15 years ago (fifteen?) during the Summer, a friend and I took the day off from school and spent the morning at the movie theaters watching what we thought to be the ultimate movie, Batman. Little did we know, but big were our hopes, that the movie itself would spawn sequel after sequel, the succeeding one less impressive than the preceding. At the time, we were in awe of what is actually a very enjoyable movie, Jack Nicholson hams it up as the maniacal Joker while the controversially cast Michael Keaton puts on a brilliant performance as both Batman and Bruce Wayne, and both mark what was missing in later sequels, the reliance less on acting and more on stunt casting. The final straw would have to be Alicia Silverstone as the least compelling batgirl, ever, and the Governator as a muscled-up and dumbed-down Mr. Freeze.
The recent spate of modern superhero films have much that can be attributed to Batman. In particular, Marvel has been trying to follow the formula of finding a studio willing to accept the licensor's input and also by hiring a director with a compatible vision. One could argue that Tim Burton has a lot in common genre-wise with Sam Raimi in their skewed views, but it's what they have in common with their respective properties that drives each film. Inherent darkness in the Batman franchise and the science-fiction madness of Spider-man are blueprints for success in that it retains loyalty to source, yet at the same time speaks to the intelligence of the audience.
Why talk about this now? Well one needs to watch the new Batman Begins trailer to understand the evolution of these films. Batman led to Spider-man, which led to X-men, which in turn leads back to Batman yet again. After watching the clip, I have newfound faith that Christopher Nolan has taken the modern philosophy of humanity and realism to heart and can deliver an entertaining movie. Doesn't hurt that the budget has to be twice as large as the original either.
Watch it, love it, maybe hate it a little, but know that it's coming and it can't be stopped.
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