BATMAN Film Universe, Post-Nolan Reboot

[IrishJedi]

Nolan went too realistic and handcuffed is own story right out of the gate

Agreed. I've been saying that for years. The very conceit of Batman himself starts to get blown up the moment you strive for "reality".

 

[JonD7]

TDK is the greatest CBM of all time, and i'd say it to your face

I hate chu!

But honestly, I think my favorite Batman is Mask of the Phantasm or even the Arkham games.

 

[lerath666]

Nolan went too realistic and handcuffed is own story right out of the gate

This.

batman works BEST when he's in a world with other heroes and villians, some of whom might as well be gods ( superman, flash, etc) and STILL manages to come out on top, even though he's just a guy with alot of money, and expensive equipment .

 

[intothevoid]

Agreed. I've been saying that for years. The very conceit of Batman himself starts to get blown up the moment you strive for "reality".

Hardly

The greatness of Batman is that the character is so universal, it can be adapted in many different ways and still be compelling.

I look fwd to the next adaption

 

[JD_Myers]

Hardly

The greatness of Batman is that the character is so universal, it can be adapted in many different ways and still be compelling.

I look fwd to the next adaption

 

[batfan08]

Nolan went too realistic and handcuffed is own story right out of the gate

I beg to differ. I think his vision was cemented with The Dark Knight, but, when I walked out of the theater at the end of Begins, I had a far different conception of what the sequel would look like than what The Dark Knight was. My point is that it could've gone in a completely different direction than what we saw, if you think about what Begins was on its own.

 

[IrishJedi]

Maybe that's why I (and others) still consider Batman Begins to be the best one.

 

[batfan08]

I could see that. Personally, I love the Nolan films. I know they're quite different from my conventional idea of Batman, and I accept them as their own thing; an Elseworlds tale, of sorts, but I do wonder what could've been, had they taken a slightly different approach to the Begins follow-ups.

 

[DiFabio]

Any Batman movie from now on will suck compared to TDK, we all know it. God help the poor guy who plays The Joker next.

Things change.


Batman's been around for 74 years. Of those 70+ years there's been nothing but quality, from films, to tv shows, to animation to comic books. There have been a few stinkers, sure, but for the most part it's been great stuff.


I remember everyone saying in 2007 that nobody would ever be as good as the Nicholson Joker, that he set an un-passable bar, then the Ledger Joker came along.


You go in with the attitude that the "next one" won't be as good and it won't be, for you.

 

[RIDDICK]

Any Batman movie from now on will suck compared to TDK, we all know it.
God help the poor guy who plays The Joker next.

Any Batman movie from now on will suck compared to BATMAN, we all know it.
God help the poor guy who plays The Joker next.

 

[Khev]

If they wait almost 20 years like they did with TDK people will be ready to embrace a new Joker.

 

[RIDDICK]

It's not about 20 years but Schumacher's movies in between.
It's also not about people but producers

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

Maybe that's why I (and others) still consider Batman Begins to be the best one.

That's because it is. Gotham looked unique unto itself, Batman looked like Batman, it introduced a unique batmobile. All subsequent movies looked and felt less and less like Batman movies.

TDK is the greatest CBM of all time, and i'd say it to your face

It's probably the least comic booky movie of all time, more like a pshycological thriller that happened to have Batman in it.

 

[dino76m]

if they want comic booky, they should make a 3d animated movie .cant imagine the possibilities of the variety of action sequences they could come up with,

 

[intothevoid]

It's probably the least comic booky movie of all time, more like a pshycological thriller that happened to have Batman in it.

Yes, he was wrong.

It's actually one of the greatest films of all time period.

 

[DiFabio]

That's because it is. Gotham looked unique unto itself, Batman looked like Batman, it introduced a unique batmobile. All subsequent movies looked and felt less and less like Batman movies.

What The Dark Knight lacked in location and settings (Down town Chicago) it made up for with colorful villains. Ra's al Neeson and Potato Sack head were much less unique and "Batmanish" than The Joker.

The Batpod didn't feel unique? I like it better than the Bumbler. Batman getting a brand new suit was less Batman? It fit right in with the whole "new film, new suit" tradition the character had experienced for 20+ years.

I do agree that Begins and The Dark Knight feel and look different (all three look like they were made and shot by different people with different styles) but I wouldn't say Batman was any less Batman than anything else we've seen. Gotham, yeah, I'll give people that. Not the characters though.


I love Batman Begins but other than the city and style, it's no more "Batman" than The Dark Knight. I actually like the fact that the two of them look like separate entities as far as worlds go. Burton did the same thing with '89 Batman and Returns, they both looked and felt completely different, their own thing. The only ties they had as first film and sequel was cast and Batmobile. Everything else changed, just like the Nolan ones do.






Now TDKR on the other hand . . . DO NOT WANT.

 

[Uncanny Web-Slinger]

The reasons i prefer Begins over TDK is not only the atmosphere of it but also that it's Batmans film and Batman wins.

TDK felt like Joker's film featuring Batman, he constantly thwarts Bats, kills his girl and although he gets captured he still wins in the end, the whole Batman taking the blame thing did nothing but diminish him imo, it through out out the whole "as a symbol i can be incorruptable" message of the first film. Joker or the corrupt cops could've easily been blamed for Dent's murders, leaving Batman to remain the symbol of hope for Gotham.

TDK just gives off a very depressing vibe. It's a great film but not one i can watch too often as their isn't much joy to be had aside from the action scenes.

 

[HMC117]

Yes, he was wrong.

It's actually one of the greatest films of all time period.

Yes it is! the only flaws i can think of are Rachel Dawes not being hot enough and Bale's ridiculous Batman voice, i LOVED everything else about it. And of course The Joker gave the movie an energy that is unmatchable for any other CBM.

And to the people saying "everyone said the same thing about Ledger after Nicholson's Joker" - i never thought his Joker was anything special. He didn't change himself at all for the role, and it was too campy for my liking. I'm not saying CBM's can't have a bit of camp in them (i LOVE Raimi's spider-man 2) but when they have nothing more than visual style, atmosphere and jokes i get bored. Heath Ledger's acting as The Joker is some of the best acting i have ever seen, he delivered every single line perfectly and it never gets boring, his facial expressions in the movie are just incredible. IMO he is the greatest movie villain of all time, and his arc in TDK is perfect. Nobody can top perfection.

 

[DiFabio]

The reasons i prefer Begins over TDK is not only the atmosphere of it but also that it's Batmans film and Batman wins.

TDK felt like Joker's film featuring Batman, he constantly thwarts Bats, kills his girl and although he gets captured he still wins in the end, the whole Batman taking the blame thing did nothing but diminish him imo, it through out out the whole "as a symbol i can be incorruptable" message of the first film. Joker or the corrupt cops could've easily been blamed for Dent's murders, leaving Batman to remain the symbol of hope for Gotham.

TDK just gives off a very depressing vibe. It's a great film but not one i can watch too often as their isn't much joy to be had aside from the action scenes.

I can see that, but Begins did end with the premise of escalation and things getting worse before they got a little better.

Plus TDK's ending is all about Batman (even though the entire film is a seesaw between Dent and Joker with Batman and Gordon in the middle). As melodramatic, silly and nonsensical as Gordon's speech is, it's the best way to sum Batman up as a character. Batman running off into the night, hopping on the Batpod driving off as a wanted man is just as potent as panning up to a skyscraper with Batman over looking the city or Batman meeting up with Gordon with a newly christened Bat-Signal and villain. He's not Gotham's hero, he's not like the police force or any other superheroes. Hence the flicks title. He's a dark hero, not Superman or Captain America. He's not in the spot light and he most certainly never has City Hall statues made of him . . . . errrrrr.


A depressing Batman film is Batman Returns. Even though Batman "wins" technically, he loses. He's never going to be happy, the city hated and blamed him, he's offed criminals and, as far as he knows, the one person that he related to and loved died through revenge/vengence.

 

[DiFabio]

i never thought his Joker was anything special. He didn't change himself at all for the role.

Maybe not you, but I recall people being enamored with the performance and saying that him and Keaton overshadowed everything in the film. Some even claim that Nicholson "stole the show" and was the best part (sounds familiar).


I don't seem to remember too many people saying "he was just playing himself" until like 2007 where everyone, even to this day, had/has petty arguments on youtube about which Joker is better. Now that's all they say. Nicholson was the best choice for him in 1989 and played it well. For well over a decade before 1989 everyone wanted him as the Joker. Could it be that the reason he "just played himself" was because he was naturally like the character? He had the receding hair line (like Ledger). The devilish charisma and charm. The psychotic look, the eyebrows, the clownish, joking behavior.


I'll give people Jack Napier, it's pretty much Jack playing Jack. But once he walks out from the doorway and shadows and is revealed as the Joker (hell, even before that in the mob Doctor surgery scene) when does he "play" or look like Jack Nicholson? When he's frying mob bosses? When he's talking to a dead corpse? Breaking the feed and getting on live television to promote a deadly toxin he's created to kill the city? Trying to melt Vicki Vale's face? Pretending that water is melting him and saying "Boo". Trying to sucker punch Batman by distracting him with chattering teeth? He didn't change himself with the colorful wardrobe or prosthetics and make up?

Sounds and looks like the Joker to me. Maybe a different Joker than the TDK Joker, but the Joker nonetheless.







[ame]https://youtu.be/fIpmfuhhGBI[/ame]