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marta-bee · 2 years

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Tonight I went to see The Batman again. Setting aside the politics, I love at least 90% of it which is high praise, really. The one thing that holds me back at all is the Batman/Catwoman romance, which seemed to muddle their motivations. But this is Hollywood, I guess, so it’s not exactly surprising you have to pair off a young female character (and not, apparently, with another woman, but that’s a topic for another day).

All and all, that’s a fairly minor gripe in such a long, complicated movie. It’s exciting, it’s thrilling, it’s gruesome without being too gory. Andy Serkis as Alfred was inspired, and I loved seeing so much Beetee (Jeffrey Wright), too. Zoe Kravitz, too. I’d say it’s my favorite Batman story to date, and I’ve been watching the films since Michael Keaton so I’ve seen a fair few.

I still keep getting hung up by the politics, though. Back on my first watching I described the militia-like mob as Marxist, which is a strong statement. A more measured way to put it: they seem like how someone on the American right would imagine people on the fringe of the American left, if they were radicalized and weaponized. It still feels to me like Occupy Wallstreet if they behaved like the Oath Keepers; or what people sympathetic to the Oath Keepers like to imagine Occupy Wallstreet would actually do if they got half a chance. It’s probably worth thinking through just why that association seems so obvious to me, because it wasn’t to a lot of other people when I wrote about this after my first viewing. I wonder how much of this is the fact that Gotham is an urban setting that’s so obviously meant to parallel NYC; the mention of concerns about looting that’s just so dog-whistley to me. If this was out in Kansas and Batman was trying to keep a group of doomsday preppers-turned-militiamen from taking over the Topeka statehouse, this would have a very different vibe. But that’s not the world of associations at play here.

I will say all of that’s more complicated than I remember from my first viewing. It’s still definitely there, but I could see how other people wouldn’t react to it the same way.

On a second viewing, and thinking about this at the level of politics and what kinds of stories I can connect to as a virtuous (or even smart) way of solving our problems, a lot of what bothered me has to do with the whole Batman universe generally. Take the Renewal Fund. In this telling, Thomas Wayne sets up a billion-dollar endowment for charitable works. That means he just has $1bn to give all at once, without it being enough of a sacrifice he even is motivated to make sure it’s used well. I’m not an “eat the rich” type, but that’s hard to stomach as a model for civic success: not just leaving that much money as a lure for criminals and corrupt officials, but having that much wealth in the first place while so many others were doing without.

Even the whole concept of Batman doesn’t sit well with me. His main advantages seem to be he has the resources to have a lot of cool gadgets, and the freedom from any kind of oversight. If a cop had kept pummeling a criminal like Bruce did after he wasn’t an active threat any more, we’d expect him to lose his badge at a minimum. I’m struggling to lay out just why this is so thoroughly disquieting, except it’s a libertarian fantasy and reeks of an almost Nietzschean superman who’s our last great hope. That’s not a version of humanity and civilization that I can really cheer for.

Still: it’s definitely shiny and exciting, and really very well-told. Like last time, I think I have to end up with wishing I could turn my brain off for a bit. It’s a shame I’ve never been good at that.

#batman #dc comics #marta blathers #spoilers

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anotheruserwithnoname · 5 years

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Not every film needs a sequel

This is a followup to this post I did about Alita Battle Angel. In it I presented the “hot take” that I don’t think Alita needs a sequel, so if the powers that be decide not to do one, I’ll be fine with that as I feel the film - even with its loose ends - stands on its own better than some other movies I’ve seen that were meant to launch franchises (I used as an example The Golden Compass, which was meant to launch a His Dark Materials film series a decade before the TV show came along; it’s an OK film but does not stand on its own, in my opinion).

In some respects I could compare Alita to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was a great movie on its own merits and had it bombed and no further Potter films were made, it still would have been a great standalone that we’d probably look upon as a classic today as HBO or Netflix ramped up a Harry Potter TV series or something...

This weekend, Joker became the first R-rated film to make $1 billion US at the box office. People are saying a sequel is imminent now.

I’m going to take the same hot take as with Alita and say “No”. There shouldn’t be a Joker II.

For one thing, there’s only one direction for a Joker II to take and that’s to pick things up with the Batman story. And that’s been done to death. Tim Burton’s 1989 film, Dark Knight with Heath Ledger, Gotham -- all have already touched on this, and the recent DC movies franchise had Jared Leto’s Joker introduced in Suicide Squad. And now we have another Batman reboot coming that, among other things, is going to give us our third Catwoman in a decade, and who is to say they won’t have a Joker appear in that one? We also don’t know for sure if Leto’s Joker won’t appear in some fashion in Birds of Prey or the James Gunn’s Suicide Squad do-over. Or CW’s Batwoman, for that matter.

Joker is a great standalone movie. It does the job, and it paints a vivid picture of the character while foreshadowing things to come. I wish I could say that the idea of the Joker being middle-aged when Bruce Wayne becomes Batman and seeing that dynamic in play would be interesting for a sequel - but we already had Jack Nicholson do that with Michael Keaton. The Joker analogue in Gotham is also depicted as already being an adult while Bruce is still a kid. There is nothing new a sequel would bring to the table.

The other issue is my fear that Joker II will not measure up to Joker I. Sequels rarely recapture the magic of the first (does anyone remember Rocky II? Highlander II was so bad the third film was nicknamed “Highlander III: The Apology” by fans). There are exceptions: Rambo II was more popular than First Blood (though an inferior film in the eyes of many). Terminator II, of course, is better known than the original. And certainly I’m hoping Wonder Woman 1984 does well (it may be harmed by the excessive gap between it and the first film) because in my opinion she is one of the great characters to come out of the current DC movies (alongside Shazam and Aquaman). But it’s a gamble. It’s the same reason I’m not too keen on there actually being an Alita II.

Does this mean I won’t go see Joker II? Of course I will. But as I say, it’s a huge gamble, and I don’t feel such a movie is needed. Not with the repeated do-overs of Batman.

That said, many people were of the opinion that, so soon after Suicide Squad, the Joker movie was itself unnecessary. Many still feel that way. But it made a billion, so who knows? I just don’t want them to rush into making a sequel just for the sake of making a sequel. Do it right.

#sequels #alita battle angel #joker

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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How The Flash Movie Trailer Brings Back Michael Keaton’s Batman Burtonverse

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The worst kept secret in Hollywood has finally made been confirmed by Warner Bros. Michael Keaton, the legendary actor who played Batman in the late ’80s and early ’90s, has donned the cape and cowl once again for The Flash movie. The first teaser released at DC Fandome 2021 isn’t quite the full-length trailer diehard Flash and Keaton fans probably hoped for, but it does give them a taste of how the DCEU film is bringing back one of the most iconic versions of the Dark Knight to ever appear on the big screen.

We found a few key easter eggs and references that show how The Flash has recreated the Gothic world Tim Burton first envisioned for the 1989 blockbuster hit. And there are also hints as to how the DCEU will bring Keaton’s story forward and connect it to Barry’s own adventure.

But first, check out the teaser if you haven’t already:

New teaser for #TheFlash pic.twitter.com/PKwB3boqYU

— Culture Crave 🍿 (@CultureCrave) October 16, 2021

Okay, here are a few key Bat-moments…

The teaser wastes no time bringing in Keaton and the Gotham City of the Burtonverse as soon as possible. We see two versions of Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen — a likely consequence of the Flash messing with the timeline to save his mother (see: Flashpoint) — approach Keaton’s Wayne Manor in a taxi. In real-life, that’s Burghley House, a 16th-century country house in Stamford, England, which looks very similar to the Wayne Manor of 1989’s Batman. (The first film used Knebworth House in Hertfordshire as the exterior of the manor.) But here, it’s clearly meant to evoke the slightly creepy, Gothic exterior of Bruce’s home, where he spends his nights swinging upside down like a bat and waiting for that signal in the sky.

We can deduce that the Barrys have come to Bruce for help after making a mess of the DC timeline/multiverse, but a voiceover line delivered by Keaton just like it’s ’89 makes it sound like he’s reluctant to help — or has lost the will to fight.

“Tell me something. You can go anywhere you want, right? Any timeline, any universe. Why do you want to stay and fight to save this one?” Keaton’s Bruce says, likely to Barry.

The man haunted by his past who would stop at nothing to protect his city, even if it meant blowing up a few circus freaks or lighting them on fire, ain’t so young anymore. Perhaps he’s lost some of his fight by the time Barry catches up with him, undoubtedly leading to the big third act where the Flash inspires a bruised and battered Bruce to take a stand once again. It’s a classic setup where the mentor learns as much from the protege as the student learns from the master.

But the teaser confirms Keaton will be taking a few beatings before then…

The teaser shifts to a scene in a bathroom, where Bruce has shed his suit — which was recently revealed to be the same one from Batman Returns — after what looks like a particularly brutal fight. Pools of blood spill out of the cowl and the suit, a gorier depiction of Keaton’s world than anything we say in the two Burton movies. Sure, Bruce got cut up and bruised in those movies, but here he’s tracking blood all over the floor, likely on his way to that tub where I’m worried he may pass out and drown after such a massive ass-kicking. And if you needed any additional confirmation beyond Michael Gough’s passing in 2011, there’s likely no Alfred to patch him up these days.

It seems inevitable that this movie will ask whether Bruce has reached the end of his rope. He’s older, slower, and easier to break. Is it time to hang up the cape and cowl for good? The next shot of Keaton says it isn’t…

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This is likely the closest we’ll get to seeing Keaton actually in the Batsuit for a while. Whether the full-length trailer spoils the surprise later remains to be seen, but this is at least confirmation that, yes, Keaton will wear the suit in the movie. He isn’t just Old Man Bruce giving Barry advice from an armchair by the fireplace, walking stick at his side. Keaton will punch bad guys alongside Barry at some point in The Flash.

“Are you in?” Barry asks Bruce in the Batcave (accompanied by Sasha Calle’s Supergirl and the second Barry). Assuming Bruce gets his second wind in the third act, his answer is going to be an emphatic “yes.”

We get one more Bat-treat in the teaser. If you’re not quite sure what’s under that tarp, it’s 100% Keaton’s classic Batmobile, which he clearly hasn’t used in a while. Makes you wonder how the Caped Crusader has been getting around these past few decades. Either way, it’s going to be so damn cool seeing Keaton back behind the wheel of the best movie Batmobile ever made.

There are still many things we don’t know about The Flash. What’s the deal with that second Barry? How does Ben Affleck’s Batman fit into all this? Will the Flashpoint-inspired events have major consequences for the DCEU going forward? I suspect we’ll start to get a better idea about a few of these things once the first real trailer drops.

Until then, it’s just nice to have Keaton back.

The Flash, which is directed by Andy Muschietti, opens in theaters on Nov. 4, 2022.

The post How The Flash Movie Trailer Brings Back Michael Keaton’s Batman Burtonverse appeared first on Den of Geek.

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