Batman Begins
BATMAN BEGINS
Have you seen the previews for this thing yet?! If not, I'd highly suggest you click on the link above and download the trailer right now.
It came out with Ocean's Twelve last Friday, and I hear the buzz was fantastic.
The first half of the trailer shows Christian Bale undergoing some seriously intense martial arts combat training. Liam Neeson, reprising his role as Qui-Gon Jinn, spouts some philosophy and engages Bale in a sword fight. It looks like a pretty kick-ass kung fu/samurai film until you see Bale slowly open a vault to reveal...
... the Mask.
I still get goosebumps. From that moment on, you're assaulted with a rapid succession of action edits: buildings blowing up, cop cars crashing, Batman leaping over collapsing bridges, and ninjas, man! F*cking ninjas! I mean... HOW F*CKING COOL IS THAT?! The very last scene shows a criminal walking alone, gun raised... "Where are you?!" As he steps backwards, Batman, hanging upside down, whispers, "Right here," and wraps his cape around him Dracula-style.
This is what I've been waiting for for... almost eight years. Ever since That Unspeakable Film, released in 1997, totally destroyed the Bat-film franchise, I've been wishing and hoping and praying someone would come along and make a good, truthful, faithful depiction of Batman on film. Tim Burton did an excellent job, but he ignored or changed a lot of the character's core principles. I won't even get into what Unmentionable did to the other two Unspeakable Films. I could get into a HUGE dissertation on the psychological and artistic complexities of the Batman/Bruce Wayne mythos, but I won't bore you with my nerd prowess.
Needless to say, if you don't read the comics, you probably don't know what the character's really about. Batman isn't some goofy guy in gray tights who runs around with Robin socking criminals to "POW!" and "BAM!" Nor is he some nipple-sporting latex fetishist who rides around on ice-skates, trading quips with villians and flashing credit cards.
He's a guy who watched his parents get shot to death in a dark alley when he was just a kid. He's a tragic figure, a loner, a "Dark Knight" who walks the razor's edge between madness and sanity. He's cool because he didn't come from another planet. He was never bitten by a radioactive insect. He wasn't exposed to gamma bombs or cosmic energy. He wasn't born with a mutant gene. He's just a man, scarred by tragedy, driven by an intense desire to see that what happened to him never happens to somebody else.
I could seriously geek out on all of you right now and start analyzing the many psychological facets of the Batman character. Out of the entire pantheon of American superheroes, Batman is the most complex, the most tragic... He is the darkest of them all. His entire life was born and defined by pain, tragedy, and loss. And yet, other than the Big Red S, he is the most beloved. There is something about this character that America understands, that America connects with. How else can you explain his popularity? Even a three-year-old knows "Jingle Bells, Batman smells". Ask an 80-year-old man or a 15-year-old cheerleader to name some of Batman's villains and they'll IMMEDIATELY come back with "The Joker", "The Penguin", or the "The Riddler", even if they've never even peeked at a comic book. Who's Robin? Batman's sidekick. Anyone, including the mind-rotted panhandler on the corner of Market and Fifth, could tell you that.
Do you even know why Bruce Wayne, a multi-billionaire (today's equivalent of the late JKF, Jr., or Sir Richard Branson), would even dress up in a Bat-suit and cape to combat crime? Search your memory... Come on... I know it's in there... Reach waaaaaay back... Why? Why? Because he looks cool? Because he's fun for comic book artists to draw? No! Why? Because criminals are a cowardly and superstituous lot... and to instill fear in the hearts of criminals everywhere!
I'm going to force myself to end this post here because I'm afraid I'll utterly overwhelm you with my vast store of Batman geekness.
Let's just end with this:
When you're watching this film, and you know who you are, I hope you can think of nothing and no one else but me, because you know I'll be enjoying it more than anyone else ever could with you.
Have you seen the previews for this thing yet?! If not, I'd highly suggest you click on the link above and download the trailer right now.
It came out with Ocean's Twelve last Friday, and I hear the buzz was fantastic.
The first half of the trailer shows Christian Bale undergoing some seriously intense martial arts combat training. Liam Neeson, reprising his role as Qui-Gon Jinn, spouts some philosophy and engages Bale in a sword fight. It looks like a pretty kick-ass kung fu/samurai film until you see Bale slowly open a vault to reveal...
... the Mask.
I still get goosebumps. From that moment on, you're assaulted with a rapid succession of action edits: buildings blowing up, cop cars crashing, Batman leaping over collapsing bridges, and ninjas, man! F*cking ninjas! I mean... HOW F*CKING COOL IS THAT?! The very last scene shows a criminal walking alone, gun raised... "Where are you?!" As he steps backwards, Batman, hanging upside down, whispers, "Right here," and wraps his cape around him Dracula-style.
This is what I've been waiting for for... almost eight years. Ever since That Unspeakable Film, released in 1997, totally destroyed the Bat-film franchise, I've been wishing and hoping and praying someone would come along and make a good, truthful, faithful depiction of Batman on film. Tim Burton did an excellent job, but he ignored or changed a lot of the character's core principles. I won't even get into what Unmentionable did to the other two Unspeakable Films. I could get into a HUGE dissertation on the psychological and artistic complexities of the Batman/Bruce Wayne mythos, but I won't bore you with my nerd prowess.
Needless to say, if you don't read the comics, you probably don't know what the character's really about. Batman isn't some goofy guy in gray tights who runs around with Robin socking criminals to "POW!" and "BAM!" Nor is he some nipple-sporting latex fetishist who rides around on ice-skates, trading quips with villians and flashing credit cards.
He's a guy who watched his parents get shot to death in a dark alley when he was just a kid. He's a tragic figure, a loner, a "Dark Knight" who walks the razor's edge between madness and sanity. He's cool because he didn't come from another planet. He was never bitten by a radioactive insect. He wasn't exposed to gamma bombs or cosmic energy. He wasn't born with a mutant gene. He's just a man, scarred by tragedy, driven by an intense desire to see that what happened to him never happens to somebody else.
I could seriously geek out on all of you right now and start analyzing the many psychological facets of the Batman character. Out of the entire pantheon of American superheroes, Batman is the most complex, the most tragic... He is the darkest of them all. His entire life was born and defined by pain, tragedy, and loss. And yet, other than the Big Red S, he is the most beloved. There is something about this character that America understands, that America connects with. How else can you explain his popularity? Even a three-year-old knows "Jingle Bells, Batman smells". Ask an 80-year-old man or a 15-year-old cheerleader to name some of Batman's villains and they'll IMMEDIATELY come back with "The Joker", "The Penguin", or the "The Riddler", even if they've never even peeked at a comic book. Who's Robin? Batman's sidekick. Anyone, including the mind-rotted panhandler on the corner of Market and Fifth, could tell you that.
Do you even know why Bruce Wayne, a multi-billionaire (today's equivalent of the late JKF, Jr., or Sir Richard Branson), would even dress up in a Bat-suit and cape to combat crime? Search your memory... Come on... I know it's in there... Reach waaaaaay back... Why? Why? Because he looks cool? Because he's fun for comic book artists to draw? No! Why? Because criminals are a cowardly and superstituous lot... and to instill fear in the hearts of criminals everywhere!
I'm going to force myself to end this post here because I'm afraid I'll utterly overwhelm you with my vast store of Batman geekness.
Let's just end with this:
When you're watching this film, and you know who you are, I hope you can think of nothing and no one else but me, because you know I'll be enjoying it more than anyone else ever could with you.
posted by Billy at 1:45 AM
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