Twenty years. That’s how long I’ve been a Batman fan. Twenty checkered years. I say ‘checkered’ because there were certainly moments of pain, embarrassment, disassociation, and wavering spandex loyalties. Phone voting to decide the fate of Jason Todd in A Death in the Family? The bad-ass ‘upgrade’ for a broken-backed Batman in Knightfall? A phalanx of midgets in emperor penguin suits? Joel ‘neon nipples and codpieces, please…they make me hard’ Shumacher? Inject the lye directly into my corneas please…stat!
And that’s why I’m so happy with the latest ‘turn at Bat’. Is it perfect? Not in the slightest, as the widespread critiques certainly carry some merit: the fights are shot too tightly, the suit is often overlit and demystified, Ken Watanabe has criminally short screen time, and I kept waiting for Dawson and Pacey to show up and fight over the pluckish DA. But overall? Christopher Nolan (with a little help from David Goyer) didn’t fuck it up. The production obviously draws a lot from Miller’s YEAR ONE, and a wee bit from DARK KNIGHT RETURNS (I personally like to think that there’s the smallest of nods to the forgotten BATMAN: CULT graphic novel…at least with the new tumbler design). Overall, the acting was solid for mainstream fare, the limited visual effects were subtle and cleverly implemented (the Scarecrow scenes rocked with hallucinogenic-driven fear) and the sound design was HOT to the point of earplug purchase.
In short? Comic book flicks ain’t dead yet (even though it doesn’t take a psychic to predict how much THIS will suck and blow). The game versions are getting better, too. Okay. Feel free to picture me basking in a saintly ray of hope… 😉