Although I thoroughly enjoyed watching Matt Reeves' Batman movie (twice in the theater), I couldn't help but feel that the story didn't justify its 3-hour runtime. During my second viewing, I found myself contemplating which shots could be shortened or which scenes could be removed to create a more concise and compelling narrative. A tighter, more focused plot without unnecessary detours could have made a better detective movie. With this in mind, I set out to create a condensed version of the film that is 32 minutes shorter.

My first step was to trim or remove any shots that seemed too long or unnecessary without considering their impact on the narrative. I focused solely on the rhythm. One of the fascinating aspects of this movie is the near-perfect editing, with almost no continuity errors. Which can lead to a somewhat slow pace because we feel like waiting for the actors to make the right movements to connect the shots. Ultimately, even the most perfect editing isn't truly perfect.

There are two secondary plots in the movie, both of which emerge around the halfway point. However, both plots suffer from the same issue: they alter the motivations of the two main characters. For Catwoman, her goal initially is to find her kidnapped friend, but a revelation about her backstory leads to her having two goals for the rest of the movie. It seems as though the writers were unsure whether rescuing her friend was a strong enough motivation for her. Nevertheless, I attempted to simplify her story arc and turn it into a straightforward revenge plot.

The second secondary plot revolves around Bruce Wayne, where the Riddler reveals a dark secret about the Wayne family's past, which is connected to the city's mafia. However, I found this revelation confusing and had to rewatch the scene multiple times to understand it fully. This plot also slows down the movie and involves a lot of conversations in different rooms about characters and actions that we are not familiar with. While making Thomas Wayne a less perfect father figure is a good idea, it feels more plot-driven than character-driven. Therefore, I attempted to remove this plot completely to streamline the movie's focus.

As a result, the role of Alfred, played by Andy Serkis, is notably reduced. The scene where he explains the backstory of the Wayne family at length is no longer necessary. Instead, we now focus primarily on the development of the father-son relationship between Alfred and Bruce Wayne.

I also had to change the Nirvana song 'Teen Spirit.' It felt redundant with Robert Pattinson's acting and the overall look and feel of the movie. Additionally, with Michael Giacchino as the composer, it made sense to use his talents to their full potential.

And no Joker either. He just doesn’t belong to this story. I preferred to re-edit the ending to close properly the arc of the Riddler.