By Popular Demand... or Bat-Blog!!

By Popular Demand...

I am only doing this because it has been requested by many that I post my feelings on the new Batman movie. I resisted, knowing that it would only further reveal how much of a dork I am, but I think that people are probably suggesting this so I will stop talking to them about it. That may be true, but I doubt it.

It was in the fall of 1987 that I was truly introduced to Batman. Of course I knew the TV show and had read a few comics. I had watched Batman and Robin solve mysteries with the Scooby gang and get along with everyone on the Justice League. I had worn the Underoos and watched my mom and her best friend swap responsibilities of wearing the hard plastic Batman helmet while driving my family's old VW bus on road trips when my Dad was away. I later learned that none of this was Batman.

In the fall of 1987 I was 18 and a freshman in college. My girlfriend from high school, who was attending the same university and living in the dorm building next door to mine, had just broken up with me for the first time. I was pretty bummed out and spending my weekend nights in my dorm listening to the college radio station and boiling hot dogs in a hot pot. On Friday nights there was a radio game show with in-studio contestants. It was primarily a trivia thing, and if the in-studio guest couldn't answer they went to phone lines. Well, on one particular Friday night I called in and answered a question correctly and was told my prize - a collection of "Adult Comic Books". Adult comic books....? You mean, cartoon PORN?!! WOOHOO! OK, I wasn't really THAT excited, but I was intrigued.

I went to the station a few days later to claim my loot and was handed a stack of "graphic novels for mature readers". The two highlights were Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. I think I read the latter twice in that day alone. I told you already, I had been dumped and was living in a dorm. What else was there?

The Dark Knight was not the Batman I had grown up with. This had meat and darkness to it and I loved it. This Batman wasn't breaking up theatrical bank robberies in broad daylight or doing the "Batusi", he was keeping to the shadows and brutally beating on psychopathic killers. Later, Frank MIller went back and explored the beginning of Batman's career with Batman: Year One, which became clear reference material for this summer's movie.

Not long after The Dark Knight Returns came the two Tim Burton movies which, although they were dark, didn't get it quite right. For one, we don't really see how or why he became Batman. For another, the Joker died at the end. How can you have an arch-enemy that is dead after the first encounter? Penguin? Same thing. Catwoman? Let's not go there. Next came Joel Shumacher's movies which were trying too hard to be the cartoony TV series from the 60's with the exception of the fact that he killed off 3 more classic villains and made a mockery of one of the better bad guys from "recent" Bat-history, Bane.

Eight years later they restart the Bat-franchise with a whole new approach. With Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan has made a dark hero grounded in reality. Realistic people in a realistic corrupt city using realistic technology. I loved it. It was the movie I had been waiting for. I could go on about all the major parts that made it an almost perfect package, but you can get that in the hundreds of real reviews in magazines, papers, and online. Apparently BB is the "best reviewed" movie of the year so far, which means that of all the published reviews for the film, it has the highest percentage of positive reviews. They say "not only is it a great comic book movie, it's a great movie."

I suppose I can agree with that, but I am quite a bit biased. I love it because it is SO true to the comic book, especially in the little details. I also love how even some of the major Bruce Wayne/Batman "knowns" are fleshed out beyond the comics instead of glossed over. In many movie adaptations of books (comic or otherwise) character development can be truncated for time. In several places this film dives deeper than than any of the pages I have read.

Ok, for those who have not seen the movie I will now give you the standard SPOILER WARNING. Do not read further if you don't want to know anything about the movie before seeing it.

I now present "a few my favorite parts of Batman Begins that haven't been mentioned in every other review in the world"....

Mr. Zsaz. In the comic books this guy is a cold-blooded killer that keeps track of his kills by cutting himself for each victim. He cameos in a couple scenes in the movie as a killer for the mob and you can just barely see the self-inflicted scars creeping out of the collar of his shirt.

Bruce Wayne travels the globe to learn how to combat crime. We know this in the books, but we don't really know how or why he made this decision. In the movie, mob boss Carmine Falcone inadvertently plants the idea in Bruce's head that he needs to go far away from Gotham to prepare and that when he begins his war on crime, he can't do it as Bruce Wayne.

Batman refuses to use guns and will not kill. Now, this is a pretty mature decision for a 10-year-old to make and we never learn in the comics as to how he came to this commitment. In the movie, we learn that initially Bruce is bent on revenge by killing Joe Chill upon being paroled. When he is denied this act and later reveals his plan to Rachel, she lets him have it and reminds him how disappointed his father would be. A lot of people dislike the Rachel Dawes character (played by Katie Holmes) and thought she was useless as a "love interest". Now, I am no big fan of Katie Holmes, and I agree there was no need for a love interest, but I think she played a valuable role in the development of Bruce Wayne's character. But that's just me, and I am only a geek fan-boy.

There. I did it. I blogged about Batman. Is that good enough for you? Hopefully I can tuck the comic book geek in me away for a while. At least till I see Batman Begins on the IMAX or Superman Returns is released.

G

P.S. Howie Movshovitz, the film critic for Colorado Public Radio is a moron and should lock himself in his home with nothing but Fellini films. For crying out loud, he disliked this movie (the best reviewed movie of 2005 so far) AND Return of the King (the big Oscar winner for its year). Seriously. Howie. Give it up. I actually only know of your dislike of these movies from the reports of others as I cannot stand the sound of your voice and turn off the radio when you come on.