Synopsis:

The Virtual Workprint, as edited by Josh Janson one of the more well-known edits of the film, is still my preferred cut of the film despite it's poor video quality. The HD Rebuild uses the most recent Blu-Ray to completely remake Josh Jenson's original edit from scratch in as high quality as possible. The edit features 10 minutes of new footage, including 7 deleted scenes with an alternate opening and ending, and 10 additional shots and lines from trailers and more, while also trimming a few of the more over-the-top moments from the final film.

Intentions:

Watching the Virtual Workprint after all these years, its still technically great, but the video quality just lets it down. Hearing about the recent screenings of a 1994 workprint of the film got me thinking about this cut again. It's one of the few that doesn't try and really tone things down and rescores it with other Batman composers' music, so I enjoy it in that regard. Taking the original audio, I went ahead and rebuilt the video from scratch.

Change List:

Editing Details: As the original edit was 360p, none of the original video was used. Instead I lined the edit up with the most recent Blu-Ray, and matched it frame-by-frame. Anything not from the film (trailers, deleted scenes) were then plugged into the edit and upscaled/colour corrected to match. The original audio was used verbaitum with some minor edits, but is otherwise intact. Cuts and Additions: - added alternate opening, showing the aftermath of Two-Face's breakout from Arkham Asylum - added shot of Arkham from Batman and Robin as an establishing shot - moved Edward Nygma's introduction at Wayne Enterprises to after the Arkham scene - added Nygma's "Bruce Wayne, in the flesh" during their meeting - added a new shot of the Batcave tunnel - rearranged some shots too accomodate a new line - added Bruce saying "I've left Wayne Enterprise en route to the Batcave" - moved the Batman suit up (originally the first scene) to here. Bruce now goes straight from meeting Nygma to Two-Face's bank robbery - cut Batman's response to Aflred's "can I persuade you to take a sandwich, sir?" - cut Two-Face's "in your case, beer and pizza, HA!" to the guard - cut Chase's "Hot entrance" - trimmed a shot of Chase shaking hands with Batman - cut Chase's "not every girl makes a superhero's knights table" - reversed and reused a shot of Batman from earlier to cover the cut - cut Chase's "and call me Chase" - cut Chase's "Do you have a first name or do I just call you Bats" and Batman disappearing as she says it - added extra shot of Two-Face celebrating as his goons blast the elevator - added 2 alternate angles of Batman kicking the goons in front of the elevator - added alternate angle of Batman seeing the guard in the vault - cut the guard's "OH NO" - cut the guard's "OH MY GOD ITS BOILING ACID" - added alternate angle of Batman firing his grappling hook - added Two-Face "if the Bat wants to play, we'll play, HAHAH" - cut Two-Face "this'll fix him, agaghagaha" - added shot of the helicoptor crashing through the eye billboard - cut Two-Face "goodbye forever to that pointy eared night rat" - added extra dialogue as Two-Face and Batman scuffle in the helicoptor, with Two-Face calling him a killer - mixed some alternate angles of Two-Face putting the Club on the streering wheel - cut some of the Carrey mugging when his boss is coming to - trimmed the end of Nygma sobbing after handing over the suicide note - added young Bruce falling through the ground - cut Chase grabbing the Batsuit chest and some of the dialogue around it - cut Batman's "women" comment after the Chase meeting - trim Two-Face's sulking after he doesn't blow up the Batmobile - added shot of Wayne Manor from Batman and Robin to transition into the next deleted scene... - added Dick punching a training dummy with a picture of Two-Face on it, with Bruce trying to get him to open up - added Batman on the way to stop Riddler and Two-Face, but getting hacked and redirected to a salon - new VFX shot showing a Gotham map to the crime on a Batmobile screen - cut 2 shots of Two-Face celebrating when he thinks he's killed Batman in the subway - cut Bruce looking at videos of Chase in the Batcave and replaced with... - added Bruce watching a news report, with the caster saying that Batman should retire. Bruce has a crisis of faith, not knowing what he should be doing - added alternate angle of Riddler thrusting, now it's a closeup of his face, so it's less obvious and testicular of a shot - cut Riddler grabbing his balls in the Batcave - added Bruce suffering from amnesia, and going into a natural cave section of the Batcave to face his own psyche and identity, and realising he is Batman (forever) - cut Alfred's "you really are quite bright despite what people say" - cut the BatButt during the suit up - cut the "Holy rusted metal Batman!" - added additonal 'hero shot' of Robin after he beats Two-Face - trimmed Riddler getting a brainful of the Box and his distorted face - added alternate ending, with Chase in the car with Alfred, asking if Batman will ever end

Other Sources:

- Batman Forever (2019 Blu-Ray) - Virtual Workprint (used entire audio track, and video as reference) - Deleted Scenes (Upscaled from DVD quality) - 35mm Scope Trailer (as scanned by Denis-Carl Robidoux) - Theatrical Trailer (Upscaled from DVD quality)

Special Thanks:

- Josh Jenson for creating the original edit, of which is still great and holds up, even 12 years after the fact. - Eyepainter for giving me some feedback on my first cut