Post
by landrvr1 » Mon Jul 21, 2008 2:59 am
The thing is...
I'm still a WAY huge fan of the two Burton versions. Unbelievably good, and they easily stand the test of time.
I love TDK, and the first one, but there's something that bugs me about them. That something is that the characters exist in a world that's, well, OUR world.
The city of Gotham (Chicago, heh) just looks too real. All the characters, from Batman to the villains, to the bit players, are just too realistic. I know that's crazy to say, and I get what Nolan is trying to do. Examine the Batman mythos as if someone, right now, decided to put on a costume and become a super hero. I get that. Still...
There's something awesome in how crazy and insane and fucked up Tim Burton's Gotham was... It was, in many ways, closer to the comics and graphic novels. Gotham is a cesspool. It oozes slime from the gutters and bad, Bad shit happens there. It's overrun with criminals of all kinds. It's falling apart and rotting from the inside out. I get that sense in Burton's films. Nolan's Gotham looks like....well....like Chicago for fuck's sake. There's nothing sinister about it. In the comics, Gotham itself is a main character. In Nolan's films, it's just another city.
In Burton's two Batman films, anything could happen. Like all of his stuff, there's a major nightmare/fantasy feeling to the whole thing. It was dark and weird and bizarre. It's a place that other heroes might also drop by, and no one would think anything of it. Superman might show up, Green Lantern, whomever. They'd fit right in. In Nolan's Batman world, they'd look gay as shit.
I love Nolan's hyper-realistic take, but it got me thinking: You really don't even need the Bat costume and shit. They are almost afterthoughts. In many ways, the new Batman is like watching a James Bond flick - if Bond wore a hood and cape.
That's not really what it's all about for me. Burton's Batman captured that mysterious, almost supernatural part of the mythos - which is really the best part of the Batman comics.
One last thing. Joker vs Joker. I re-watched Burton's first Batman film yesteday after seeing TDK. Nicholson's version is, in many ways, just as insane and crazy as Ledger's - just more, well, comic-book like.
At the end of the day, it's really about the environment that all these characters exist in. I want my comic book characters to exist in cities on the big screen that are just a bit off-kilter and unrealistic. Stylized, if you will. Think Sin City. Awesome.
That's why I'm so hyped about Watchmen. The environments that these characters live in, at least from the trailer, capture that half-fantasy/half-real feeling of the graphic novel perfectly.
omfg. I can't believe I just wrote all that. Fucking geek.
...
Right up there(and beyond) with X-Men 2 and the first two Blades. Damn, this was THE BEST FILM to come out in YEARS. "The Joker" has officially joined my list of all time favorite villains...Hans Gruber, Castor Troy, and Tony Montana still claim the top three spots. You just don't get smart enough bad guys in movies these days u know??..and to think The Joker didn't even come with a plan. 
