Friday Morning Movie Madness: Batman Franchise (FM3)
July 18th, 2008The following was written after I saw some of the worst Batman movies right after one of the best Batman movies. The cable channels went a little batman crazy last night, but it showed me how gaudy the 80’s and 90’s Batman movies really were.
Today I’m not going to talk about a single movie, but a movie franchise. Batman, the comic book hero of many a tall tale and many a legend: One part ninja, one part detective, one part billionaire playboy and all bad to the bone.
I started reading Batman during my childhood. In the DC versus Marvel wars of the 1980’s, I never really took a side. Most of the superheroes didn’t even interest me; but some did. Wolverine with his claws that popped, the Punisher with his never ending supply of guns, Daredevil…when I could find the comic in stock. One stood out above all those, the one that I would be if I could be a superhero: Batman. I grew up during the Dark Knight period of his existence, when he was a tortured soul trying to figure out who was real: Bruce Wayne or the Batman. One of the very first comics I remember reading is Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight returns;” an apocalyptic tale featuring weird art, a cool story, and an epic battle between Batman and Superman. Although I have grown away from that particular tale (It seems so cynical and jaded to me now, trying to deemphasize the heroic aspects of superheroes) it did jump start my love for the Character. Although I don’t buy comics much any more (Outside of manga…western comics tend to be to expensive with not enough content) I do retain my love for the Bat mythos.
I remember when Mike Keaton was cast as Batman. I didn’t think he was the right actor. When Jack Nicholson was cast as the Joker I thought it would be okay. I went and saw the movie, I kind of liked it (I think more for Viki Vale then anyone else, honestly. Hey I was 12 or 13 at the time) but the movie didn’t stick with me. The sequel was worse then the first movie, proving that director had no clue about the real mythology behind batman. He seemed to only want to use bits and pieces, setting the story up for campy set pieces that he deemed ‘comic book.’ I wondered if he had read a comic book since the late sixties, as this seemed to be more in line with the late television show then the (at the time) current comic. Then the sequels hit: First Val Kilmer took his role in the cape and cowl and then George Clooney. With all all due respect to all the actors involved, none of them were cast right. (Except for Jim Carrey, I think he did a good job as the riddler. I would love it if he were cast as him again in a more realistic take on the villain…but the movie was a joke. I didn’t really think so at the time, however rewatching it now? Man..gaudy.) And then the producers and directors of the movies carried on the weird and campy tone of the first two efforts.
I have to admit, I didn’t even watch the full version of Batman Forever, I had to turn it off before the first sign of Mr. Freeze. It was that bad. The four Batman movies that came out during my youth and young adult hood just weren’t any good. People praise Mr. Nicholson as the joker, but honestly he was just JACK playing the Joker. He wasn’t really the Joker… To me the Joker is Luke Skywalker: he nailed the voice in the excellent TV cartoon of Batman. In the movies? There wasn’t a good batman movie in my mind.
I didn’t think anyone would get the formula right, would actually dig in to the comic enough to learn that Bruce Wayne wasn’t the card board cutout super hero we all saw in the old Batman Television show. As mentioned earlier I knew they could get the Character down, they did it in a cartoon. Why couldn’t they do it in a movie?
Then I saw Batman Begins and I knew that the director had nailed it. I know he didn’t go exactly by the comic (do movies ever?) but the tone and the feeling of comics, the comics I remember reading, filled the movie from first to last. This Bruce Wayne wasn’t in his forties; he was the right age. He didn’t have everything together, he just knew he wanted to clean up the city. His butler was more like the butler in the comics, wry and full of spunk. The city was dark and decrepit, and people had no clue that Bruce Wayne, the playboy that burnt down his mansion, was the Bat.
One of the things that made this version really good is the fact that Batman actually did some detective work. He wasn’t all about gadgets, he had to go out and find clues to what was going on. He also seemed mortal. There was a time or two that he had to think quickly and get out of the situation. Batman was always that character that people could be, if they just trained hard enough and had the money. In Batman Begins this came through..Bruce Wayne was human. A human that could kick butt and was trained by a ninja while using really awesome toys, but still human.
Isn’t that what we want to see? Our heroes dealing with the same issues that we do? Showing our human nature is a good thing.
I guess people that grew up reading comics are working for the film companies now, because they sure are getting more right then they are wrong. Batman Begins is part of that new tradition and I’m hoping the sequel will be too. I’m going to watch it today and my review will be up tonight or tomorrow morning. I have a long history with the Bat, and I hope this outing will not be disappointing.
- Warren