Kevin Smith Reviews “The Schumacher Cut” of BATMAN FOREVER

He said he’s seen it, now he talks about it.

On a recent episode of his FATMAN BEYOND podcast/show, Kevin Smith gave a rundown of what was in “The Schumacher Cut” of BATMAN FOREVER.  If you’re a longtime reader of BOF, you know that I’ve talked about “The Red Diary Cut” — which I’ve always called it — for years.  I’ll point out a few things that KS said about the cut, but you can get a WAY more detailed description of the film in this old article on BOF, BATMAN FOREVER: THE FILM THAT SHOULD’VE BEEN from back in 2005.

ALSO READ | OPINION: So, WB/DC Studios…Y’all May Want to Rethink the New DCU Shared Universe Thing

• It runs for about 2 and a half hours.
• It opens in Arkham Asylum with Two-Face’s escape (“The Bat Must Die!).
• Batman (Val Kilmer) doesn’t appear in the film until 15 minutes into it.
• There’s a temp score featuring the Elliot Godlenthal score, stuff BATMAN ’89 and BATMAN RETURNS by Danny Elfman, and music from INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.
• The Dick Grayson (Chris O’Donnell) “washing clothes” scene is not in it.
• The entire “Red Diary” subplot is included and comes to fruition and the reason why the film was titled BATMAN FOREVER makes perfect sense.
• Bruce Wayne (Val Kilmer) confronting the giant bat is included in the film during the third act — it’s the end of the “Red Diary” subplot.
• Harvey Dent/Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) gets a very short “origin story” at the beginning.
• A lot of the dialogue was looped in postproduction to make it more outrageous and corny-sounding.
• The security guard says nothing in this cut of the movie, so the “Hey, it’s boiling acid!” line was likely done in reshoots.

ALSO READ | The June 2023 BOF Mailbag

There’s some more, so check out what Kevin Smith — as well as the dude who gave the cut to KS (apparently, it’s on a thumb drive) — HERE.  And again, if you to really know about it in detail, check out the aforementioned article about it on BOF.

I don’t know if Warner Bros. will spend the money to properly finish it and release it, but I will that if they’re reading, there is indeed a big demand for them to do it. – Bill “Jett” Ramey

RELATED | BATMAN FOREVER: The Film That Should’ve Been