So, let’s
talk about Batman. Batman is my favourite DC character, in case the fact that
reviewed stuff with him in it more often than more-or-less anything isn’t a
clear indication. And I think the Dark Knight is the best live action Batman
movie. Combining all the elements I love about the character, reasonably
grounded with emotional gut-punches to boot. The Dark Knight Rises that came
after I also enjoy, in spite of its many flaws (plug) but today we’re going to
be talking about Batman Begins, the one I like the least of the 3.
Released in
2005, this movie was a critical success with an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes,
though its profit was modest, I suspect possibly by fans reluctant to watch a reboot after the disaster that was Batman and Robin, the movie did make a modest
profit and paved the way for a series that grossed over $2bn overall
OK, before
we start time for some house-cleaning. It’s become apparent that this meme
Is massively
overused so I’m starting a coin jar. Every time I’m tempted to use the clip, I
put a coin in the jar, this will last until the end of the year and any money
in it will be donated to charity. (I’m all heart, I know)
That’s for
the time I used it just now. So with that out of the way, Batman and Robin
I think I
might need more change
Oh good
grief, this is when Schumacher went too far. I have my issues with Batman
Forever but ultimately, I enjoyed it more than I did the Burton movies. Sure,
it was over the top but it did have quieter moments and focus was where it
should be, on Batman!
In terms of
success, being more kid-friendly than the Burton movies helped as it made it
more marketable. I doubt they lost any fast food tie ins with this movie. But,
this movie’s success was questioned from the start. The movie was fast-tracked
into production by the studio after the success of Batman Forever, meaning
there was a rushed feel to it, even from the beginning. Making it worse is toy
companies coming in during pre-production, adding a commercial feel to
proceedings. Chris O’Donnell has said that filming Batman and Robin felt like a
toy commercial
Because of
scheduling conflicts, largely relating to the fast tracking of the movie, Val
Kilmer couldn’t return for a second shot as Batman and so George Clooney was
hired instead. Also, with some insistence from Schumacher himself, Arnold
Schwarzenegger was cast as Mr Freeze, one of the main villains of the movie,
and they were planning to base his origin on the vastly popular episode of
Batman: The Animated Series, Heart of Ice. So, yes, I’m doing yet another
terrible attempt to replicate it (you might remember the awful attempt to
retell Mr Freeze’s origins in Batman Annual #1)
A lot of people in production don’t have nice things to save about this movie,
I’ve mentioned Chris O’Donnell’s thoughts. George Clooney said he’d offer
refunds to anyone who saw it in theatres (I did not, being the ripe old age of
5 when this came out) and Joel Schumacher himself apologised for it.
Produced on
a $140m budget, the movie made back its money with a strong overseas
performance but it was lambasted critically, holding a mere 11% on rotten
tomatoes, 28% on metacritic and a 3.7 on IMDb.
So, now
we’re past the longest intro ever, let’s dive into the sea of sh*t that is,
Batman and Robin.
The weekly miniseries is something DC
brought back in 52, an excellent title written by 4 renowned writers focusing on
the minor heroes in the DC Universe after the big 3 were taken off the table
thanks to infinite crisis
Then came Countdown, an awful work
head-written by great writer Paul Dini and a load of crappy writers intended to
set up an event it didn’t set up, kill things without mercy and push tie-ins
wherever it could. It was awful and killed the miniseries off for a while. With
the New52 came 3 new mini-series. Future’s end, Earth 2: World’s end, neither
of which I’ve read but I can’t say I’ve heard great things about, and Batman:
Eternal, intended to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Batman, which
I did a 4 issue test of in January despite the fact issue 4 came out in April
of the previous year.
Batman: Eternal was reasonably well
written and successful enough that a 26-issue second mini-series Batman and
Robin Eternal, this time celebrating the 75th anniversary of Robin.
I don’t like to give too much background as I feel a new title should provide
that anyway. But it’s best to know that during the Batman story endgame. Batman
and his long-time nemesis the Joker ‘died.’ James Gordon became a fully police
sanctioned Batman with a robotic suit as he lacks the skills Batman had. Bruce
has since returned, but with no memories of his time as Batman and lacking the
skills.
I hate the idea of Jim Gordon as Batman,
I’ll just go out and say it. I haven’t been picking up titles with him as the
focus because Jim Gordon to me is the legal centre of Batman. He’s Batman’s
ally in the police and the main difference between him and Batman is that he is
a firm believer in the law. Becoming a vigilante is backwards for his
character, and I hate the ro-bat suit. One other thing. Dick Grayson revealed
himself to Robin, Red Robin, Batgirl and the Red Hood to be alive after his
‘death’ in Forever evil and becoming a super-spy (see my 4 issue Test of
Grayson for more info)
Ah, it’s
been a while since we’ve looked at a live action Batman movie, so let’s
continue from where we left off and examine an interesting piece known as
Batman Forever.
Batman
returns, whilst making money at the box office didn’t succeed commercially,
partially I think down to the fact that it did everything in its power not to
be suitable for kids other than swearing. So Tim Burton got booted down to
producer and Warner Bros. hired a new director, Joel Schumacher.
Yeah, I’ll
join the bandwagon of Schumacher bashing when I get to Batman and Robin. Or
possibly during this review. Warner Bros wanted a more mainstream Batman movie,
Keaton decided to depart after disagreeing with the changes and Val Kilmer was
hired and as far as I can tell it was almost immediate and Kilmer had no idea what
he was signing on for.
Whilst
Burton pandered to the very early days of comics, the very, very, very early
days, Schumacher was more in favour of style like the Adam West Batman show so
cue puns, cheese and general good times right? Let’s just dive in
Well, you
can remember my opinion of Son of Batman, IT F*CKING SUCKS so not surprisingly
given DC’s track record, it got a sequel Batman vs Robin. Sort of the Based on
Scott Snyder’s the Court of Owls stories, also sort of based on some other
stories that have come out from Batman’s line on the New52, whilst also
telling an original story, you can tell this story is going to be a bit of a
mess. Having said that it’s a marked improvement over Son of Batman. Spoilers to follow
As more Superhero shows begin to flood the market, I have to be more selective in which I post regular reviews about. It is with some regret that Gotham season 2 will not be reviewed (you'll see my reasoning during the reviews). But for now, see my opinions on the final 2 episodes of the show
I was considering postponing this review, however, I like to keep my promises and I said that in the event of a hiatus, I'd post the review at the scheduled time anyway.
If you’re a
comics fan that doesn’t really see any interest in super-heroes or graphic horror there
aren’t too many options for you in mainstream comics, and those that are I usually couldn’t care
less about, but for once, I’m gonna take a look at one: DC Comics' (Detective Comics Comics?) Gotham Academy.
Sorry this one doesn't look too good, pity they write in white in this one
What was
originally going to be a Gotham Academy review had to be delayed owing to the
release date being too close to the review date, so let’s dig into the first 4
issues of the series: Batman Eternal, the mini-series to celebrate Batman’s 75th
Anniversary and see how good or otherwise it is.
Lots of stuff happens in these 2 episodes, so let's take a look at Gotham's latest outings, and see how much more awesome it can get (yeah, I enjoyed these episodes)
