The phrase, “everyone’s a critic” has only ever continued holding more and more water as the social media craze has taken the world by storm. I’m adding to it right now, in fact. As the last chapter in the Batman reboot grows near, it is my experience that the fans are divided into two different factions. Their only similarity is the love they have for the Batman franchise and wanting to see justice done by it. In the Dark Knight, Two Face’s coin was the same on both sides, which later was differentiated by damage to one side via an explosion. Fans seem to be more like the sides of Two Face’s face… completely different but still on the same head. Either they love the movies and are excited by the upcoming 3rd, or they’re dissatisfied, fanboy purists to the max, with something to say about every little detail that might happen to stray from the generations of Batman comic books currently in existence. I get it if the casting isn’t up to your standards, but if you drop all of your selfish entitlement (as if you actually have a say in what the development of Batman should be), there’s no denying these films are solid, captivating, intelligent stories.
Intelligence is key. The Nolans have done an amazing job envisioning this crazy world created in comic books, and pairing it with applications to reality where the rules of day to day life apply. Batman’s growl of a voice is logical because he interacts with people he deals with as Bruce Wayne. If you close your eyes and hear your friends, family and coworkers talk, you’ll recognize their voice. It’s unrealistic to think that a superhero can just talk normal and not be recognized. Hate the voice all you want, the reasoning behind it is sound.
The villains aren’t psychotic and random; they’re sinister, calculate and methodical. The Joker was written in a way the world has never seen him before, but explained and executed to a tee. It made for an exciting and unpredictable villain because he wasn’t in it for money, fame or even power. He just wanted to disrupt all established order in society to show that “everything burns”. Using Ra’s Al Ghul as a catalyst for the existence of Batman was a great idea because it set up the fundamental philosophy difference of how you save a city like Gotham, that seems to be so far gone. Destruction and rebuild or justice and revive. All villains seem to have a band of henchmen, but the Nolans decided to explain why the henchmen exist and how they began their loyalty to a destructive cause. These elements of intelligence were never present in ANY of the previous Batman films. From the original Tim Burton film, all the the Batman films grew to be more and more mindless as the franchise moved forward. What the hell was the obsession with fluorescent everything and black lights everywhere? I’m pretty sure that never existed in any of the comics.
Fans should be proud of what the Nolans have done with Batman. Not only are they setting an extremely high bar for the standards of all comic book movies, but by adding such detail and intelligence into the story, they’re actually paying homage to Batman’s origin in the Detective Comics series. Batman is actually a detective in these films and doesn’t just magically show up where the villains are pulling their next heist. If you’re still reading along and this entire post makes you sick to your stomach and you can’t even believe someone would have opinions like these… I don’t know what to say to you. This movie is being released whether you like it or not. With all the hype and anticipation behind it, it’ll probably break every film record there is. This reboot series is BASED off of a generation of a preexisting Batman and story, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t be it’s own generation. That’s exactly what it is and what it should be embraced as. If you’re looking for a pure villain, it seems like Bane is fundamentally similar to everything he’s ever been in the comic books. Again, he seems much smarter in this film than the venom hungry, ‘roided out, hulk-like wrecking ball he is portrayed as in the comics. The intelligence factor makes this completely impossible world, extremely believable.
Check out the new trailer and enjoy… no matter which side of Harvey Dent’s face you’re on.
