One Era Ends and Another Begins

I had the opportunity to watch two of the summer blockbuster season's big movies within a relatively short period recently. One of them really well written, and the other atrociously so.

Batman was the first English comic book superhero I got into. At the age of ten or eleven I got this collection of comic book stories, The Greatest Joker Stories Ever Told, compiling material from 1939 all the way to the 1980's. To a little impressionable kid, here was really a hero to believe in. His strong moral code, his smarts, his cool toys, and his physical prowess - all of these were almost impossible ideals to achieve for a fat, uncool kid. Almost, but not theoretically impossible. And therein lay the greatest appeal of Batman. If you worked hard enough, you could really be him. No matter what, he was an achievable goal, because all you needed was your willpower, not radioactive spiders or to be born on another planet. And so he was my hero. At 13, I started buying comic books seriously, and devoured each and every Batman comic I could get my pudgy little hands on. This was the stuff of legend - The Dark Knight Returns, Batman Year One, The Killing Joke, the early Legends of the Dark Knight. I ate it all up, and slowly, unconsciously, they became an integral part of me.

I wasn't aware how deeply ingrained the Batman mythos were to me though, until I saw Batman Begins. I went into the theatre late, and missed the first ten minutes. The first complete scene I saw was the Waynes at the opera. Two minutes later, Thomas and Martha Wayne lay dead in Crime Alley, and my tears started to flow. I was shocked at my own reaction. I knew the story, I knew they would be killed, I knew who killed them, I knew everything. And yet I still cried. I cried because a part of me still feels pain every single time little Bruce loses his parents, because Batman is so much a part of me that I share his pain, and finally because the scene was done so fucking well.

That phrase basically sums up the whole movie in a nutshell. Tim Burton's versions might have been cool and stylish as hell - I mean, I'm definitely a huge fan of his in many ways - but this, this was the only one that got the heart of Batman. It got right at the emotional truth that was at the centre of the mythos. It got so many things absolutely correct, and I rejoiced in it all. The relationships between Bruce and Alfred and between Batman and Gordon, especially, were spot-on. Sure there were flaws, Katie Holmes' redundant character being one of them, but they were so so forgivable when compared to the travesties that Joel Schumacher unleashed eight years ago.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love Batman, and I love this movie, because finally the spirit of Batman is alive on the big screen.

(Prior to this, the best adaptation would have to be Batman: The Animated Series produced in the early 90's. That also had amazingly sharp writing, and loads of style to boot.)

Revenge of the Sith was actually not as bad as I thought it would be. The action was well-choreographed for the most part, and I especially liked the lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin at the end. Unfortunately, because of the atrocious dialogue, the movie still screamed to a halt every single time the dramatic or love scenes came on. Like it or not, most actors do not function well when forced to act in front of a greenscreen, and the sheer discomfort they felt was evident.

Another drawback to the omnipresent special effects were that they removed whatever connection you had to the characters or the story. The backgrounds were so fantastical they had to be CGI. Sure, they looked great, but you never really cared what happened. CGI fighter ship explodes because of CGI gunfire, throwing out a CGI pilot who spins off into CGI space. Seriously, who gives a shit? In fact the effects were so good as to be distracting. I remember spending quite some time in the over-long opening scene trying to guess what percentage of the action onscreen was actually non-CGI. I figure probably 10-20% at most.

Before the movie started, I tried so hard to be nice and forgiving, but unfortunately had to let out with a mirthful snort as soon as the opening crawl started moving up the screen. Any screenplay that begins with "War!" is probably headed straight down the rubbish chute in terms of writing. Ah well, Lucas never seems to learn.

I suppose the best thing I can say about it is that it didn't suck as bad as Episodes I and II.

And so it is. The end of an era for Star Wars, and the beginning of one for Batman. May the force be with him always.

Addendum: While re-watching Batman Begins, an NU friend of mine pointed out to me how well Chicago was used in the movie. And it's true, from the El to the underground streets, from the skyline to the damn Public Library (standing in for Arkham Asylum in an establishing shot), this movie does make full - and very cool - use of the city of Chicago. And that's another reason to love it.