Synopsis:

The point was to put more focus on the parts directly adapted from the Frank Miller graphic novel while putting the mystery and mystique back into Batman’s origins.

Intentions:

The first to be released in HD,this is an edit of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins into a loose adaptation of the comic Batman: Year One, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. The film now takes place entirely in Gotham City, over the course of one year, in which Bruce Wayne gains his early experience as the caped crusader. The point was to put more focus on the parts directly adapted from the Frank Miller graphic novel while putting the mystery and mystique back into Batman’s origins. Many people praise Christopher Nolan’s attempt at creating an entirely realistic and logical approach to the Batman legend. Sometimes, I felt the filmmakers spent so much time on the exposition of the premise, that the entire thing became entirely too real. David Mazzucchelli wrote “Once a depiction veers toward realism, each new detail releases a torrent of questions that exposes the absurdity at the heart of the genre. The more ‘realistic’ super heroes become, the less believable they are.” With this in mind, I set out to re-create the obscurity to the premise of which it generates from, creating a realistic, but still believable super hero film. The viewer is asked to accept much more about the premise than is given, and close their mind to the questions that inevitably come up once a premise has become too real.

Change List:

A variety of sequences are cut. The scenes in which Bruce spends years in China learning ninjitsu (Chinese ninjitsu apparently), the time he spends putting together his costume and arsenal, Bruce’s time spent with Lucious Fox, are all deleted. The resulting atmosphere is very similar to that of Burton’s Batman, in which instead of getting an hour of needless explanation of an idea we’ve accepted since 1939, we get right to Batman’s first few shaky months in the fight on crime, his building relationship with James Gordon, and the growing tension between him and the police department. Bruce Wayne as a character has been reduced to a facade. It is edited so the only time you ever see him open his mouth, he’s in super douche-bag mode, playing up his rich and spoiled brat routine. In the comic, the readers only ever see Bruce when he is playing the boy billionaire to throw off Gordon, while other times see him in complete silence in contemplation and reverie–the film now reflects this portrayal. Ducard is cut. His part in the second half of the film was out of place once his part in the first half was eliminated. The attack on Gotham is no longer planned and executed by the League of Shadows, but by Scarecrow and his associates. His character has gained screen-time in the now hour-long film. In addition, the cheesy parts are cut. Some annoying moments with Katie Holmes have been trimmed, the very cliche incompetent cop reactions during the Tumbler chase scene have been removed, and many other changes have been made to provide a loose, but faithful interpretation of Frank Miller’s work.

Additional Notes:

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