All I remember is that in the cinema version you know that The Joker has placed his knife in the gangster's mouth, which he press against the inside gums... then it cuts to a from behind shot and The Joker's arm moves as the scene cuts. It's clear that he's cut thru his cheek even though you don't see any detail. I haven't yet seen any home release. It's probable that all BDs and DVDs were mastered from the PG-13 print which in theory could have been snipped. Remember a matter fo frames were removed from the likes of M:I2, Charlie's Angels and A History of Violence. Whereas the UK cinema versions of all three were uncut.
Appears to be that ALL home versions are cut because the print used is the PG-13 version which was slightly censored in the face-cutting scene. Looks like the UK cinema print was (possibly) uncut. Same thing happened with M:I2 and Charlie's Angels. Chances of seeing an uncut version on DVD or BD are very slim.
It's not surprising when so many BDs (which I bet affected the DVD too, although it shouldn't have) are authored for America first, then the rest of the world.
OK, I decided to "acquire" a camcorder boot of Dark Knight to get to the bottom of this. Asfar as I can tell, this is what people are saying is what originally happened in theatres:
"In the cinema version heath ledger puts the Stanley knife in the hoodlum's mouth and from a reverse shot the viewer sees the joker thrust his hand. The reverse shot was quite effective because you only saw heath moving his arm then the reaction of the other hoodlum as the body fell to the floor. "
This clearly doesn't happen in the boot I checked (which was a cinema rip as you can hear the audience at the start). What happens is Joker delivers his speech with the knife in his victim's mouth, then he says "Why so serious" and we cut instantly to the guy's friend who is being restrained, we get an audio cue from the score that suggests the Joker has slashed his victim's mouth while we watch his friend flinching heavily (actually thrusting forward), then it cuts to the Joker letting go of his victim, and his limp body falling to the floor.
There is no thrusting motion, it's actually the flinching of the victim's friend and the score that suggestion any motion/slashing at all. This is a common and effective trick filmmakers use when they want to imply a violent act without actually showing it.
Ah, well that I couldn't say, but I bet it's almost certainly a US job. Are people saying the US always had an edited down version now? That sounds extremely unlikely given a US PG-13 film will always have more leniency on the violence than a UK 12A (which is our PG-13).
I don't remember there being reports of the US edit being cut down when the film was initially released in cinemas, but then again I don't really pay attention most of the time!
Shingster wrote:Are people saying the US always had an edited down version now?
Yes. It's been suggested that the cut was made for a PG-13 rating.
That sounds extremely unlikely given a US PG-13 film will always have more leniency on the violence than a UK 12A (which is our PG-13).
That used to be the case... not so much now. The UK version of Casino Royale had more violence than in America for example. Terminator 3 was a 12A here and an 'R' in the US. The BBFC are way more lenient (probably too lenient) than they were.
I don't remember there being reports of the US edit being cut down when the film was initially released in cinemas, but then again I don't really pay attention most of the time!
Maybe not the sort of thing you'd notice until you have it in your home on rewind.
