Thursday, June 16, 2005
Batman Begins
It is kind of weird seeing a new Batman movie. The first Batman movie, in June of 1989, was accompanied by a whole mess of hype. It was my favorite movie of the summer, but nothing could live up to that hype. Remarkably, the movie has held up very well over the years.
The movie also helped get me into Batman comics, so I'm steeped in Batman lore. Alas, I gave all my Batman comics to Augie. I'm not sure if I regret that or not, but I left them in good hands.
Then, came Joel Schumacher.
Joel Schumacher's first Batman movie, Batman Forever in 1995, was good enough. It was enjoyable and different, which was needed after Tim Burton's efforts. Those penguins with rockets still have me scratching my head. But Joel Schumacher has the distinction of killing off the franchise, which the current movie is trying to rescue. Batman & Robin, made in 1997, was so utterly bad. I knew, even as a Batman fan, it wasn't going to be good. But this one was bone-chilling bad. It even made Batman Forever worse. If you can make a movie retroactively bad, you've taken bad to a whole new level.
So how's the current movie? It is loosely based on Batman: Year One, which was a great storyline from the 80's by Frank Miller. But it doesn't follow it so closely that they have to pay Frank Miller money.
I thoroughly enjoyed, but as you can tell by now. I'm a Batman geek. Heck, I've seen how Vader became Vader and a new Batman movie this summer. My inner-kid/geek is thrilled.
Ra's Al Gul is in the film as well. Now that is something I didn't quite expect. Too bad his daughter wasn't in the movie. If you understood that last comment, you too may be a Batman geek.
Update: I forgot that Fantastic Four is coming out this year. I was never a Fantastic Four fan, but it has Jessica Alba and the Commish in the movie. It's hard to beat that.
It is kind of weird seeing a new Batman movie. The first Batman movie, in June of 1989, was accompanied by a whole mess of hype. It was my favorite movie of the summer, but nothing could live up to that hype. Remarkably, the movie has held up very well over the years.
The movie also helped get me into Batman comics, so I'm steeped in Batman lore. Alas, I gave all my Batman comics to Augie. I'm not sure if I regret that or not, but I left them in good hands.
Then, came Joel Schumacher.
Joel Schumacher's first Batman movie, Batman Forever in 1995, was good enough. It was enjoyable and different, which was needed after Tim Burton's efforts. Those penguins with rockets still have me scratching my head. But Joel Schumacher has the distinction of killing off the franchise, which the current movie is trying to rescue. Batman & Robin, made in 1997, was so utterly bad. I knew, even as a Batman fan, it wasn't going to be good. But this one was bone-chilling bad. It even made Batman Forever worse. If you can make a movie retroactively bad, you've taken bad to a whole new level.
So how's the current movie? It is loosely based on Batman: Year One, which was a great storyline from the 80's by Frank Miller. But it doesn't follow it so closely that they have to pay Frank Miller money.
I thoroughly enjoyed, but as you can tell by now. I'm a Batman geek. Heck, I've seen how Vader became Vader and a new Batman movie this summer. My inner-kid/geek is thrilled.
Ra's Al Gul is in the film as well. Now that is something I didn't quite expect. Too bad his daughter wasn't in the movie. If you understood that last comment, you too may be a Batman geek.
Update: I forgot that Fantastic Four is coming out this year. I was never a Fantastic Four fan, but it has Jessica Alba and the Commish in the movie. It's hard to beat that.
