Re: NEW TRAILER DARK KNIGHT
I still like Batman to this day. I like the set designs and the feel of the city. The Batsuit and Batmobile designs are fantastic and the best of all the films so far. Keaton was ok as Batman/Wayne. Michael Gough was great in all the flicks. Elfman's score is one of my favorites, loved it from when it first came out and know every note. But Batman is not a Batman movie, it is a Joker movie. And besides a great look, was a very poor take on the character. Though it is a great Comic Book movie.
I get bored watching Batman Returns. Again, I like the set designs, Pfeiffer is HOT as the Catwoman. You can't go wrong with Christopher Walken as any character. But I hate the redesigned Batsuit with is window blinds abs. The Penguin is awful.
Even though it is campy, I enjoy Batman Forever much more than Returns. I like Val Kilmers take on Wayne. Chris O'Donnell had a GREAT take on an edgy Robin. I thought Carrey was fine as Riddler and Kidman was HOT as usual. TLJ was pretty bad as Two Face as was the stupid purple face. The Batmobile looks horrible.
Batman And Robin. . .. . yup, pretty much one of the worst movies ever made (not Highlander 2 bad though). As bad as the movie was, I thought Schwarzenegger did a good job as Mr. Freeze. I like Clooney and had hopes for him, but he just didn't pull off Batman.
The thing I hated most about these 4 movies was how Gordon was not used. They just made him some fat guy that barked an order or two and that was it.
Batman Begins. Not only is it a fantastic Batman movie, it is a great movie on it's own. This was just a well done movie from start to finish. Every cast member nailed their parts. Bale as a great choice. You see why Bruce Wayne is Batman. His parents are killed by Chill and not the Joker. Wilkinson was awesome as Falcone ("This is a world you'll never understand. And you always fear what you don't understand.") Neeson's Ducard, nuff said. We have a fleshed out Gordon that looks just like Gordon. There is even Flass!! The realness is there and the score is wonderful. Holmes was the only weak link, and she is gone.
The Dark Knight. Just going by the fantastic trailer and 6 min epilogue, will prolly be the best of the bunch. That is the Joker and this is Batman.
As for the Batman vs Batman Begins. They each got right what the other got wrong. Begins just got more right.
A great post (with insight) deserves a response.
I was one of the ones, although a huge Michael Keaton fan (going back to Mr. Mom, Night Shift, etc.), who didn't see the casting of Bruce Wayne as right-- and then I went and saw Tim Burton's
BATMAN and I was reminded why I love movies so much. To this day that movie is still among my top ten films. Everything was bang on--despite Jack being Jack and dominating the screen as only he could.
BATMAN RETURNS was a good film but something about it never really clicked. Michelle Pfeiffer's role was well done and of course Walken is watchable in pretty much anything but by this time Keaton's Batman seemed different... I don't know the word, maybe forced?... And despite Danny Devito's chops the Penguin character never really worked as the main antagonist. The sight of hundreds of penguins with rockets attached to them--- d'uoh.
BATMAN FOREVER was a new vision and while I enjoyed Val's Batman I've never been a real fan of Robin so no matter what Chris O'Donnell did with it I wasn't going to like it too much. Jim Carey was a good fit for the Riddler (I always wondered what he'd do as the Joker--personally he has the frame and the maniacal look if he kept from veering off the page with improvised Ace Ventura remarks I thought he would've made a great Joker for the new Batman) but I hated Tommy Lee Jones' interpretation of Two-Face.
BATMAN & ROBIN will sit happily with Richard Pryor's
SUPERMAN III & for that matter
SUPERMAN IV as one of the worst superhero movies of all-time... and it was so toxic that it almost killed not only the character film longevity but also the comic book to movie possibilities. Thankfully other movies came out in the past few years which have reenergized Hollywood's desire to see the comic pages come alive on the big screen.
BATMAN BEGINS as you succinctly put it is fantastic. An actual MOVIE and not a two-hour toy commercial. Great character development, actors who can act, a villain that is not only well-developed but also someone who you root for to be beaten, and a Batman/Bruce Wayne played with a depth that has not been seen before. Look at the peripheral characters-- Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Lt. Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucas (sp?)-- When you have actors of that calibre as supporting players you know that you've got something. The only problem is Katie Holmes and that brings me to my concern about the upcoming
DARK KNIGHT... From what I've seen of the trailer Jake's sis Maggie Gyllenhaal seems to be the new love interest--- I'm sick of Batman NEEDING a love interest or damsel in distress. If anything from Kim Basinger's Vickie Vale, (omit Michelle Pfeiffer as she was a good villainess), Nicole Kidman, Uma Thurman (bad villainess) & supermodel girlfriend for Clooney's Wayne, Katie Holmes,...all of these are women who drag down the action and when they find out Batman's secret identity (for those that do and it's pretty much all of them) I groan with disgust everytime.
I realize it's a movie but eliminate the needless love story/romantic angle..He's Batman, not Bond. Stop putting in these women who want to change him.
Oh well, I hope
DARK KNIGHT as the trailer suggests focuses on the back and forth between the Joker and Bats--
Penguin and Catwoman are also doable, but just not in the Burton way. Penguin would just have to be a mob boss with a monacle and love for birds. Catwomen just a copycat (get it?) of Batman's outfit use as a catburgler- more a prologue villian than a main villian. Two-Face vs Penguin could be cool though for 3.
