Christian Bale totally owns the role of Batman now, end of story. Also great performances from Michael Caine (Very nice Alfred) and Morgan Freeman (Of course).
A solid 4.5/5.
Edit - I want a Tumbler. Blackened fucked around with this message on 06-15-2005 at 03:36 AM.
quote:
Naimah had this to say about Captain Planet:
This movie is just as good as the first Batman if not better. I'm not too keen on them doing joker again. Jack will always be that part in my mind.
Keaton and the first Batman don't even hold a candle.
I have a hard time believing that anyone who still thinks so is just fondly remembering something that may have been good at the time.
Batman Begins has set the bar for Batman and Comic Movies.
Batman Begins is an excellent movie, don't get me wrong. I'm having a hard time convincing myself not to go see it again in the next day or two. But discarding the old so quickly because of the new is foolhardy. The first established the series. The movies following it wore down its good name. Batman Begins brings it back to the goodness that Batman should be.
It's not something people hear about.
quote:
This insanity brought to you by Sean:
Batman Begins is the Dark Knight Returns of comic movies?
Not unless Batman busts a cap in some punk for threatening to shoot a baby.
quote:
Snoota had this to say about Tron:
Not unless Batman busts a cap in some punk for threatening to shoot a baby.
Shouldn't you be posting the image of Batman holding the thug upside down off the top of Gotham Towers about now? 
quote:
Random Insanity Generator had this to say about Knight Rider:
Shouldn't you be posting the image of Batman holding the thug upside down off the top of Gotham Towers about now?
Too lazy.
But that was probably the coolest part of the book.
quote:
Naimah had this to say about Duck Tales:
Comparing the two completly equally isn't really fair though. The first Batman was made over 10 years ago and special effects have come a long way. The feel of the first movie, the grimyness of the city, and Jack are what made the first movie.Batman Begins is an excellent movie, don't get me wrong. I'm having a hard time convincing myself not to go see it again in the next day or two. But discarding the old so quickly because of the new is foolhardy. The first established the series. The movies following it wore down its good name. Batman Begins brings it back to the goodness that Batman should be.
The problem with the Burton Batman was that Burton couldn't keep it up. The first movie's Gotham looked crime-ridden. It looked like Times Square NYC in the bad days of hookers and XXX theaters without any of the charm. DC has said in the past that Metropolis is everything good about NYC, and Gotham is everything bad. Burton captured that in the first movie with bold designs and so forth.
The problem is that Burton didn't maintain it in the second movie. Rather than continuing to pursue the new vision, a lot of the second movie felt more like "Batman Versus Edward Scissorhands" in style. Gotham was no longer corrupt to it's grimy little core, it was just filthy. Needed a bath. Joker in the first movie was attractive in a terrifying sort of way, but Penguin? He was a running joke.
Make no mistake, the first Burton Batman movie was a breath of fresh air. It was a step in the right direction, but Burton stumbled with the second. Not badly, but it was a stumble, and they made things worse by not giving Burton a chance to convince us he was going somewhere cool with a third film.
Unfortunately, they put Schumacher into the control seat and the stumble became a fall with the third movie. Could still pick up the pieces. By the fourth film, however, the stumble had become a fall, and the fall had become a a tumble down the proverbial stairs. There was no, I repeat NO recovery from that line. You have to tear it all down and start over.
That's what Batman Begins represents. They ditched the old version. I'm still very fond of Burton's "Batman" but that lineage can't continue. I'm more than willing to give Burton props for his vision, and maybe if things were done differently we could have seen Burton pull the old series out of the fire. Maybe not. That's a matter for what if's.
In the real world, however, the Batman movie license/franchise became an economic liability to DC comics, Warner Brothers, and anyone associated with it. It was one of the two major reasons we haven't seen a Superman movie. Chris Reeve was okay with moving on to a new Superman. He even did cameos in "Smallville" to, as he said, pass the torch to the next generation as it had been passed to him. But the fans weren't comfortable leaving him behind, and frankly WB and DC were iffy about putting a Superman movie out until they were sure they had the right formula.
You have to have something new. So it has better special effects than the original. That's not the issue. The issue is if they got it right. If the answer to that is "yes" then celebrate the past, but welcome the future. If the new is everything the old was, if they got the scenery and feel of Gotham right, and THEN add in special effects, then you can at least not feel bad about acknowledging it.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:
Snoota stopped beating up furries long enough to write:
Not unless Batman busts a cap in some punk for threatening to shoot a baby.
<Punk> *holding a gun to the baby's head* I'll do it man! I'll kill him! I'll kill him!
*BRRAAAAAK! Batman blasts the goon*
<Batman> I believe you.
sigpic courtesy of This Guy, original modified by me
quote:On that note, one of the best moments of the film, for me, that showed Bale was going to turn out to be an excellent Batman was a part similar to that. After that scene, I was completely sold on his performance.
The logic train ran off the tracks when Snoota said:
Too lazy.But that was probably the coolest part of the book.
quote:
Snoota don't surf!
But that was probably the coolest part of the book.
You forget the Bat-tank.
It's not something people hear about.
quote:
Blackened wrote, obviously thinking too hard:
On that note, one of the best moments of the film, for me, that showed Bale was going to turn out to be an excellent Batman was a part similar to that. After that scene, I was completely sold on his performance.
I completely agree.
He was fucking scary
It sucks being sick 
I wasn't arguing for the three movies following the original. I was saying that the original was just as good as Begins for its feel, which you seem to agree with. I disliked all the movies following the original, they were quite horrid.
As for the special effects bit, I was just pointing out that Beings has the ability to be much more of a spectacle then the original considering it has much more special effect type things that it can pull on.
In the end, I look forward to the next two movies and will dutifully go see them at midnight once again. The first one has me sold as long as they can keep it up. However, I still maintain my respect for the original flick.
But only when you think of it as a movie of the original TV show. It's hilariously bad.
quote:
OtakuPenguin had this to say about Reading Rainbow:
Keaton and the first Batman don't even hold a candle.I have a hard time believing that anyone who still thinks so is just fondly remembering something that may have been good at the time.
Batman Begins has set the bar for Batman and Comic Movies.
We'll see how many Academy Awards Batman Begins wins. 
I'd go see this, but unfortunately I have other obligations until Sunday. Sigh...
quote:
Mortious's account was hax0red to write:
I.. liked.. Batman and Robin.But only when you think of it as a movie of the original TV show. It's hilariously bad.
Batman Forever wasn't too horrid... mainly because I enjoyed Jones as TwoFace and Carey blowing up the Batmobile.
quote:
NullDevice had this to say about Duck Tales:
Batman Forever wasn't too horrid... mainly because I enjoyed Jones as TwoFace and Carey blowing up the Batmobile.
Yes it was. I hated Jones as twoface. 
quote:
Arrenn Lightblade had this to say about Robocop:
Yes it was. I hated Jones as twoface.
Jones and Carrey were perfect for their roles in Forever. Schumacker was not the perfect director.
quote:
Densetsu impressed everyone with:
Jones and Carrey were perfect for their roles in Forever. Schumacker was not the perfect director.
What? No.
Both Two-Face and the Riddler were quiet, reserved guys. The beauty of Batman was that his rogues' gallery, while psychotic, wasn't stark raving mad psychotic (except for Joker).
Two-Face was obsessed with duality, yeah, but he wasn't a looney toon. He was reserved and quiet. Same with Riddler, whose real delight was outsmarting Batman.
Its those reserved psychotics that made the Joker stand out so well.
quote:
Densetsu attempted to be funny by writing:
Jones and Carrey were perfect for their roles in Forever. Schumacker was not the perfect director.
Jones could work as Twoface, but I thought carrey was a bad choice.
quote:
Densetsu impressed everyone with:
Jones and Carrey were perfect for their roles in Forever. Schumacker was not the perfect director.
Jones could have been the best Two Face if the role wasn't written as a raving lunatic. Carrey was the worst choice for the Riddler. Riddler turned out to be one of the smartest criminals in Batman's Rogue Gallery. One of the few to figure out his identity. Which led to one of the cooler scenes between the two in the comics!
Riddler: And now I know the answer to the greatest riddle of them all. Isn't that right... Bruce?
Batman: What time is it when an Elephant sits on a fence?
Riddler: What?
Batman: What time is it when an Elephant sits on a fence!
Riddler: Time to get a new fence. Everyone knows that one. It's useless.
Batman: And that's why I have nothing to fear from you. Riddles are your compulsion. They're what drive you. You had to tell Hush, but none of the others knew. Because a riddle that everyone knows the answer to is... useless.
Riddler: ...
This is what happens when you start writing a post and leave for five minutes and come back without reading what you wrote. Snoota fucked around with this message on 06-16-2005 at 12:32 AM.
quote:
Arrenn Lightblade had this to say about dark elf butts:
Jones could work as Twoface, but I thought carrey was a bad choice.
Basically, Carrey did what he's known to do (or, at least what his shtick was at the time that the movie was made). So the fault really doesn't lie in his acting, it's mostly the fact that 1. his lines were...well, um, they could have used some work, and 2. his overall character concept was ludicrous and grandiose, I assume on purpose, which doesn't match up with the Riddler in the comics. Perhaps the film producers changed the characters in an attempt to appeal to a larger, younger audience. After all, there isn't a huge number of people who would pay money to see a dark, brooding movie about a comic book superhero.
Which is what makes the lure of this newest movie kind of strange It is a dark, brooding movie about a comic book superhero. However, a sufficient amount of time has passed since the earlier movies that many people who watched those movies are likely to forget how horrible some of them were, and instead remember them with nostalgia (as with what happened to me and Felix the Cat...god, how did I ever worship that crap?!). There's also the other crowd who will go to see the innovations in special effects, and furthermore I've met a number of people who have never really seen the other Batman movies, but who did see Spawn and movies like that, and they say that because of those other movies, they want to see this one.
So...I guess that's why the producers today feel secure enough to produce something like this with a "limited" audience range, because that range really is no longer as limited. Then again, maybe it's just a labor of love, someone (or, rather, a team of people) who read the comics and loved them so much, they wanted to reproduce them as realistically as possible, especially with recent technological advancements.
I really have no idea how to tie up the end of this post -_- I'm sorry.
quote:
Mr. Crabs stopped staring at Deedlit long enough to write:
This movie was really good.
Eh...
I think it would have been 245% better
If they'd used a different actor for Batman.
I'm sorry, I have no idea who that actor is, but he screams "I am dramatic, look at me, grrr." Or at least in this movie, he did. Maybe I'm just too in love with George Clooney...well sorry, as Batman he was the epitome of perfection!
I was happy with the rest of the cast, though.
The familiarity of the chick bothered me throughout until I remembered, while walking out of the theater, that she's from Dawson's Creek (which I never, ever, ever watch. Ever. -_- Okay maybe, like, once. Or twice. But that's it!)
But yeah...that one actor...ugh. I'm sorry. Please don't kill me >.<
Oh, and the doctor guy who plays Scarecrow is practically identical to my boss, only cute. That is so creepy -_-
quote:
Kait stopped staring at Deedlit long enough to write:
George Clooney...well sorry, as Batman he was the epitome of perfection!
Someone needs to put a bullet in you.
edit: don't get me wrong, I like Clooney...in Oceans 11/12 he's perfect. As Batman? No dice.
If you don't know Cristian Bale, go rent Equilibrium right fucking now. Caid '5 Fists' Berrit fucked around with this message on 06-17-2005 at 03:16 AM.
quote:
Kait had this to say about pies:
Maybe I'm just too in love with George Clooney...well sorry, as Batman he was the epitome of perfection!
GOD!
quote:
Caid '5 Fists' Berrit had this to say about Cuba:
Someone needs to put a bullet in you.edit: don't get me wrong, I like Clooney...in Oceans 11/12 he's perfect. As Batman? No dice.
If you don't know Cristian Bale, go rent Equilibrium right fucking now.
Not if I put a bullet in you first!
*walks to a Wal-mart, buys a bullet, goes to Caid's house (magically) and drops it in his ear while he sleeps* Ha!
Seriously, what's your dice?
Edit: that's so funny, I didn't see your edit but I said "dice" before you said "no dice," it's serious cosmic...
Cristian Bale, sounds familiar... *strokes chin* Wasn't Equilibrium like, this action-packed movie thingamajig? That's not really the kind of movies I like, generally I only watch stuff with fantasy or the occasional romantic flick (to make up for the hordes upon hordes of assholes that exist in real life). Kait fucked around with this message on 06-17-2005 at 03:19 AM.
quote:
Kait attempted to be funny by writing:
Maybe I'm just too in love with George Clooney...well sorry, as Batman he was the epitome of perfection!
No.
I also loved the cast. They weren't in the movie just because they were big names. They were in the movie because they played the roles well.
"Don't want to sound like a fanboy, but I am with you. I'll buy it for sure, it's just a matter of for how long I will be playing it..."
- Silvast, Battle.net forums
Disclaimer: I'm just kidding, I love all living things.
The fastest draw in the Crest.
"The Internet is MY critical thinking course." -Maradon
"Gambling for the husband, an abortion for the wife and fireworks for the kids they chose to keep? Fuck you, Disneyland. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is the happiest place on Earth." -JooJooFlop
