The Dark Knight Rises

[ToucanSpam]

This may be the most anticipated movie of the year, and possibly the highest grossing movie. Yes, I say that knowing Avengers is already at like $1.4 billion.

Anyway, there's a lot of images and trailers and material available online. What are your thoughts? Does Bane look alright? Catwoman? What do you think the plot will be like? Are you nervous for this movie?

I have high hopes.

[ToucanSpam]

Fuck me, the movie title is The Dark Knight Rises, not be confused with the Frank Miller graphic novel. TPK/minton, can you murder this thread?

[ProfJIM]

When I went to the theatre to see Batman Begin, the marque said Batman Returns. I let them know when I got in and bought my ticket.

[Miho]

Minton/Tpk could just change the thread title. It doesn't have to be closed.

I'm looking forward to Rises. Not as much as The Dark Knight, though. Bane looks menacing this time, compared to his last movie form. Last time he looked like a joke. I dislike the actress playing as Catwoman.

[LuciferHam]

Don't change the thread title, it actually raises an interesting point.

Batman film sequals are never titled by numbers but by a verb such as returns, begins, rises or by an adverb such as forever, the first being Tim Burton's Batman Returns.

Its just interesting that Christopher Nolan would choose to follow this format for his Batman franchise, even though its supposedly a seperate franchise or re-imagining or whatever.

This connection between Burton's franchise and Nolans raises the issue that his franchise is perhaps not so seperate from Burtons.

No matter what director is putting Batman on the big screen, its forever going to be in the shadow of Tim Burton's version.

Maybe this is meaningless. Or maybe not. Perhaps all the hype surrounding Nolan's franchise will wither away, and people will remember Batman for its first large studio film incarnation.

Just sayin'. IMO the 1989 Batman is still the classic. Will check out Dark Knight Rises never the less, Nolan's other two have been good if not over-rated.

[Miho]

I think Nolan's interpretation of Batman took it to an even further darker theme than Burton, and that's the right idea. Batman's story is inherently dark in tone, so going in any other direction is the wrong path to take with the fiction.

[ProfJIM]

Originally Posted by LuciferHam

Don't change the thread title, it actually raises an interesting point.

Batman film sequals are never titled by numbers but by a verb such as returns, begins, rises or by an adverb such as forever, the first being Tim Burton's Batman Returns.

Its just interesting that Christopher Nolan would choose to follow this format for his Batman franchise, even though its supposedly a seperate franchise or re-imagining or whatever.

This connection between Burton's franchise and Nolans raises the issue that his franchise is perhaps not so seperate from Burtons.

No matter what director is putting Batman on the big screen, its forever going to be in the shadow of Tim Burton's version.

Maybe this is meaningless. Or maybe not. Perhaps all the hype surrounding Nolan's franchise will wither away, and people will remember Batman for its first large studio film incarnation.

Just sayin'. IMO the 1989 Batman is still the classic. Will check out Dark Knight Rises never the less, Nolan's other two have been good if not over-rated.

'89 Batman sucks man. Burton's "take" on the character is totally off.

[Kid Presentable]

89 Batman as a film was the shit back in the day, though.

[Dorothy Wood]

I really liked the '89 Batman, I saw it in the theater when I was 9 or 10, and thought it was pretty amazing at the time. I already really liked Michael Keaton because of Mr. Mom, and I thought Jack Nicholson was pretty rad. I've enjoyed mostly all of the Batman movies ever made, except for Batman Forever, and Batman and Robin. George Clooney was the worst Batman.

I don't really care that deeply about this shit though. It's just fun.

[TurdBerglar]

the 89 batman was great. the set design and gritty/campy feel was perfect. it didn't take itself so serious.

besides, the burton batmobile is the best one ever!

[ProfJIM]

89 Batman WAS great at the time, but I think its a movie you grow out of. I will concede that the Batmobile design was solid.

[tpk]

i changed the title.

[Pres Zount]

My entire school went to the cinema to see Batman Forever when it was released, to celebrate some saint or whatever. Everyone except myself and two friends, since we got in trouble and had to stay behind for throwing rocks at a teacher's car.

It was awesome. It was like a ghost town/school, and we just ran amok by ourselves for an hour or so while the rest of the school suffered.

Fast forward several years, to when I walked in on my Film/Photography teacher watching the Alicia Silverstone putting on her bat-costume scene, on repeat. Karma perhaps.

[ScarySquirrel]

I'm with LuciferHam on this one. The whole new series is good, but entirely overrated... beyond belief. It's amazing to me how much people build this Nolan directed stuff up like it's the second coming. Regardless, I'll still be seeing this newest one - I'll probably just wait a good month and a half before hitting it up at the theater.

Tim Burton's original will always be the real Batman movie, in my opinion, and everything else pales in comparison.

[ProfJIM]

Originally Posted by ScarySquirrel

Tim Burton's original will always be the real Batman movie, in my opinion, and everything else pales in comparison.

I find that funny considering Tim Burton's Batman is pretty far from what had been established in comic medium, and what he represents as a character. I'm all for a creator taking a character and putting their spin and stamp on it (I mean, how else would these comic characters still be relevant 70+ years if that didn't happen) but Burton just did his same ol' schtick, he just did it before people had gotten sick of it.

I mean, there are many facets to the Batman mythos. Nolan grabbed on to the crime thriller aspects and ran with it. Burton grabbed onto the dark weird character aspect that fit the aesthetic he liked and worked in but took out too much of what made Batman an interesting character and then threw in the camp that had no business being there thanks to the TV show.

I'd say that Batman and Batman Returns are over-rated beyond belief. It was an important movie at the time since the only thing most people had seen of Batman was the TV show, not to mention it was the return of the costumed hero to a mainstream audience.

Nolan's Batman isn't the end-all-be-all either, but its definitively better than Burtons.

I'd say the closest and best representation on Batman in a medium other than comics would be Batman Arkham Asylum/City and probably the animated series.

[ToucanSpam]

I wish more people gave the 1966 film credit. Yes, it's unbelievably campy, but so was Batman (mostly) up until Frank Miller changed the game.

The Tim Burton films have their place, but Nolan's are commercially and critically superior. It's cool for folks to have their own opinions, though.

The Joel Schumaker films even have their own place in Batman lure, even if they were fucking horrible. The nipples on the suits, the casting, the obnoxiously colored sets, it was the fully monty of bullshit.

[yeahwho]

Originally Posted by ToucanSpam

I wish more people gave the 1966 film credit

I did see that one on TV and I've seen several of the Adam West/Burt Ward TV series reruns on late night TV.

look at this MCmoot post

I've also seen every Batman Movie. Dark Night was definitely the best but it clocked in about 30-45 minutes too long. 152 minutes to accommodate the Harvey Dent character at the end was way too indulgent. They had it going on in every scene the Joker was in, then second fiddle Dent fucked it up.

This next one, Dark Knight Rises looks to be heavy into CGI (trailer). That usually overwhelms character & story so I'm having some doubts.

The coolest thing anyone could do is bring back the TV series. Especially if HBO or Showtime did it. A story line themed over 14-18 installments would rule all of these movies. Have Batman stop Dexter!

[Guy Incognito]

Originally Posted by Pres Zount

My entire school went to the cinema to see Batman Forever when it was released, to celebrate some saint or whatever. Everyone except myself and two friends, since we got in trouble and had to stay behind for throwing rocks at a teacher's car.

It was awesome. It was like a ghost town/school, and we just ran amok by ourselves for an hour or so while the rest of the school suffered.

Fast forward several years, to when I walked in on my Film/Photography teacher watching the Alicia Silverstone putting on her bat-costume scene, on repeat. Karma perhaps.

This story is better than batman forever..
but how exactly did you run amok?
and was the film photo teacher the same teacher whose car you damaged?
and was he having a shuffle when you walked in on him?


I didnt see the last batman film for a while and there's always a danger with that in not being able to believe the hype. It was ok. i liked batman begins more

[ProfJIM]

Originally Posted by ToucanSpam

I wish more people gave the 1966 film credit. Yes, it's unbelievably campy, but so was Batman (mostly) up until Frank Miller changed the game.

The comic got campy directly because of the success of the show. Sales were down on the books so they grabbed what they knew would sell. Frank Miller did help revive Batman's image after that wore thin though for sure with Returns and Year One. Revived the character so other writers like Grant Morrison and Jeph Loeb could step in and bring him back to his roots as the Dark Knight detective.

I actually like Batman Begins over The Dark Knight as well, overall.

[Dorothy Wood]

Originally Posted by ProfJIM

I find that funny considering Tim Burton's Batman is pretty far from what had been established in comic medium, and what he represents as a character. I'm all for a creator taking a character and putting their spin and stamp on it (I mean, how else would these comic characters still be relevant 70+ years if that didn't happen) but Burton just did his same ol' schtick, he just did it before people had gotten sick of it.

You're too young to understand.

[ToucanSpam]

Originally Posted by ProfJIM

The comic got campy directly because of the success of the show. Sales were down on the books so they grabbed what they knew would sell. Frank Miller did help revive Batman's image after that wore thin though for sure with Returns and Year One. Revived the character so other writers like Grant Morrison and Jeph Loeb could step in and bring him back to his roots as the Dark Knight detective.

I actually like Batman Begins over The Dark Knight as well, overall.

My all time favorite Batman story is Batman: Hush, which was done by Jeph Loeb. In my stock of Batman volumes I have Killing Joke, Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, Hush, Heart of Hush, Batman and Son, and Batman: RIP, nothing touches Hush in terms of writing quality, all due respect to Alan Moore. Morrison is hit or miss to me. The Return of Bruce Wayne was okay, and Batman and Son was a gigantic let down. Maybe I'm hitting the wrong stories, I don't know. I thought Final Crisis was too convoluted for me to enjoy, so maybe I'm too much of a simpleton? I don't know....

Anyway, I think we can all agree the direction Chris Nolan has taken Batman (and will hopefully take Superman) is phenomenal and adds something special to the DC movie world. Tim Burton has a certain degree of nostalgia for folks about five years older than us. I think, though, that if you stack the movies up against one another, there's a clear winner over who makes the best Batman movies...

I wonder what's going to happen to the franchise after this movie. Probably grim prospects considering Bale has said he's done and Nolan said this is a trilogy.

[DIGI]

An angle will be given in Rises and there will be a reboot just like Spiderman. Hollywood is way too money hungry to let the franchise have a hiatus.

[ProfJIM]

Originally Posted by Dorothy Wood

You're too young to understand.

I had a Micheal Keaton Batman poster on my wall when the movie came out. I was old enough to realize how big that movie was when it came out, but it really hasn't aged well now that I've dipped my toes in other peoples take on Batman. Burton's take is weak sauce compared to it.
Movies and movie history is kinda my thing, so please don't talk down to me because I'm younger than you. Youth has nothing to do with knowledge.

[Kid Presentable]

Originally Posted by ScarySquirrel

I'm with LuciferHam on this one. The whole new series is good, but entirely overrated... beyond belief. It's amazing to me how much people build this Nolan directed stuff up like it's the second coming. Regardless, I'll still be seeing this newest one - I'll probably just wait a good month and a half before hitting it up at the theater.

Tim Burton's original will always be the real Batman movie, in my opinion, and everything else pales in comparison.

Chuuuuch. Heath Ledger's Joker was Beetlejuice to me.

[KingPsyz]

Originally Posted by ProfJIM

I'd say the closest and best representation on Batman in a medium other than comics would be Batman Arkham Asylum/City and probably the animated series.

Damn right

If they ever reboot this franchise, which DC has hinted at already. THIS is the route they need to go. Turn those games into films, forgo the orgin, just go right into Arkham Asylum, sequel starts off with the begining of City, and they wrap it up with a third movie where... well just in case, we all know what would happen...

[ProfJIM]

I read a negative online review for Batman Begins one time that was complaining about the things in the Begins that were changed back to the original origin that Burton's had changed. (The big one being Joker killing his parents instead of Joe Chill). I understand that when people saw the '89 Batman this was the first time they really saw Batman and based their feelings of the character based on it.
It totally imprinted this incorrect feeling of what Batman should and shouldn't be just like the 60s TV show did before it.

I totally understand the cultural significance of the movie; it was a watershed moment in film history, but a lot of people thought it was a picture perfect representation of Batman but it really wasn't.

He made Batman an overly brooding shallow boring character. Burton is too much of a "kooky artist" to give a crap about things like motivations of characters and arcs. At least Nolan has interjected the reasons why a person would make the sacrifices that Bruce Wayne has, instead of just casting Beetlejuice, putting him in a black costume so he can just get shot in the chest and scare people. (He seriously didn't know what to do with Batman, that moment happens 3 times in the movie).
Where is the brilliant detective? One of Batman's greatest assets is his mind.

He had all these years of comics to borrow story from and he was more interested in design and texture that there is barely a story there.

[ToucanSpam]

But he's edgy, and he made Harvey Dent African-American! That totally makes up for a lack of depth, right?

[ProfJIM]

Anyways, Rises looks interesting. I think Nolan is making some bold choices. I'm really surprised he picked Bane considering he's trying to make things fit in more of a "real world" setting.

It's cool he's incorporating themes from No Man's Land. I think that there is something big being held back that's going to be a huge surprise in it too. Nolan knows this is going to be his last and will go out with a bang.

[KingPsyz]

Originally Posted by ToucanSpam

But he's edgy, and he made Harvey Dent African-American! That totally makes up for a lack of depth, right?

And then the acid to the face turned him into Tommy Lee Jones on LSD...

[KingPsyz]

Originally Posted by ProfJIM

Anyways, Rises looks interesting. I think Nolan is making some bold choices. I'm really surprised he picked Bane considering he's trying to make things fit in more of a "real world" setting.

It's cool he's incorporating themes from No Man's Land. I think that there is something big being held back that's going to be a huge surprise in it too. Nolan knows this is going to be his last and will go out with a bang.

I think Bane is and was a horrible choice, but he's also tried to make it clear that this is the end of his batman tale. So bringing in the character that broke batman makes sense.

I was surprised he didn't go with Victor Zsasz, maybe even someone like Black Mask considering the events towards the end of the last movie.

Oh well.