I’ll be honest: This is my first article ever written at Comicbookmovie.com. And I’m sure, by the time you finish it (if you choose) you’ll either be on the fence about my opinion or just choose to disregard it, but I hope to keep your interest long enough to point out some things.
Back in the day, when WB hired Nolan in 2003 for a so-called untitled Batman film, the message boards around the world went ballistic. Here was a small scale (but visionary) director on the reins of a new “gritty and realistic” take on the Caped Crusader. Ah, music to many a comic-book nerd! Then more info arrived with the exceptional casting of Bale, Caine, Freeman, Neeson, Holmes (meh), Murphy, Wilkinson, Hauer, Watanabe, and Oldman. The geek meter rises. Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard are hired to compose the film leaving many to speculate if the duo can make a theme fitting enough to dethrone Danny Elfman or Shirley Walker (Batman: The Animated Series). Then, it becomes known that Batman: Year One would be used as the main inspiration for the film and Bat-fans almost squirm with giddy anticipation for the film.
Two looooooonnngggg years of anticipation, script leaks, photo pics, and message board rants occupy us as we wait for the premiere. I, however, stayed away from the internet (spoiler-free) and made that midnight premiere and was blown away. I saw the movie 5 times in the theater. The tone was inspiring, the acting phenomenal (Christian Bale and Liam Neeson’s sparkled with menace and creativity) and the plot was enthralling to say the least. I thought about the movie and its wonderful sequel for weeks on end. I hesitate to call The Dark Knight the former movie’s superior, because they are two very distinct movies and saying otherwise is pretty much a disservice.
But, I’ll get to the point. After years of deliberating, debating, scoping out trailers and books and articles since Nolan’s direction, I was struck by one thing that I can’t seem to let go. Nolan’s trilogy aren’t really Batman films. They are great films by a masterful storyteller in his own right, but they aren’t Batman films. Or Comic Book Movies. Not truly. Now before the Nolanites (such a stupid term and no one deserves to be called that) get out their pitchforks, I want all to know that I grew up on Batman (Superman is my favorite, hell, even Batman looks up to him) since day 1. First movie my parents took me to was Burton’s ’89 Batman. I watched B:TAS religiously, read comic books daily (Stuck in the graphic novel section of Barnes and Nobles or Borders for hours at a time) and scoured every piece of information I touched concerning Batman and the other heroes of DC and Marvel. I’m a comic-book geek and I wear that label with pride, but because of that is why I hesitate in calling these films “definitive.” I’ve seen every episode of Justice League (and Unlimited), Batman (And Beyond), Superman, Teen Titans, Smallville, all the movies (animated too!) and I’ve read almost just about every comic concerning Batman and Superman through the past two decades.
Y’see, My Batman lives in a world where the Joker can’t take his make-up off. My Batman lives in a world where Batman needs a Robin, not just because Dick Grayson is an orphan who needs help like Bruce did, but because with Robin along Batman is more willing to think things through. The inclusion of Robin inspired The Dark Knight to make sure his brain over-analyzed a situation and is now an integral part of his character make-up. His world includes a Lazarus Pit, Killer Croc, The Ventriloquist, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Two-Face (who doesn’t die in the last half-hour), Bane (who’s Hispanic) Catwoman (who has claws and a whip) Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, The Penguin, Ra’s Al Ghul (pronounced correctly) and Superman because the combination of the Joker and Luthor is a truly horrific thought. Maybe these are nitpicky things to say, but the writers of the comics didn’t think so and they’ve been parts of these characters for years and, more importantly, with reasons behind them! Who would have thought? There is an entire universe to explore and even though some may cringe at Batman INNNNN SPPPPACCEEE (Here’s looking at you Jett of BOF), it’s been happening realistically and seriously for years in cartoons and the comics.
Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not bashing the movies by any means, but Joss Whedon just proved that you can treat the source material with respect while appealing to a mass audience as well as the comic aficionado. Joss Whedon has also gone on the record to say that he felt that Watchman as well as The Dark Knight came too soon. That the deconstruction of a superhero came out too early because no superhero film had truly opened embracing its roots without making sacrifices. Until he took a crack at it. And crack it he did.
This Batman trilogy will go down in the history books as a cultural phenomenon (and rightly so),but it’s a limited Batman trilogy. It takes things away not but because it can, but because it is thought that it should in order to fit one man’s vision. I just think the vision in the comics is pretty fine and I’m ready for that. “Definitive” take on him? Nah, comics get that right every day (Scott Snyder!!!) I’m still waiting. I hope it will come. I’d actually like to see Batman outsmart Darkseid one day.
Peace, Love, and Respect!
-SuperBatCap1