any kind of edit is only smoothing out the rough patches.

In brief- edit quality is quite good, barring a couple of sharp cuts here and there. Smart choices are made to streamline the narrative & villain motivations, which better emphasizes the good elements of the movie. Unfortunately, in the process some interesting ideas are lost. That said, it's much easier to watch than the original, so I would recommend this as a replacement the next time you watch the trilogy.

I thought that the smartest choices were made around Bane and Talia- I found Bane's portrayal as a terrorist/freedom fighter interesting in the original movie, but let down by the decision to almost retcon him into a goon. NJVC simplifies Bane's portrayal, which makes his motivations much clearer and the final reveal less confusing. Removing Talia's relationship with Bruce was a stroke of genius; I was absolutely amazed at how unnecessary it was. I did feel that the final 'sinking in the knife' speech to Bruce was a bit overlong in the new context, but that's a nitpick. Now, Bruce + Selina is the only romance in the movie, and it works great. They actually have a solid chemistry that was lost in the clutter of the original cut.

Another major change was making Wayne die at the end. I don't love this choice. The original cut was in part about the fact that the Batman was no longer a useful solution to Gotham's problems, and had become little more than Bruce's addiction. His arc was supposed to be about learning to lead a heroic life as Bruce, without the crutch of the Batman, though the original doesn't quite make it work. I don't know if it's possible to fix that, so I can see why NJVC chose to go against it by canonizing Blake as the new Batman. Unfortunately, a decent chunk of it remains (especially in the first act) which makes for an awkward experience when combined with the new ending. As mentioned, I liked the Cat/Bat romance in this edit, and now that it lacks a conclusion both Selina and the romance feel pointless. In this case, I prefer the original ending.

There are a ton of other smaller cuts as well- mostly minor stuff, detective Blake isn't named Robin anymore (thank god), Bane's little interaction with the boy singer on the football field, and a number of corny jokes and one liners. These usually work, but one that didn't was the removal of a little scene when Batman first appears- where an older cop tells a younger cop to 'watch this'. I thought it was a cute scene, but also, in the moment it weakens the reveal of Batman's return. I think the most obvious misstep of this edit though was it's removal of police/military cowardice & incompetence. Notably, the coward police chief subplot is removed as well as the scene where the military blocks a bus full of children from fleeing the island, even after it's too late to stop the bomb. Any kind of negative portrayal of US combat organizations is nearly unheard of in blockbusters, so it's a shame to see these elements taken out.

I still do prefer this edit to the original. Pacing is vastly improved, and again, the choices around Bane and Talia are huge improvements. However, it's not perfect, and I think it's a shame that it got as much positive acclaim as it did, as I fear that it prevented other editors from taking a crack at this film.

What I liked is that you took some bad jokes . The part where Bane commissioner reads the letter . Also that the pace of the film is faster. but I did not like the ending, not the image that stuck out black bands occasionally .

Quite simply, a perfect edit.

I used to think the Dark Knight Rises was a fantastic film.
I used to enjoy it - but now my enjoyment has been ruined.
Because Part III of njvc's Dark Knight Saga Recut is THAT GOOD, I don't think I can ever watch the original again. He has weilded his editing scissors to brilliant effect and cut the story down to it's core. And what a core story it is!

njvc has chopped a HUGE amount out of the film - and it's completely unnoticeable.
When you make such drastic changes to a film often the cracks show through - but here njvc has managed to make everything seem seamless. As a fellow faneditor I can appreciate the effort that went into this edit (although I have no idea how he got it so perfect - skills way, way above mine! :-))

Audio
The audio work is amazing. It's really hard with such an epic score - but there are no noticeable audio cuts. Outstanding.

Video
As with the other two films, top notch

Narrative
This was a complex beast to slim down - there are a few rapid changes and very short scenes that may leave some audience members scratching their heads, but by and large everything is very clearly and logically laid out (more so than in the original).
njvc has continued to trim scenes - all sorts of bad or needless dialogue is gone. Nice!
The removal of all the guff about "take back your city" really strengthened the film considerably (and shortened the run-time). Likewise the changes to the annoying second-in-command, and Selina's roommate/friend/lover/thing (who added zip to the film - her absence affected nothing). And the police / army shooting at the kids and Blake to stop them crossing - that really muddied up the ending and it was a relief to have it removed.

But the ending. Oh the ending. It is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. So much so that I have the feeling that - because of all the other clues left earlier in the film - this was actually Nolan's original ending. It is organic to the film and executed brilliantly.

In summary, I cannot now watch the original - this edit is vastly superior.
I take my hat off to you, sir. Part 2 was a masterclass in trim editing - this was a masterclass in wholesale "ripping apart and putting back together" editing. Incredible work. Send it to Nolan - he'd probably make it an official release (the "Director's cut" :-) )

10/10.

Wow.

You are now my second favorite editor on this site, just after Adywan.

When I saw that you had edited the Dark Knight trilogy, I was excited and looking forward to what you had to offer. When I watched your Batman Begins edit, I wasn't exactly disappointed, but I didn't quite feel fulfilled either. Because of that, I decided to skip The Dark Knight since it is my favorite out of the three, and go right to The Dark Knight Rises. I was not disappointed.

Audio/Video Quality: Top notch, not a single issue

Audio/Video Editing: Top notch, not a single issue

Much like before, I can't say anything that dangermouse didn't, but to be brief, this is one of the best fan edits I have ever seen. I've watched the (edit:original) movie 4 or 5 times, and I didn't notice a single bad cut. You really nailed it. All my kudos to you sir. All of them. I very much look forward to watching your Dark Knight edit