Just recently Warner Brothers celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the 1989 summer blockbuster Batman
with a new 4K remaster. Warner’s have been going through their back catalogue and re-releasing some
of their popular titles in 4K such as Superman, The Matrix and Gremlins is now on the way,
the studio has been praised in the past for its strong transfers and remasters but this
new version of Batman has come up scrutiny for its changes in its colour timing and
the inclusion of a new Dolby Atmos track which changes many of the sound effects in the film.
Before discussing the new bluray, I want to take trip down memory and chat about my experience with
Batman. I was 6 years old when the film came out 30 years ago, I was desperate to see it but alas I
was far too young as it was classified a 12, which was a new rating the BBFC introduced to create a
middle ground from PG to 15 rated movies. So I had to wait to tills its release on Home Video
and had to get my father to rent it because the 12 rating had not made its way to tape so it
was bumped up to a 15. I think like all of us we all got wrapped up in the hype to see the film,
you escape from it. I got the action figures by Toy Biz, I played the video game on the
Commodore 64 and NES. I was a massive fan of Batman as the 60s show was still be repeated
during the summer holidays and finally getting the chance to see the movie in my own home was a
delight I still recall my mum complaining the film was too dark as she couldn’t see anything, the
film even came to TV very quickly, premiering on BBC1 for Christmas of 1991.
Now this video is not going to be a review of the film itself, I’ve discussed it before and
recently done a commentary track to it. In short I love the films visual style,
its production and costume design is fantastic, the score by Danny Elfman is one of my favourites,
the performances are great but the story is lacking and its not a true interpretation
of the batman comics, I would say Batman Begins is the one to go for a solid origin
tale of Batman and he is the main focus of the film, whereas the batman films of the
90s the villains took over and Batman became a supporting character in his own franchise.
I’ve had Batman on varies formats over years, VHS, LaserDisc, DVD, Bluray and of course now
in 4K. So im very familiar with how the film looks and sounds. I even saw it in 70mm over a year ago
at the Prince Charles Cinema in London and it was surprisingly clean print. So when I put on
the 4k version with the added HDR colours I was a bit shocked to be honest. Gotham no longer had
that grey and dark, rusty look to it, now it was highlighted in blue or teal in its colour design,
Gotham looked cold and unfamiliar in some ways. The remaster of T2 had the same issues with the
colours all being changed and its now of those titles on 4K that goes for £5 because the fans
don’t want it. The contrasts in some shots appear completely blown out as the whites have been
pushed up to 11. The yellow on Batman’s shield and even the title crawl appeared more orange. Skins
tones appeared too saturated, like everyone has been on a two week holiday in Spain.
The previous bluray release has a soft picture, it was never overly sharp and the film was in
need of a new transfer so this new version really brings out the detail in the sets and faces of
the actors and it looks amazing in that regard but the teal filter that has been applied made
it a strange experience to watch. Even the crappy cover has teal on it! As mentioned earlier I saw
this in 70mm and it didn’t look like this new Bluray, the vivid colours certainly do
match on this remaster however, like the Jokers jacket and the interiors of Wayne
Manor looked warm and popped off the screen but the added teal and blown out contrast,
that wasn’t there. Warner’s clearly put some money into this remaster but I think they should’ve
cleaned up the optical effects and colour corrected some scenes for example the Jokers
jacket is clearly purple but changes to red near the end for the scene where Batman and Vicki Vale
are hanging off the side of the Church. This is an error in the opticals and the use of blue screen.
The new Dolby Atmos Track has caused the biggest uproar amongst Batman fans,
people have even started petitions. like Superman in 2001, Warner’s
remastered the sound mix to 5.1 and added new sound effects and improved the dynamic range,
basically taking the old 1978 sound mix and modernising it. Some fans liked what
they did and others were disappointed because it no longer sounded like it was supposed to.
What drove fans mad was that the old mix wasn’t included and it wasn’t until 2006 that Warner’s
eventually slapped on old stereo mix to satisfy the fans. The recent 4K of Superman, Warner’s
actually took the old 70mm Dolby 6 track and put that on the disc which was a welcome addition.
In the case of Batman, they have not included the old Dolby 5.1 mix given to us on the previous
DVD & Bluray. The only audio track on this new Bluray is the new Atmos track which includes
a whole bunch of new sound effects, some cases effects have been enhanced or replaced
entirely. Batman had two very talented Academy award winners overseeing the effects and the
final sound mix back in 1989 but as the film was mixed in the UK at Pinewood and Elstree studios,
the engineers would often use gun sound effects and explosions from existing libraries.
Danny Elfman expressed in 1995 how upset he was with the sound mix for
Batman saying “Batman was done in England by technicians who didn't care, and the
non-caring showed. They took three-channel stereo and just split it left and right,
so at its most powerful moments it was never more than two-thirds there. I'm not putting
down England because they've done gorgeous dubs there, but this particular crew elected not to.”
The explosion effects in Batman for example have been used for decades. Movies such as
Superman 1 to 3, ALIENS, the Bond films and even going back to Thunderbirds from the 60s
utilised these libraries. So ultimately you have quite dated sound effects that appear
copy and pasted from other movies. I’ve joked about it before but I would’ve never
change anything about its sound because that fundamentally changes the film.
So here is an a few examples of the original gun sound effects and explosions,
followed by the updated sounds. (insert clips)
I think with the changes especially with the gun sound effects,
its actually mess ups the films artistic style, for example this world of batman,
is like a 1930/40s inspired design that has modern tech retro fitted onto it. The guns
the police and Jokers goons use fit that old world aesthetic. Batman on the other hand has
modern technology ,which sounds different like his spear gun and the gauntlet but with updating
how the guns fire and modernizing them it messes with its intended contrasts between old and new.
Batman has always had a front heavy sound mix that didn’t really push the surround channels
that much, for this new Atmos mix, you get a better sense of the sound surrounding you,
you feel more involved with it which is a step in the right direction, its very professional done.
Danny Elfman’s score still shines through and doesn’t appear to my ear to have been reduced in
its volume, its still thunderous and loud. The dialogue comes through more clean and audible,
there was always one moment near the end when Batman confronts the Joker and says “excuse me,
have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?” It always sounded too
quite often a bit mumbled as he says it very quickly, now its very clear on what he says.
Warners could’ve saved themselves from any backlash from the fans if
they just included the old sound mix as well, give people options,
don’t do a George Lucas and take things away because new doesn’t always mean better. To
be honest Im a big fan of the DTS mix on the old Special Edition release of Batman on DVD,
that sounded far more aggressive than the Dolby HD mix on the regular bluray.
Now I have been told Tim Burton supervised this new transfer, Danny Elfman was involved
as well as part of the new sound mix, but there is no evidence to suggest that,
nothing mention in the press release. Of course people on forums and social media
claim its all true but with nothing to back up their statements, I asked around and everyone
goes silent. so I am not sure who exactly oversaw this release"?, I don’t think the cinematographer
Roger Pratt would’ve approved these changes. It’s not how he lit the movie and graded it.
Now what I’ve done to really reduce the heavy HDR colour boosting which pushes the teal and oranges
to the extreme is switching the video output to Bt.2020, if your player can do that I would
recommend it. I would suggest basically turning the HDR off and it looks more like the original
film, it’s not identical to how I think it’s supposed to look because the teal is inherent in
the picture but its far more satisfying. HDR can be really good in some cases but often what I’ve
come to notice is that it blows out skin tones, makes the image darker, explosions often look too
saturated. its often best to watch your favourite movies in pure 4K without the HDR option. It saves
you from fiddle with the picture settings to get the colours to be more balanced and natural.
if you’re entirely happy with this new remaster then that’s totally fine with me, but as a fan of
the film and its something I grew up on, seeing it like this with the colours adjusted and new sound
effects added it takes away some of that nostalgia and it doesn’t feel the same to be honest. A movie
is defined by how it looks and sounds, if you change that then it no longer represents its true
intentions. If you’re a fan of Batman then you’ve probably already purchased this movie but if you
haven’t had the chance yet I would suggest keeping hold of your regular Blu-ray for the time being
and wait till it drops in price before splashing out £20 for a bluray that you may be disappointed
with. I have noticed online that Batman Returns has had some adjustments to its picture and sound
as well, I haven’t put money down for the sequels as there is a boxset coming out in September.
I really don’t understand film studios and their obsession with adding teal when remastering their
back catalogue of movies? There’s no need for it. Keep it how the director wanted it don’t change
things because there is now an option to do it and its easy to apply. It may appear to make the movie
in the film studios eyes look more rad and cool but realistically fans just want the films they
love looking better and more in detail, having it look closer to how it as shown in the cinemas.
It’s hard to recommend this disc, it really depends on how fussy you’re about the picture
and sound but the feedback this disc has received it, despite it get strong reviews from many of the
bluray review dedicated websites the fans aren’t happy and its clear people are more disappointed
than satisfied with this new version plus it doesn’t come with any additional special features,
it ports over all the previous material so not isn’t much bang for your buck.
If you love this movie I would suggest sticking to the previous Blu-ray release.