Batman Begins
Mon, Jun. 20th, 2005 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterI would just like to preface this by saying something about me and Batman. I used to watch the old Batman TV show when I was a kid (this was even before moving to Taiwan, so this was a long time ago!). Me and my sister used to play -- she got to be Batgirl, and I was the Batcycle and give her piggy back rides. Then I got my hands on The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, by which I mean, I borrowed it from someone and kept it so long that they forgot I had it. I read it over and over. I had no idea that those stories were the really old Batman stories from when the series had started, that the newest ones in there were probably from the seventies. Somehow when you read these things while young enough, you don't notice small details like forties-style clothing or strange slang. Anyhow, there was one story about Robin and how he got away from a trap using a golf ball and a golf shoe, and some other stuff, Batman's first encounter with Catwoman, several Joker stories (of course), some Penguin ones, and a ton I don't remember. The one that I remember most was the last one, one where Catwoman had retired and the Scarecrow had gotten to Batman, making everything he loved disappear.
Anyhow, obviously, I have a Thing for Catwoman. I am sure anyone who reads this LJ could have figured this out, along with the fact that a miniscule part of my brain watched the obligatory Batman-save-damsel-in-distress scene (I hope I'm not spoiling anything, heh) and wished for a lonely vigilante female superhero (solitary!) with a clueless childhood male friend puzzled by her sudden withdrawal. Le sigh.
So, Batman has always lived in my subconscious somehow, mostly because of the fact that anyone could be Batman. Well, recently a friend has dashed this illusion by mentioning only someone incredibly wealthy with an inordinate amount of free time could be Batman, but I liked the fact that he had no superpowers, that all of it was deduction, nifty gadgetry and the like. Also, I imprinted early. And I think I liked that Batman was scary, that there wasn't quite as much of a line dividing him from the other criminals, that he fashioned his costume specifically to strike fear.
Of course, like pretty much everyone else, I ended up reading Dark Knight Returns, which was the first time I had ever encountered a superhero deconstruction, and while it seems rather blase nowadays (even Pixar does it!), it rather blew my mind back then. Plus, I liked that Batman got old, because I think I was at the age where I started wondering why all the babysitters in Babysitters' Club and the Wakefield Twins and all those people never got older. I'd read any graphic novels I could get my hands on, being in Taiwan and all. I still remember when I found out not only was Dick Grayson not Robin anymore, but that the current Robin was actually Robin number three. Shock and heart attack. Amazingly, things in the Batverse actually changed, who woulda thunk.
Anyhow, I went into all this just to say that I am really rather enamoured of Batman and was quite excited about the movie because it looks like Frank Miller's Year One! Yay!
Gotham wasn't New Yorkish enough for me (Gotham always looks like New York in my head), and the final fight sequences and the whole big supervillain shebang fell short, as it nearly always does in comic book movies. But all the stuff before that was awesome. Although I shall quibble and say that it should have been a Zorro movie, not an opera, but given that movies aren't that much of a dress up affair now, I shall give Chris Nolan a break. I am just so happy that he remembered that Bruce's dad (whose name I have forgotten) was a doctor! And the pearls! I wanted to see the string of pearls break apart and fall on the pavement! But he remembered them! My fannish heart is so happy.
Also, I totally guessed the Ra's al Ghul switch, else why give Liam Neeson a henchman's role? Also also, Liam Neeson looks really, really good in that black suit at the end with the cane and such. Man. Wanted more tall, spindly gothic buildings, because it's not Gotham without those. But! They had Batman in characteristic Batman poses!
And Commissioner Gordon! Well, Sergeant, or whatever it was. I was almost waiting to see Montoya and (forgot the name), or Ellen or Sarah or someone. And I am greedy, but I wanted more callouts like they did in the X-Men movies, just little things for the fans to notice, like Hank McCoy on the TV or Remy LeBeau's name in Striker's database. So yeah, I was wondering if the DA would turn out to be Harvey Dent, but alas, no. I suppose Nolan didn't want to recycle villains for fear of bringing the Joel Schumacher movies to mind (blech).
But duuude, Christian Bale was a perfect Bruce Wayne, and they finally remembered that Bruce Wayne must be pretty messed up to decide to go out dressed like a bat and the like. Anyhow, I really liked that. And I gave a teeny squee at the thought that Bruce Wayne went to Princeton, hee hee. I mean... wow. And I adored seeing all the hints at things that would become the Batsuit, particularly the gauntlets in the early Ra's al Ghul scenes! Rolled my eyes a little bit at the ninja training up in Tibet or wherever it is, and people speaking who knows what language (one Chinese guard had pretty bad Chinese, hee).
Oh, also, Alfred was awesome. I adore Alfred and his Master Bruce-ing. And I loved the mix of forties style with Bruce's parents and the futuristic Art Deco trains and the like.
It wasn't a perfect movie, by any means, mostly because superhero backgrounds are fascinating to me, but so far, all the superhero duke-em-outs with supervillains remain relentlessly boring, even when said supervillain is Liam Neeson. Where do they get their schemes anyway? Vaporize water? What? Also, while Rachel Dawes wasn't head-bashingly bad, she was also decidedly boring and very much in the mold of the Love Interest, which was boring. It also didn't help that they had her pass out, and that there was the oh-so-precious shot of her protecting a young child. Spare me.
See, my perfect Batman movie would have all this dark psychological stuff and then more dark psychological mind games with the villain (Joker is good) and then they have to bring in the Year One version of Catwoman, because I am obsessed and like Catwoman. Ok, to be honest, they will never be able to make my perfect Batman movie because they'll be missing Robin (all three of them) and the Huntress and all the psychoticness of the canon. Although it would please me greatly if Year One were a movie.
Anyhow, I am happy, and I glomp on Christian Bale and Chris Nolan and may he pleeeeeeaaaaassseee direct more!! One of my coworkers thought the Joker card at the end was a signal for a sequel, but I thought it was a cool lead-in to the Burton movies.
I am still not ceasing my lament for cool tortured female superheroes in capes though.
ETA: also, I have read enough deconstructionist superhero comics and the like to be absolutely horrified by the destruction of the train system. And the water pipes. And the mass havoc on the highways. Haha, yes. Ok, maybe what I really want is a deconstructionist superhero movie ala Dark Knight Returns (but less nihilistic, because man, that was depressing), or at least something that goes into the sheer silliness of supervillains. Because honestly, while they are taking quite a good deal of time to make Bruce Wayne believable to me, Ra's al Ghul's whole "let's destroy Gotham to bring about harmony" thing was really pretty dumb. Wah. I think I imprinted to hard on that Scarecrow-Catwoman-Batman story because it was all about Batman's fears being even more dangerous than any supervillain and that the entire story was an internal struggle instead of an external one, culminating in his final decision to take off his mask and become a man again.
Also also, the Batsuit still looks silly, even with Christian Bale inside. Oh well.
And just to beat my point into the ground, can I please have Year One Catwoman?
Anyhow, obviously, I have a Thing for Catwoman. I am sure anyone who reads this LJ could have figured this out, along with the fact that a miniscule part of my brain watched the obligatory Batman-save-damsel-in-distress scene (I hope I'm not spoiling anything, heh) and wished for a lonely vigilante female superhero (solitary!) with a clueless childhood male friend puzzled by her sudden withdrawal. Le sigh.
So, Batman has always lived in my subconscious somehow, mostly because of the fact that anyone could be Batman. Well, recently a friend has dashed this illusion by mentioning only someone incredibly wealthy with an inordinate amount of free time could be Batman, but I liked the fact that he had no superpowers, that all of it was deduction, nifty gadgetry and the like. Also, I imprinted early. And I think I liked that Batman was scary, that there wasn't quite as much of a line dividing him from the other criminals, that he fashioned his costume specifically to strike fear.
Of course, like pretty much everyone else, I ended up reading Dark Knight Returns, which was the first time I had ever encountered a superhero deconstruction, and while it seems rather blase nowadays (even Pixar does it!), it rather blew my mind back then. Plus, I liked that Batman got old, because I think I was at the age where I started wondering why all the babysitters in Babysitters' Club and the Wakefield Twins and all those people never got older. I'd read any graphic novels I could get my hands on, being in Taiwan and all. I still remember when I found out not only was Dick Grayson not Robin anymore, but that the current Robin was actually Robin number three. Shock and heart attack. Amazingly, things in the Batverse actually changed, who woulda thunk.
Anyhow, I went into all this just to say that I am really rather enamoured of Batman and was quite excited about the movie because it looks like Frank Miller's Year One! Yay!
Gotham wasn't New Yorkish enough for me (Gotham always looks like New York in my head), and the final fight sequences and the whole big supervillain shebang fell short, as it nearly always does in comic book movies. But all the stuff before that was awesome. Although I shall quibble and say that it should have been a Zorro movie, not an opera, but given that movies aren't that much of a dress up affair now, I shall give Chris Nolan a break. I am just so happy that he remembered that Bruce's dad (whose name I have forgotten) was a doctor! And the pearls! I wanted to see the string of pearls break apart and fall on the pavement! But he remembered them! My fannish heart is so happy.
Also, I totally guessed the Ra's al Ghul switch, else why give Liam Neeson a henchman's role? Also also, Liam Neeson looks really, really good in that black suit at the end with the cane and such. Man. Wanted more tall, spindly gothic buildings, because it's not Gotham without those. But! They had Batman in characteristic Batman poses!
And Commissioner Gordon! Well, Sergeant, or whatever it was. I was almost waiting to see Montoya and (forgot the name), or Ellen or Sarah or someone. And I am greedy, but I wanted more callouts like they did in the X-Men movies, just little things for the fans to notice, like Hank McCoy on the TV or Remy LeBeau's name in Striker's database. So yeah, I was wondering if the DA would turn out to be Harvey Dent, but alas, no. I suppose Nolan didn't want to recycle villains for fear of bringing the Joel Schumacher movies to mind (blech).
But duuude, Christian Bale was a perfect Bruce Wayne, and they finally remembered that Bruce Wayne must be pretty messed up to decide to go out dressed like a bat and the like. Anyhow, I really liked that. And I gave a teeny squee at the thought that Bruce Wayne went to Princeton, hee hee. I mean... wow. And I adored seeing all the hints at things that would become the Batsuit, particularly the gauntlets in the early Ra's al Ghul scenes! Rolled my eyes a little bit at the ninja training up in Tibet or wherever it is, and people speaking who knows what language (one Chinese guard had pretty bad Chinese, hee).
Oh, also, Alfred was awesome. I adore Alfred and his Master Bruce-ing. And I loved the mix of forties style with Bruce's parents and the futuristic Art Deco trains and the like.
It wasn't a perfect movie, by any means, mostly because superhero backgrounds are fascinating to me, but so far, all the superhero duke-em-outs with supervillains remain relentlessly boring, even when said supervillain is Liam Neeson. Where do they get their schemes anyway? Vaporize water? What? Also, while Rachel Dawes wasn't head-bashingly bad, she was also decidedly boring and very much in the mold of the Love Interest, which was boring. It also didn't help that they had her pass out, and that there was the oh-so-precious shot of her protecting a young child. Spare me.
See, my perfect Batman movie would have all this dark psychological stuff and then more dark psychological mind games with the villain (Joker is good) and then they have to bring in the Year One version of Catwoman, because I am obsessed and like Catwoman. Ok, to be honest, they will never be able to make my perfect Batman movie because they'll be missing Robin (all three of them) and the Huntress and all the psychoticness of the canon. Although it would please me greatly if Year One were a movie.
Anyhow, I am happy, and I glomp on Christian Bale and Chris Nolan and may he pleeeeeeaaaaassseee direct more!! One of my coworkers thought the Joker card at the end was a signal for a sequel, but I thought it was a cool lead-in to the Burton movies.
I am still not ceasing my lament for cool tortured female superheroes in capes though.
ETA: also, I have read enough deconstructionist superhero comics and the like to be absolutely horrified by the destruction of the train system. And the water pipes. And the mass havoc on the highways. Haha, yes. Ok, maybe what I really want is a deconstructionist superhero movie ala Dark Knight Returns (but less nihilistic, because man, that was depressing), or at least something that goes into the sheer silliness of supervillains. Because honestly, while they are taking quite a good deal of time to make Bruce Wayne believable to me, Ra's al Ghul's whole "let's destroy Gotham to bring about harmony" thing was really pretty dumb. Wah. I think I imprinted to hard on that Scarecrow-Catwoman-Batman story because it was all about Batman's fears being even more dangerous than any supervillain and that the entire story was an internal struggle instead of an external one, culminating in his final decision to take off his mask and become a man again.
Also also, the Batsuit still looks silly, even with Christian Bale inside. Oh well.
And just to beat my point into the ground, can I please have Year One Catwoman?
Tags:
(no subject)
Mon, Jun. 20th, 2005 10:53 pm (UTC)Le sigh.
(no subject)
Mon, Jun. 20th, 2005 11:05 pm (UTC)You are not alone! :)
And glad you like the movie, Oyce. It's better than yawwwwning through it like I did.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 21st, 2005 10:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 21st, 2005 03:13 am (UTC)Brave and the Bold 197 by Alan Brenertt - made a big impression on me as a kid too.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 21st, 2005 04:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 21st, 2005 06:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 21st, 2005 06:52 am (UTC)Mind you Ms. Holmes didn't bother me, in a, perfect for a nostalgia romance that's more about the childhood you've left behind than actual attraction romance, but yes.
Although, I think Catwoman has to wait until movie three. The whole catwoman movie thing. Must lie fallow a bit longer. That said, I want one of the actual comics romantic interests. Or you know, someone from the cartoon.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 21st, 2005 06:24 pm (UTC)Or Talia. Mmmmm...
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 21st, 2005 06:22 pm (UTC)