Ok, lemme preface this by saying I'm a Batman guy. I don't read him consistently anymore (have gotten a little more Marvel than DC), but how can one argue with a man driven half (at least) insane by blind rage, keeping himself going only by waging an endless, unwinnable revenge quest to strike holy terror into the black hearts of evil criminals? Don Quixote, my ass. Plus, Catwoman. C'mon. And I loved Batman Begins. It regularly shoots out for Best Superhero Movie with X2, the most recently viewed generally being on top. So I'm biased. That said, WB released a promo image of the new Batsuit, and while I'm well aware of the perils of commenting on still shots of costumes (remember how terrible the X-Men looked? and how great Superman looked? Whoops.) prior to seeing them onscreen, I'm gonna take a shot regardless. And I'm gonna do it without resorting to any of that "Holy Insert Pun Here" Adam West/Burt Ward nonsense that still haunts my dreams. So click the pic for a bigger shot and read on.
Given that trying to leverage the cloth comic look would land us squarely in the Christopher Reeve camp, I think they've done a fantastic job with this costume. It fits with the design ethic of military suit parts put to another use, much like the Batmobile (I'm not sold on the Batpod, but that's another post). Plus, it doesn't have a big yellow target in the center or nipples. More detail...
Things I like:
- Multiple pieces in the cowl means Batman can finally turn his head. The world's greatest crimefighter goes through life with about a 30 degree cone of vision? Um, no. "Hey, criminal cohorts – I've figured out how we can finally defeat our mortal enemy... approach him from the side!"
- Spikes on his arms are retractable. Otherwise he'd have a hard time fitting thru doors and alleys.
- It looks like armor that goes over his muscles, not armor that's made of muscles.
- He's standing – and denting – on a police car. 9-1-1- is a joke in Gotham, too! Take that, 5-0!
- The utility belt's still strangely gold and a little crotchy. Yes, we can assume Batman's packing a high-caliber weapon down south. Move on.
- Ears are still too big. It's as if some D-girl keeps saying "But people won't understand that he's a Bat, man." They look slightly streamlined, but should be more like short nubs. Better balance.
- Wish the cape was bigger/cooler. Supposedly it's got some powers of its own, but it should be almost a living extension of his hate and rage. Not like Christian Bale tied a towel around his neck.
10 comments:
Overall, I like the new suit. It will be nice to see Batman engage someone in conversation without having to make a quarter turn.
Batpod, meh! It fits with the design of the Batmobile, but I was hoping to go without new gadgets for a film or two.
I think the new Batman suit should be a black banana hammock.
I had big problems with Batman Begins, but I'm very excited about the next one.
The suit looks good, but I feel like there's an overemphasis on the suit. He isn't Iron Man. I like various batgadgets, but I'd prefer they go easy on them.
Frank: I could've done without the gadgets, too. Hopefully it'll fit within the overall "real" feel of the flick.
Valerie: Big Christian Bale fan, huh?
Phil: I'm assuming the suit'll be les of a deal in this one, actually. I think the emphasis now is coming from the fact that that's all Entertainment Weekly had to talk about.
And big problems with Begins? Do tell...
Geo - Christian Bale is HAWT.
Phil - I'm with Geo...do tell what you didn't like about Batman Begins
Alright, but I'm gonna get all comic book geek on y'all. Let me say I've, I haven't seen the movie since it came out and I've tried to put alot of this behind me.
Katie Holmes sucked. She was terrible, and I've never liked Batman stories that involved a love interest. Throw it out, you don't need it.
They turned the Commish into a bumbling, goody-goody, largely ineffectual, everyday cop. The comics Batman Begins was somewhat based on, Batman Year One, Frank Miller's retelling of the origin, he is anything but. Sure, the comics create a man above taking bribe money, but he is also an asskicker of the highest level. Cold and brutal when he needs to be, taking the fight to a corrupt cop off the record to send a violent message he is not to be screwed with.
Morgan Freeman was not needed. Aside from the issue of packing a film too full of stars, I consider Batman to be his own scientist and inventor. James Bond has 'Q.' Batman does not.
I know this is difficult to do in a film, but Bruce Wayne didn't train with one man. He trained with the greatest minds in all the different fields he needs. Many different men and women to become Batman. Also...
The idea that Bruce Wayne was directionless for years after his parents death struck me false too. That he needed someone to pull him out of his funk, mold him and give him focus and training conflicted with my idea that he always knew what he was to do. One of the reasons the death of his parents is so focused on, while the time between that and his becoming Batman less so, is because the rest is not needed. Batman is largely created that very moment. There is only one path for him to take. Which reminds me, they are seeing 'Zorro' the night his parents are killed, not some scary opera with Bats. Zorro! This is important, coincedence or fate, it informs his creation of Batman
So, let's discuss...
When thinking about The Batman's cape I think of it more as a flowing type of fabric than a type of armor. I think they should CGI the cape in some scenes. I never thought Batman needed to block bullets, cause Batman is agile enough to drop two moves on you before you get your second shot off. Modern movie Batman has always seemed a bit stiff. Maybe this new suit will relieve that a bit. Maybe they need to CG the whole character i.e. Spiderman.
I thought Alfred was okay in "Begins". Katie Holmes did suck. No love interest needed.
AND... I understand ratings and all, but couldn't you enjoy seeing Screen Batman being a bit more physicaly violent? A broken wrist when a slap would accomplish. I remember Batman saying to a bleeding thug "I'm gonna get an ambulance, but first I wanna know..." I'm interested in that Batman. To bad about an NC-17 rating it would get. Goodnight.
Phil: First, don't ever apologize for getting all comic book geek – it's welcome ;) Now, comments on your comments...
Katie Holmes: Yeah, not so hot. Or, plenty hot, but not so talented. I guess I put her in the category of acceptable losses. It's unlikely that they'll ever make a movie without a love interest (so as not to alienate the 18-34 women demographic), so I'm mostly hoping it doesn't fuck up the whole movie. Anything above that is gravy, so I thought she was ok.
Gordon: I liked Oldman, actually. That he's not at his final stage of development yet. That said, I hated everything he had to do with the Batmobile. "I gotta get me one of those," when he had to lie down to shoot the bridge, etc. Bad.
Freeman: Think he helps in the transition to film, particularly with the "it's real" approach they took. I don't want them to get all super gadgety either, but the concept of a tech-head willing to look the other way (while creating stuff so Bruce can go out and fight) works for me.
Training: Agree here, but also think that the only way to pull it off is a (cue Team America music) MONTAGE! so I'm ok-ish with simplifying.
Directionless: Didn't mind this, really. It's a bit off from the "actual" origin I guess, but it's one of those things that helped add a little dimension for me. That the rage and stuff was burning within, but he didn't know exactly how to direct it out makes sense.
Zorro: Totally agree, altho I understand. It's an unfortunate film convention that anything the characters interact with has to be lockstepped with the theme. Like how every class any kid sat thru in Nightmare on Elm Street series was about dream therapy.
Dave: Gotta run to a meeting, so will chime in on your stuff later.
My biggest issue is my own expectations. I went in sky high to see a film adaptation of Year One.
I do think they will get better, as was the case with X1 to X2. X2 being an almost perfect superhero movie. X3, not so much.
Any idea on what Joker story they are mining for the film?
Dave: Agree on the CGI cape. Not necessarily Spawn-level, but sometimes it looks a little dorky.
Phil: X2 is almost perfect; the reason Begins fights with it for the top slot is that I'm way more into Batman than the X-Men, so it gets bonus points.
As for the Joker, I can't really say in this forum (what with confidentiality agreements and all), but my sense of it was that it was more inspired by elements of origin stories more than leveraging any one specific arc. Sounded good, tho.
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