The Big Picture: Batman Revisited, Part 2

[qeinar]

I thought this movie was fantastic as a kid. When i watch it now i still think it's fantastic.

 

[Aptspire]

But... I like Batman Returns. Sure, it's all over the place, but you have on hell of a good time watching it

 

[Dana22]

I liked this one, hell, not being a fan of Batman and superheroes in general, I liked Batman Forever as well.

 

[Dygen Entreri]

Bob, seriously, stop harping on the batsuit costumes! I don't know if you've seen the extra features on the Batman Begins DVD, but it showed that Bale was able to move perfectly well, including able to turn his head, in the new costume. Also, why would a guy setting out to kick the ass of thugs wielding knives and various firearms wear anything but armour?

 

[BehattedWanderer]

I've gotta ask, Bob, because I'm curious. If not the thick rubber suit that looks like some solidly defensible pseudo armor for the Caped Crusader, then what? The cloth suit of the Adam West Batman? Guns, knives, fire, dogs, darts, shrapnel, glass, small explosions, banging into walls, pipes, and cars--these are all things Batman is more or less required to deal with. All of these kind of start to take their toll on an unprotected body, and the rate he deals with them, that toll would pile up quite fast. Do you have an alternative preference that would actually make sense?

"This fabric looks and moves just like cloth, but it's actually super-durable ultralight bullet-proof armor. My company also makes tanks that drive on roofs, microwave-vaporization machines that can somehow distinguish between the water that makes up the human body versus "regular" water and magic capes that turns you into a giant kite if you put electricity on them, so it's really not much of a reach."

Something like that

Okay. Fair point. I keep my point about percussive impacts, however. But touche on everything else.

 

[TheSchaef]

Probably too much to hope that we can't just pretend the Schumacher stuff never happened.

What I liked about the recent film version of Phantom of the Opera is that - being a Weber musical - it's SUPPOSED to be grandiose and colorful and bombastic with overwrought characters.

Batman does not need to punch glow-in-the-dark biker gangs, and Forever just cemented the notion that all villains just needed to be Nicholson's joker with a different backstory and, amazingly, LESS nuance in their performance.

 

[Bloodstain]

snip

You should write the next few Batman films. Please. I have been fed up with seeing less and less of Bruce Wayne in those films, and with Batman simply using violence without any eral thinking behind it.

I was actually hoping Nolan would choose the Riddler. He could be somewhat of a cyber criminal, hacking and corrupting things to his advantage, leaving hints and virtual question marks, etc. But your Penguin idea is nice as well, if not better.

 

[ProtoChimp]

I loved forever. I really enjoyed it, I thought it was fun.

 

[tdylan]

Batman has killed several people -

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/03/22/batman-kills-murderer/

It's fair to say that "today's batman has a code against killing," but when Batman Began (no pun intended), not so much. So for Bob to say Burton didn't get Batman because he had Batman killing people, I have to strongly disagree. I'd say "Burton was merely paying homage to the original iteration of Batman." You know, like how he was free to reinterpret Catwoman and Penguin. I think they call it "taking creative liberty." It wasn't as if the rest of the movie was true to the Characters and then POW! Killer Batman. So why the objection to Burton making Batman a killer in light of the other core changes that he made - penguin not being a member of the 1% with sophisticated taste for example.