Batman carries on beginning in ... The Dark Knight

They should skip Robin and go straight to Nightwing

― living like the Na'vi will never happen (HI DERE), Tuesday, January 12, 2010 1:16 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is this a joke or

It's serious. Change the Nightwing character to be a competing vigilante rather than a former protogee and put the two of them in conflict; alternately, if Batman already has a competing anti-hero in the comics, use that character instead (not familiar enough with the Batman rogue's gallery to know if there's someone who fits that bill aside from Catwoman and I am kind of DO NOT WANT re: more sexual bat-tension).

i think both of the nolan batman flicks have dope, for the most part, occasional ridiculousness aside. i've liked all the villains so far and i like this presentation of gotham more than the burton ones, but then again i'm not really a big burton fan either.

i'd rather see a lovely lady prancing around the rooftops than other grim-faced bro

xp

("than another")

The opening heist is really well-choreographed and filmed, it really can stand alone outside of the movie

― mh, Tuesday, January 12, 2010 11:51 AM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah, i've actually re-watched the opening heist a few times, just cuz

ugh I appear to be suggesting they use red Hood, which um no vigilantes named after the clitoris in my movies, plz

xp: I agree on a base level re: "moar lovely ladies plz" but I don't think the story is as interesting, mostly because we've already seen Burton's version of it in "Batman Returns" (also IMO Burton's best film).

alternately, if Batman already has a competing anti-hero in the comics, use that character instead (not familiar enough with the Batman rogue's gallery to know if there's someone who fits that bill aside from Catwoman and I am kind of DO NOT WANT re: more sexual bat-tension)

Ben Foster is....ANARKY!!!

actually Anarky might be interesting

xp: lol I swear I just looked this dude up and read about him

The Burton films have unbelievable art direction but kind've rubbish stories. The first one barely has a plot at all; Batman and The Joker have a few fights, that's it.

an anarky-based plot would allow them to acknowledge a lot of minor entries in the rogue's gallery, something i wish more superhero films would do in a montage or something. have him trying to bump off a stream of flamboyant crimebosses and thugs who took on goofy identities after the joker's cultural moment (ventriloquist, maxie zeus, mad hatter, etc).

I'd love to see Anarky in the next Batman movie, but he's probaby considered too corny for Nolan's "dark" Batman.

That makes absolutely no sense.

Too obscure maybe, but they used THE SCARECROW in the first movie.

the bat man

Too obscure maybe, but they used THE SCARECROW in the first movie.

yeah, and Ras Al-Ghul, who is also not at the top of the name-recognition pile

I'd prefer Nolan invent a new villain. The rest of the comic's villains all seem to pale next to the Joker.

Also, Nolan hates Robin.

Thank god. I just don't see how Robin could work well in this universe.

There's the Dark Knight take, where Robin is a kid emulating Batman who gets taken in as a ward/trainee after saving his ass (but yeah DO NOT WANT Robin).

a shuddering junkie who is taken in by bruce wayne

Thats the thing though, Nolan has created this hugely insular, me against the world Batman and Bruce Wayne that I just can't see him taking anybody in.

the whole spidey 4 farrago shows that studios will interfere even with a winning team. wouldn't rule anything out.

Robin could work as a stalker who Batman never acknowledges or supports, maybe?

Like the Michael Reagan of Gotham City.

WB isn't Fox though - they seem pretty content to leave Nolan and and his concepts be. (see also: the $200-million Inception)

Seems more-and-more likely to me that this franchise has hit the end of the road (in terms of ideas to explore and fresh, new reasons to continue). Joker v. Batman is always the highpoint of the series, to me, and downhill after that.

I don't know that telling a good Batman vs Joker stories automatically means there are no more worthwhile Batman stories to tell.

GIVE UP DAN ITS OVER.

Haha. Yes. I HAVE DECREED IT.

Trust me, I have no such delusions about my own significance or authority.

Really would like to see Miley Cyrus do a post-Ledger Harley Quinn.

Me too, if her character is violently beaten while she's singing.

just a friendly film-related reminder:

~~~~The Top 75 films/movies of the 2000s/oughties VOTING THREAD~~~~

The only thing overrated in that film is Ledger!!

― Radio Birdman Rally (King Boy Pato), Tuesday, 12 January 2010 13:01 (7 hours ago) Permalink

oh come on.

Yeah, there's many other overrated things in it besides him.

I hear it's too serious

why

Was that at my post? I wasn't serious

#bieber4robin

I finally saw this and really don't understand the plaudits for Ledger as the Joker. He obviously studied up on nature documentaries about the habits of lizards, OK, that's good - a lot of actors use animals as a starting point. But Jesus McGillicutty, it's like there's some unwritten iron law that villains must be a schizophrenic mixture of excitably comic and snarlingly vicious. cf Moriarty in the latest Sherlock series on the BBC. Ooh he's unpredictable! One minute he's laughing, the next minute he's shouting! Whatever will we do! Please, please please actors and directors of the world, can we please have a villain who is simply a genius at crime with an actual personality instead of a collection of psychopathic tics? THANK YOU IN ADVANCE I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU.

http://www.hecklerspray.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/palpatine.jpg

to be fair tracer...he does call himself the joker and look like a clown, i think it's reasonable to assume he's not a dignified genius crime boss/moneyman, if he was it'd be Heat, not Batman.

No that's fine, I just thought it was twitchy madman by the numbers. FIND DIFFERENT MANNERISMS PLEASE.

Yeah, I was gonna say, you know, fair points but, uh, HE'S THE FUCKING JOKER.

http://www.lambiek.net/artists/a/aparo_jim/aparo_jim.jpg

If that were Ledger's Joker whacking Robin with a crowbar he'd have to work in about thirty micro-scowls and five twitchy lip-licks in between each blow and after he was finished go "hmmmmmm!" like a school marm. Which is crazy, because school marms don't kill people! IT IS CRAZY!

http://teachmix.com/dayblend/sites/default/files/gollum.jpg

so you are criticizing Ledger for playing the Joker like the Joker...?

Yeah, the fact that his completely unpredictable has been a defining trait for The Joker since day one, can't really blame Ledger for running with that. The movie makers must like the weirdo Batman villains, most Batman movies have featured them instead of the more rational crime geniuses. The weirdos just tend to be more memorable, I guess - how many people remember Batman Begins for Liam Neeson's or Tom Wikinson's performances?

The bigger problem is that DK doesn't find a good angle to the Batman/Joker conflict. Traditionally, Batman has been depicted as a highly intelligent, rational superdetective who can predict any outcome - and that's why The Joker is such a good nemesis for him, as he's totally unpredictable. Another way of contrasting Batman and Joker is the idea (first presented in The Killing Joke) that they're not so different, that they're both mad in their own way, that they both had "one bad day" which changed them into what they are. But DK doesn't really try either of this approaches, The Joker isn't really contrasted with Batman, he pretty much stands alone and Batman is left in his shadow.

I mean you are basically talking about the character that is the modern archetype for "twitchy unpredictable madman"; this has been the most prominent example of it for the past 70 years, particularly in comics and cartoon series over the past... 25? You might as well complain that Batman broods too much or Superman is too moral and good-looking, or that the Riddler would be more successful if he didn't keep dropping hints about his crimes or the Penguin's avian theme doesn't make sense, etc etc.