neogaffer1
Banned
Preface: I hate Burton Batman. Watched Batman `89, thought it was awful and not the least of its problems was that it completely misunderstood who the Batman was as a character. I've always stated that The Dark Knight is my favorite Batman movie, and while it is a better film than BB overall, it isn't as good of a Batman movie. I also like TDKR, more than most people, but I do recognize its flaws and rank it lower than the other two Nolan Batman movies. I haven't watched Batman Returns or any of the other 90s movies, but as none of those movies outside of Returns are highly regarded I doubt anybody would blame me for skipping them.
Intro: The problem, as I see it, with mainstream Batman, is that very few people truly understand the character. It's been portrayed many ways, and I think who the modern day Batman is as a character has been really hurt, first by the Adam West Batman TV show and subsequent movie, then by The Dark Knight Returns (in a fashion, more later), and by Burton Batman. While the 60s TV show wasn't bad in any way, it focused on Batman as the character was of the time--a more lighthearted and campy take on the character. This isn't bad in any case--it's who Batman was in a time when comics were put under more scrutiny and they were still heavily aimed at children. But that isn't who the character is anymore, in part due to Dark Knight Returns. And while DKR made the character who he is today in many ways, it is due to the darkness and the brutal actions of that Batman that many see him as a man who tortures and is only slightly better than the criminals he fights, and this was not helped by Burton Batman, in which he flat out kills people, and where much of the movie (Batman '89, have not watched Returns) focuses on how psychologically unstable Bruce Wayne is. In Dark Knight Returns, we can see that incarnation as a result of Frank Miller himself--All Star Batman and Robin cemented this, with the birth of the "goddamn Batman." With the Burton movies, this can be attributed to Burton himself--he's stated in the past that he does not enjoy comics, and even called making comic movies equivalent to "Chinese water torture."
Who is the Batman?: The Batman today is one of many ideals. Many know of his one rule, but they may not fully understand why he even has this rule. It hearkens back to his more campy days, where he's just a guy in a costume, and this is where the Miller works cause problems. DKR, All Star Batman, and similar work depicts a dark and furious Batman, obsessed with hurting crime and avenging the death of the Wayne parents. But that's only part of the Batman. Batman may be a dark and brooding figure, but he is also one of hope. Hope that a single man can stand up for justice in a crime-ridden city. Hope that that Gotham can look up to and see the Bat symbol, driving fear into criminals who are killing the city. Hope that Gotham can become something greater without being dragged down by the criminals who plague it. A symbol that a single man without any superpowers can stand alongside the gods of the Justice League, and when push comes to shove, even outdo and disarm them when the type comes. He doesn't do this job for himself; he does it to save his city. He isn't some madman dressing up and attacking people; he realizes that by driving fear into the criminal underworld, he is able to create a powerful myth the everyperson can trust in and the everycriminal can be afraid of. He is Batman.
Batman Begins understands this: With BB, there is a very good understanding of the character at play that doesn't really appear in other movies, even the Nolan ones. Gotham itself is probably the closest to the comics and the best it appears in any other media format: it's a dark and crime ridden city, with some Gothic architecture and a feel that the city itself is stuck in a 90s that it desperately tries to grow out of but can't seem to make it. The Wayne tower at the center of the city represents the guardian family of the city, and it doesn't focus on unrealistic gothic architecture like the 90s Batman movies did or go too far into the modern city aesthetic like the other Nolan movies. The film opens with Wayne's chase around the world for training, looking for a meaning in life after he finds he has no meaning in life, and by being taken under the arm of Ra's al Ghul he's able to get the skills he need. Through flashbacks we see who Joe Chill really was, and this itself is something even Gotham, the recent TV show completely missed--Joe Chill isn't anybody special. He's just some normal guy who's been pushed too far and become too desperate. He's a stand in for Gotham itself, a city struggling to keep it together and pushed to do unspeakable things just to survive. Once Wayne returns to Gotham, he begins his quest and unlike some mediums where Alfred objects to his actions, Alfred actually helps and guide him, only stepping in to tell him to hold back when things go a bit too far and Bruce needed a guiding hand.
I could go on describing how well and in the many, many ways that the movie truly understands the character but I just realized it's nearly 1:00 AM and I need to get up at 6:30 tomorrow. TL;DR Dark Knight might be the better film just as a film, but the only movie that really understands Batman is Batman Begins.
Intro: The problem, as I see it, with mainstream Batman, is that very few people truly understand the character. It's been portrayed many ways, and I think who the modern day Batman is as a character has been really hurt, first by the Adam West Batman TV show and subsequent movie, then by The Dark Knight Returns (in a fashion, more later), and by Burton Batman. While the 60s TV show wasn't bad in any way, it focused on Batman as the character was of the time--a more lighthearted and campy take on the character. This isn't bad in any case--it's who Batman was in a time when comics were put under more scrutiny and they were still heavily aimed at children. But that isn't who the character is anymore, in part due to Dark Knight Returns. And while DKR made the character who he is today in many ways, it is due to the darkness and the brutal actions of that Batman that many see him as a man who tortures and is only slightly better than the criminals he fights, and this was not helped by Burton Batman, in which he flat out kills people, and where much of the movie (Batman '89, have not watched Returns) focuses on how psychologically unstable Bruce Wayne is. In Dark Knight Returns, we can see that incarnation as a result of Frank Miller himself--All Star Batman and Robin cemented this, with the birth of the "goddamn Batman." With the Burton movies, this can be attributed to Burton himself--he's stated in the past that he does not enjoy comics, and even called making comic movies equivalent to "Chinese water torture."
Who is the Batman?: The Batman today is one of many ideals. Many know of his one rule, but they may not fully understand why he even has this rule. It hearkens back to his more campy days, where he's just a guy in a costume, and this is where the Miller works cause problems. DKR, All Star Batman, and similar work depicts a dark and furious Batman, obsessed with hurting crime and avenging the death of the Wayne parents. But that's only part of the Batman. Batman may be a dark and brooding figure, but he is also one of hope. Hope that a single man can stand up for justice in a crime-ridden city. Hope that that Gotham can look up to and see the Bat symbol, driving fear into criminals who are killing the city. Hope that Gotham can become something greater without being dragged down by the criminals who plague it. A symbol that a single man without any superpowers can stand alongside the gods of the Justice League, and when push comes to shove, even outdo and disarm them when the type comes. He doesn't do this job for himself; he does it to save his city. He isn't some madman dressing up and attacking people; he realizes that by driving fear into the criminal underworld, he is able to create a powerful myth the everyperson can trust in and the everycriminal can be afraid of. He is Batman.
Batman Begins understands this: With BB, there is a very good understanding of the character at play that doesn't really appear in other movies, even the Nolan ones. Gotham itself is probably the closest to the comics and the best it appears in any other media format: it's a dark and crime ridden city, with some Gothic architecture and a feel that the city itself is stuck in a 90s that it desperately tries to grow out of but can't seem to make it. The Wayne tower at the center of the city represents the guardian family of the city, and it doesn't focus on unrealistic gothic architecture like the 90s Batman movies did or go too far into the modern city aesthetic like the other Nolan movies. The film opens with Wayne's chase around the world for training, looking for a meaning in life after he finds he has no meaning in life, and by being taken under the arm of Ra's al Ghul he's able to get the skills he need. Through flashbacks we see who Joe Chill really was, and this itself is something even Gotham, the recent TV show completely missed--Joe Chill isn't anybody special. He's just some normal guy who's been pushed too far and become too desperate. He's a stand in for Gotham itself, a city struggling to keep it together and pushed to do unspeakable things just to survive. Once Wayne returns to Gotham, he begins his quest and unlike some mediums where Alfred objects to his actions, Alfred actually helps and guide him, only stepping in to tell him to hold back when things go a bit too far and Bruce needed a guiding hand.
I could go on describing how well and in the many, many ways that the movie truly understands the character but I just realized it's nearly 1:00 AM and I need to get up at 6:30 tomorrow. TL;DR Dark Knight might be the better film just as a film, but the only movie that really understands Batman is Batman Begins.
