If because of some strange...
temporal bubble or gap in your memory, you still have delusions that I am "cool" in any way, or am anything but a super-geek, then STOP READING!!!
Because this post will prove once and for all that I have far too much time on my hands.
(Although, thankfully I have yet to cross into "nerd" territory, because this stuff is still just a hobby for me and not the focus of my life.)
But to the point.
I just saw Batman Begins.
I literately just got home from seeing it.
Now as Batman is my favorite character (well, tied with Catwoman of course), you know I'm going to have plenty to say.
I filled up five and a half pages in my notebook with comments (good and bad). Granted, it's on half-size pages and written in permanent marker, in the dark. But it would still equal about two pages.
So let's get to it.
(oh yeah, little warning about spoilers, they're in here, whatever.)
Item 1. Bruce Wayne discovers the cave of bats under his mansion at his parents funeral, not before they even die. It's a small issue, but I'm picky.
2. Ducard (Liam Neeson) and Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Wantanabi) should switch places. The wise guides are Asian and the "seekers of justice who've become corrupt murderers" are European. Yes, I know, it's dreadful type casting. But it's Batman. And the movie is about Batman beginning. So it should draw a little more from the source. Ra's (and I'm pretty sure it's pronounced ray-ssh, not raz) was not an Asian guy. And frankly, the whole mentorship thing just works better for the Batman-Ra's plotline. But as far as typecasting, when Batman was made, that's was the whole point. To give these archetypical villains that people could understand without being given some huge background. It's what made the DC comics work. But there will be more on this later.
3. Alfred is supposed to be bald.
4. Martha Wayne's pearls - a nice nod to the comics, since the robber going after them and them getting scattered to the ground is a very fixed image in the Batman world. A nice little nod to the fans.
5. The Waynes went to see Zorro!!!!! Not a fucking opera!!!! This is one of those things that you're just not allowed to change.
6. And Bruce seeing the robber's face? The robber getting caught and sent to jail?? I don't think so. This is another thing you can't change. And not just cause it's the standard background for Bats, but because it's a crucial element to why he became Batman and why he stayed Batman. Because ever time her caught someone or punished someone, it gave him hope to think that it could finally be the man responsible for killing his family.
7. Okay, Ducard claiming Bruce's parents' deaths weren't his fault, they were his father's for being too weak. Now, that's just mean. And wrong. But this gets justified later on when #2 gets addressed.
8. Bruce Wayne, as a kid and a young man in this movie is just this terrified little thing. He's cowardly and scared of everything. No. That's not how it works.
9. And not starting his training until he was almost out of college, and only after some chick yelled at him and some mob boss insulted him. No. No. No. He started his training almost right away. Like, right after the funeral when he discovered he was living on a cave full of bats.
10. Even when Bats finally does get around to his training, he's still a terrified little kid. He has no idea why he's doing anything, and hell, he doesn't even know what he's going to do once he's trained. Batman knew exactly what he was doing when he started training. That's why he started training. Duh.
11. Ken Watanabi's accent is really, really annoying.
12. The no-part was well done, explaining that it wasn't his reason that separated him from criminals, but the fact that he knew where a hero, a good guy, was supposed to draw the line. The no-killing thing is very, very important to Batman's character.
13. Gotham was done very well. Shown as a shining city on top, but that had a rotten core that was slowly pushing outward. Very nice.
14. Bruce having guilt over his parents' deaths was accurate, because he had it in the comics too, for slightly different reasons. Since good-version pushed his parents into seeing Zorro and movie-version got scared of the opera and made his parents leave.
15. And on the training, Batman didn't just study martial arts, he studied everything: fencing, science, psychiatry, race-car driving, medicine, everything. So when Lucius is telling what he got gassed with by Scarecrow, he should have known what the man was talking about.
16. If you work in a movie theater, you shouldn't be messing up the sound in the middle of my movie and it certainly shouldn't be going on for ten minutes. Jerks.
17. A nice little cameo by Zsasz for the Batman fans. If you don't know who it is, don't worry, it's not important. The character isn't developed or introduced at all, it's just a little name drop.
18. Same goes for Lucius Fox, though he's actually a character. But he was well done too.
19. The plot builds slowly but it's great because it's not really about the caper, it's about establishing the Batman character. So I was happy about that, at least.
20. It was nice to actually see someone's take on how he went about building the Batcave.
21. Alfred was good (other than the hair) and he had nice business sense, but I would have liked to see a bit more of his espionage background. He was masking his competence with humor and "cowardice" but unless you know the character, you never get to realize just how much he's hiding.
22. At first, Batman really needed to work on his disappearing trick. But he got much better at it later, and after he'd gotten some more gadgets.
23. On the gadgets, it was nice to see him rely equally on those as on his fighting skills. Everyone likes to see the Batgadgets.
24. Good job on the utility belt too.
25. The mask was a little too round and squat. I like my bat eats a little longer and pointier.
26. The Batmobile: he's young and naive, not quite established in his personality so I'll let him get away with having a tank. Plus it was really cool to watch. The wheels handled like they were made of butter, just really smooth and really neat to watch.
27. The little nods to the bat signal was great.
28. I like that this movie had very little humor. Batman isn't exactly known for making the jokes. Now Terry McGinnis (Batman: Beyond), he can make jokes. But not Bruce Wayne.
29. Dr. Crane: he seemed a little brainy than the normal Scarecrow, but still, and excellent job. though, I did miss the straw hat and noose for a necktie.
30. The scene where Alfred instructs him on the fact that he has to be Bruce Wayne, not just Batman: nicely done.
31. The fact that Batman is scary: AWESOME!!! I had chills and giggles during the dock scene because it was just soo Batman.
32. They had "scary-voice" Batman. Where there's a complete separation between Bruce and Bats. The other movies, the two kind of blurred together. But Christian Bale did such a good job, I had a hard time even recognizing him as Batman.
33. Plus, this was the only one of the five Bat movies that not only addressed but actually said out loud that "Bruce Wayne" is the mask Batman wears. And not the other way around. Very important. It's the one thing I almost always mention when talking about Batman (it's also one of the key differences between the awesome Batman and the annoying Superman. But if you want to know more about that, you'll have to go look at my other posts because I don't feel like retreading right now).
34. The scenes where he summons up the bats as cover: SWEET!!!
35. Jim Gordon: Excellent. From a father figure to a friend, and always loyal and trusting of Batman's motives.
36. The Batmobile's stealth mode: That was awesome. It was pure glory shots that weren't necessary but I'm glad they were there.
37. I like that the soundtrack was all scored and not songs. Lyrics, more often than not in this type of movie where mode is so important for the character, just ruin the moment.
38. The plot was great and was nice to see that Batman actually had to do some detective work. Not as much as I'd like to have seen, but no one (other than me) would watch a Batman movie where all he did was break into filing cabinets with a flashlight in his mouth.
39. And finally: Turns out, in the End, Ducard really is Ra's Al Ghul. THANK GOD!!!!!! I was just so relieved when that happened because the other way around was really stupid.
So, what's my ultimate decision?
Best Batman movie so far. Batman Returns will always be one of my favorites because of Catwoman but it definitely wasn't one of the best.
In rank:
Batman Begins
Batman
Batman Returns
Batman Forever
Batman And Robin
And I think almost everyone will agree with that, though some may switch the first two.
Well that's it for now. Maybe tomorrow I'll contrast and compare the movies, along with the characters to their comicbook counterparts.
But we'll see because, as unlikely as this is, I might have better things to do.
Song:
"Six Underground" by Sneaker Pimps
"Your Woman" by White Town
And
"The USS Make-Shit-Up" by Voltaire (as opposed to the USS Enterprise - the song basically makes fun of Star Trek. But it's really good. Listen to it. Have I ever steered you wrong?)
Because this post will prove once and for all that I have far too much time on my hands.
(Although, thankfully I have yet to cross into "nerd" territory, because this stuff is still just a hobby for me and not the focus of my life.)
But to the point.
I just saw Batman Begins.
I literately just got home from seeing it.
Now as Batman is my favorite character (well, tied with Catwoman of course), you know I'm going to have plenty to say.
I filled up five and a half pages in my notebook with comments (good and bad). Granted, it's on half-size pages and written in permanent marker, in the dark. But it would still equal about two pages.
So let's get to it.
(oh yeah, little warning about spoilers, they're in here, whatever.)
Item 1. Bruce Wayne discovers the cave of bats under his mansion at his parents funeral, not before they even die. It's a small issue, but I'm picky.
2. Ducard (Liam Neeson) and Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Wantanabi) should switch places. The wise guides are Asian and the "seekers of justice who've become corrupt murderers" are European. Yes, I know, it's dreadful type casting. But it's Batman. And the movie is about Batman beginning. So it should draw a little more from the source. Ra's (and I'm pretty sure it's pronounced ray-ssh, not raz) was not an Asian guy. And frankly, the whole mentorship thing just works better for the Batman-Ra's plotline. But as far as typecasting, when Batman was made, that's was the whole point. To give these archetypical villains that people could understand without being given some huge background. It's what made the DC comics work. But there will be more on this later.
3. Alfred is supposed to be bald.
4. Martha Wayne's pearls - a nice nod to the comics, since the robber going after them and them getting scattered to the ground is a very fixed image in the Batman world. A nice little nod to the fans.
5. The Waynes went to see Zorro!!!!! Not a fucking opera!!!! This is one of those things that you're just not allowed to change.
6. And Bruce seeing the robber's face? The robber getting caught and sent to jail?? I don't think so. This is another thing you can't change. And not just cause it's the standard background for Bats, but because it's a crucial element to why he became Batman and why he stayed Batman. Because ever time her caught someone or punished someone, it gave him hope to think that it could finally be the man responsible for killing his family.
7. Okay, Ducard claiming Bruce's parents' deaths weren't his fault, they were his father's for being too weak. Now, that's just mean. And wrong. But this gets justified later on when #2 gets addressed.
8. Bruce Wayne, as a kid and a young man in this movie is just this terrified little thing. He's cowardly and scared of everything. No. That's not how it works.
9. And not starting his training until he was almost out of college, and only after some chick yelled at him and some mob boss insulted him. No. No. No. He started his training almost right away. Like, right after the funeral when he discovered he was living on a cave full of bats.
10. Even when Bats finally does get around to his training, he's still a terrified little kid. He has no idea why he's doing anything, and hell, he doesn't even know what he's going to do once he's trained. Batman knew exactly what he was doing when he started training. That's why he started training. Duh.
11. Ken Watanabi's accent is really, really annoying.
12. The no-part was well done, explaining that it wasn't his reason that separated him from criminals, but the fact that he knew where a hero, a good guy, was supposed to draw the line. The no-killing thing is very, very important to Batman's character.
13. Gotham was done very well. Shown as a shining city on top, but that had a rotten core that was slowly pushing outward. Very nice.
14. Bruce having guilt over his parents' deaths was accurate, because he had it in the comics too, for slightly different reasons. Since good-version pushed his parents into seeing Zorro and movie-version got scared of the opera and made his parents leave.
15. And on the training, Batman didn't just study martial arts, he studied everything: fencing, science, psychiatry, race-car driving, medicine, everything. So when Lucius is telling what he got gassed with by Scarecrow, he should have known what the man was talking about.
16. If you work in a movie theater, you shouldn't be messing up the sound in the middle of my movie and it certainly shouldn't be going on for ten minutes. Jerks.
17. A nice little cameo by Zsasz for the Batman fans. If you don't know who it is, don't worry, it's not important. The character isn't developed or introduced at all, it's just a little name drop.
18. Same goes for Lucius Fox, though he's actually a character. But he was well done too.
19. The plot builds slowly but it's great because it's not really about the caper, it's about establishing the Batman character. So I was happy about that, at least.
20. It was nice to actually see someone's take on how he went about building the Batcave.
21. Alfred was good (other than the hair) and he had nice business sense, but I would have liked to see a bit more of his espionage background. He was masking his competence with humor and "cowardice" but unless you know the character, you never get to realize just how much he's hiding.
22. At first, Batman really needed to work on his disappearing trick. But he got much better at it later, and after he'd gotten some more gadgets.
23. On the gadgets, it was nice to see him rely equally on those as on his fighting skills. Everyone likes to see the Batgadgets.
24. Good job on the utility belt too.
25. The mask was a little too round and squat. I like my bat eats a little longer and pointier.
26. The Batmobile: he's young and naive, not quite established in his personality so I'll let him get away with having a tank. Plus it was really cool to watch. The wheels handled like they were made of butter, just really smooth and really neat to watch.
27. The little nods to the bat signal was great.
28. I like that this movie had very little humor. Batman isn't exactly known for making the jokes. Now Terry McGinnis (Batman: Beyond), he can make jokes. But not Bruce Wayne.
29. Dr. Crane: he seemed a little brainy than the normal Scarecrow, but still, and excellent job. though, I did miss the straw hat and noose for a necktie.
30. The scene where Alfred instructs him on the fact that he has to be Bruce Wayne, not just Batman: nicely done.
31. The fact that Batman is scary: AWESOME!!! I had chills and giggles during the dock scene because it was just soo Batman.
32. They had "scary-voice" Batman. Where there's a complete separation between Bruce and Bats. The other movies, the two kind of blurred together. But Christian Bale did such a good job, I had a hard time even recognizing him as Batman.
33. Plus, this was the only one of the five Bat movies that not only addressed but actually said out loud that "Bruce Wayne" is the mask Batman wears. And not the other way around. Very important. It's the one thing I almost always mention when talking about Batman (it's also one of the key differences between the awesome Batman and the annoying Superman. But if you want to know more about that, you'll have to go look at my other posts because I don't feel like retreading right now).
34. The scenes where he summons up the bats as cover: SWEET!!!
35. Jim Gordon: Excellent. From a father figure to a friend, and always loyal and trusting of Batman's motives.
36. The Batmobile's stealth mode: That was awesome. It was pure glory shots that weren't necessary but I'm glad they were there.
37. I like that the soundtrack was all scored and not songs. Lyrics, more often than not in this type of movie where mode is so important for the character, just ruin the moment.
38. The plot was great and was nice to see that Batman actually had to do some detective work. Not as much as I'd like to have seen, but no one (other than me) would watch a Batman movie where all he did was break into filing cabinets with a flashlight in his mouth.
39. And finally: Turns out, in the End, Ducard really is Ra's Al Ghul. THANK GOD!!!!!! I was just so relieved when that happened because the other way around was really stupid.
So, what's my ultimate decision?
Best Batman movie so far. Batman Returns will always be one of my favorites because of Catwoman but it definitely wasn't one of the best.
In rank:
Batman Begins
Batman
Batman Returns
Batman Forever
Batman And Robin
And I think almost everyone will agree with that, though some may switch the first two.
Well that's it for now. Maybe tomorrow I'll contrast and compare the movies, along with the characters to their comicbook counterparts.
But we'll see because, as unlikely as this is, I might have better things to do.
Song:
"Six Underground" by Sneaker Pimps
"Your Woman" by White Town
And
"The USS Make-Shit-Up" by Voltaire (as opposed to the USS Enterprise - the song basically makes fun of Star Trek. But it's really good. Listen to it. Have I ever steered you wrong?)
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