The Beginning of Something Good (Batman thread)

[SurfD]

Just got out of an advanced screening of Batman Begins, and I must say I was quite impressed.

Unfortunately, I am not quite as verbose and guifted with words as some of the other movie critics in our little community, so I will just leave you with the advice: GO WATCH IT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Alltogether an enjoyable reboot of the Batman franchise, with a believable story, interesting villians, and a stellar setup for many sequels yet to come.

Oh yeah, Batman's new wheels rock hardcore.

[Shockeye]

I'm a tad worried about the close combat shaky-cam shit. Other than that, the movie sounds great from the early reviews I've read.

[Margalis]

Every review I've heard has been overhwhelmingly positive. Unfortunately the trailers are weak and there really isn't much buzz. (A large part of that must be due to the last 2 awful Batman movies) Thank god they've gone away from camp shit and to something serious. Hopefully it will get good word of mouth and do well. I plan on seeing it and I see very few movies.

[Llava]

Midnight screening, Tuesday night/Wednesday morning.  I can't wait.

In related news- Mr. and Mrs. Smith was enjoyable.  Exactly what I expected, pretty much.  Some clever lines, some good action, all in all a pretty entertaining film but not exactly ROXOR YOUR WORLD material.  I wouldn't recommend going in with your cynic hat on, though, because I'm sure there are any number of artistic reasons to hate the film.

[Ironwood]

I'm sure there are any number of artistic reasons to hate the film.

Anyone who 'artistically' complains about Angelina Jolie in Sussies can suck my dick.

Yeah, I'm looking at YOU.  YOU know who you are....

[Merusk]

The local premiere is being held at the I-Max theater.  Goddamn I wish I was able to win some tickets to that.  I've got mixed feelings about the new batmobile, only because I think it should be more 'car' than 'tank' but in all the movie looks pretty damn kickass.  The villan in this one is Scarecrow, right?

[HaemishM]

Scarecrow and Ra's A Ghul as played by Ken Watanabe.

[WayAbvPar]

Just read a gushing review- not that I wasn't already, but DAMN I am fired up to see this.

[ahoythematey]

Just reread First Year, Dark Knight Returns, and Dark Knight Strikes Again.  I'm practically vibrating with anticipation.

[Llava]

Just got back.

Well, that was pretty damn awesome.

A couple nitpicky quibbles, but only because I'm very picky about my Batman.  The film gets my stamp of approval.

For my nitpicky quibble, SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER did i mention SPOILER, read below:

Batman says to R'as, "I won't kill you, but I don't have to save you." and leaves R'as to die in the train crash.  Batman would've saved him.  Still would've beaten the crap out of him and had him locked up for eternity, but he would've saved him.  But hey, they can portray a slightly different version of Batman if they want.  In addition, he was a bit too reckless with the lives of all those cops in the car chase scene.  Lastly, his cape allowed him to glide a bit too well.

[Daydreamer]

Llava, could you go any smaller with your spoilers?  I can read that clear as day at a glance.

[Llava]

I take no chances with Batman material.

[ahoythematey]

Everything Llava said I agree with, plus I also felt Katie Holmes character was Mostly Useless, but then I am biased after the latest media blitzkrieg invading the privacy of Hollywood lunatics.

I saw it with a pounding migraine, the theatre was too loud, they gave me potato wedges when I asked for seasoned fried, and I paid $7.50 for a shitty useless beer while watching it, but in spite of all that it was awesome and I can't wait to see it again.

Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, and Rutger Hauer for the win.

EDIT: BTW, I was staggered by just how faithful the movie was to First Year.  If you liked Frank Miller's First Year at all, well, it's rather obvious you need to see the movie.

[Johny Cee]

Just saw it.

The complete opposite of the last Batman franchise.  A heavy dose of realism,  and presenting pretty plausible explanations for the whole suit/gadgets and abilities.  The Katie Holmes bit does feel a little forced,  but I think they did as well with it as they could considering there's no way a summer blockbuster could get away with having no potential love interest.

[Riggswolfe]

How bad is the epilepsy camera work? Aka Close combat shaky cam. I hate, hate, hate that style of filming action movies and it will seriously impare my enjoyment of this film if it is too bad. It's the reason I disliked Bourne Supremacy.

[ajax34i]

Yeah, I'd like to know about the camera too.  Not gonna see it if they have it shaky like in Bourne Supremacy.

[ahoythematey]

The "shaky cam" is in it, but for only a brief couple of moments, much much less than was in Bourne Supremacy.

[jpark]

Delete this if posted - I don't see anything.

Saw it last night.  Overall I thought it was good and I quite enjoyed the time film spent on the background leading to Batman which took up more than half the film.

Fight scenes were too choppy for me to follow which was annoying.  Christian Bale was well casted for this and the supporting cast was superb.  It lacked a bit of magic of the first one with Tim Burton, but on the other hand it was largely successful in avoiding campy elements.

To the film's credit, the Bat actually came off as scary to the bad guys (and the audience) in a few scenes. 

[jpark]

Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, and Rutger Hauer for the win.

Don't forget Micheal Caine!

Awesome.

[Riggswolfe]

Delete this if posted - I don't see anything.

Fight scenes were too choppy for me to follow which was annoying.  Christian Bale was well casted for this and the supporting cast was superb.  It lacked a bit of magic of the first one with Tim Burton, but on the other hand it was largely successful in avoiding campy elements.

This sounds a bit like shaky cam. Have we lost all semblence of good action directing in Hollywood?

[Jain Zar]

I got back from it about an hour ago.  Excellent movie!  At the moment its probably the third best superhero movie out there.
Incredibles is still first, and Spider Man 2 is second.

[ajax34i]

This sounds a bit like shaky cam. Have we lost all semblence of good action directing in Hollywood?

Actually, that sounds exactly like shaky-cam.  I guess it's "shaky cam for every fight scene, but a lot fewer fight scenes than Supremacy, so it's ok."  Unless it's as bad as Bourne Supremacy, but they don't want to say it.

[Shockeye]

Shaky cam wasn't terrible, but it did detract from the fight scenes. Not as horrid as Gladiator, but still irritating.

Michael Caine and Gary Oldman were fantastic.

Great movie and well worth the money. Lucas, you are a cockweasel and will always be.

Nice setup for the sequel, but I'm worried about casting of the villian.

Why does Batman feel he has to tell women who he really is? That irritated me the most. Batman not saving Ra's didn't rub me wrong since he'd saved him once before only to have it bite him in the ass.

[Trippy]

Shaky cam wasn't terrible, but it did detract from the fight scenes. Not as horrid as Gladiator, but still irritating.

I don't mind shaky cams that actually stay on the action so you can see what's going on. The stuff they do in BB and other movies with the super fast cuts and the shaky cam is just another way for them to save some money so they don't have to teach the actors how to do some simple fight moves on camera. Even in a crappy movie like Blade Trinity you get to see somebody like Jessica Biel kick some serious butt since they spent the time and money to train her and it shows.

[Llava]

Shockeye:

He still would've saved him.  He's Batman.  He's saved Two-Face tons of times.  The comic and cartoon versions of Batman seem to always believe that death is never the answer, but the movies never do this.  It irritates me.

Also, if they cast Mark Hamill as the Joker I will personally send them a check for $1000.  He is the best Joker I've seen (or heard, anyway) by far.

This is fun.

[Daydreamer]

Is this a spoiler protected movie discussion or a game of fill-in-the-blanks?

[jpark]

Delete this if posted - I don't see anything.

Fight scenes were too choppy for me to follow which was annoying.  Christian Bale was well casted for this and the supporting cast was superb.  It lacked a bit of magic of the first one with Tim Burton, but on the other hand it was largely successful in avoiding campy elements.

This sounds a bit like shaky cam. Have we lost all semblence of good action directing in Hollywood?

No not shaky cam.  Think of a book with pages missing or a fight sequence with sequences missing.  For those of us with real life interests in martial arts / self defense - the question becomes "how the hell did he get from that position to the move he just executed?  What?"

[Shockeye]

Shockeye:

He still would've saved him.  He's Batman.  He's saved Two-Face tons of times.  The comic and cartoon versions of Batman seem to always believe that death is never the answer, but the movies never do this.  It irritates me.

Also, if they cast Mark Hamill as the Joker I will personally send them a check for $1000.  He is the best Joker I've seen (or heard, anyway) by far.

This is fun.

The Joker needs to be a skinny bastard. Mark Hamill may have the voice, but the body he does not. I actually believe Jim Carey could pull it off if they reigned him in a bit.

[WayAbvPar]

Saw it last night. FANTASTIC. The shaky-cam (combined with a drastically overloud sound system) really got to me about 2/3 of the way through the movie; I actually had to get up and move to the back row due to nausea. Other than that, I enjoyed it immensely. Bruce Wayne's Page 8 headline was awesome  :-D

[ahoythematey]

The Joker needs to be a skinny bastard. Mark Hamill may have the voice, but the body he does not. I actually believe Jim Carey could pull it off if they reigned him in a bit.

Jim Carrey could probably pull it off, but I think if they were to continue going with actors from Great Britain, Ewan McGregor could really work a sinister Joker.  He has the skinny body and devil-grin to complement any performance, at the very least.

[schild]

Wow. This conversation is very small.

[sidereal]

Mad Libs!

Also, if they cast Judge Reinhold I will personally send them a check for $1000.  He is the best circus freak I've seen naked by far.

[Shockeye]

Mad Libs!

Also, if they cast Ron Popeil I will personally send them a check for $19.95.  He is the best plumber I've seen eat forty-five hamburgers by far.

[schild]

Also, if they cast Mark Hammill I will personally send them a check for $1000.  He is the best Starfighter I've seen in a tie fighter by far.

[Llava]