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New Batman? What was wrong with the old one?

By Jay Schreiber

' I; a dark night in a dark city, and
ie you’re speeding through Gotham
city in a sleek steel box propelled
by a jet engine and kept in line with
shark fin. Oh yeah, that’s badass
| alright!
In the late 1980s, a genius
| director by the name of Tim Burton
helped to conceive a new, dark view
of the dark knight. Understandably,
every generation has its version
of Batman, like the original comic
books, or the groovy ‘60s version,
but unlike the new super special
effects Batman, Tim Burton had
more of a vision for Batman, and
gave a slightly cult feeling to his
movies.

So what does the new Batman
have? Every aspect of his outfit is
explained scientifically by Morgan

 

Freeman, and takes away from the mystery and wonder that Bruce Wayne has. And how
about the Batmobile? The new movies’ set of wheels belongs in Iraq disarming bombs rather
than on the streets of Gotham taking down the Riddler.

“Old school Batman is what I grew up with”

Now, the Biggie Christian Bale, you are not Batman; I’m sorry. Val Kilmer, you didn’t
do much better either. The only person who can hold a flame to Adam West is Michael
Keaton, and that’s the man you want keeping our streets safe at night. All this can’t be
overlooked by Kim Basinger, who played the damsel in distresses; Katie Holmes isn’t very
delicious as eye candy, and she comes off a little dumb. Then again, anyone would when
sucked into the black hole of Tom Cruise; honestly the guy just has a tendency to bring
everyone else around him down.

Plus, let’s not forget what else Christopher Nolan directed, Memento anyone? How
twisted do you want Batman to be; should he end up being the bad guy in the end?

And what justifies Nolan to make himself a big name director? He was the king of indie
films and had an impressive repertoire of authentic pictures.

Let us not forget our roots; old school Batman is what I grew up with and just because
Hollywood has run out of ideas and needs to recycle new ones, this doesn’t justify a remake
being any better. You can have your special effects; I’ll take the authentic asskickery of the
original rip-off!

 

 

10

Batman is nothing without a story ............

L. a big fan of superhero flicks. One of my favourites is Batman.
While I haven’t yet had a chance to see The Dark Knight (yes, | know,
it’s shameful), I fully enjoyed Batman Begins. It is far superior to

the Batman movies of old. You might remember them from the “80s
and ‘90s. While I enjoyed the bad guys from those movies, I was left
hating the good guys.

Batman Begins adds more to Batman. Yes, the gadgets that Tim
Burton had his Batman use were good, but there is no denying that
Christopher Nolan’s are much superior. The Kevlar suit and all the
rest give his gadgets a reality that Burton’s didn’t have. I loved the
back story of how his father’s employee got fired and how it’s his way
to exact revenge by helping Wayne on his “spelunking” projects.

There’s also the panache of Batman Begins. The scene with the
homeless man is priceless. Bruce Wayne, complimenting the bum
on the coat that he gave him years ago, shows a great deal of wit
and humour that you don’t usually find in the often way too serious
Batman.

Also, the bond between Wayne and Alfred is artistically
presented when Wayne finds out that he’s been declared dead. It turns
out that Wayne left everything to Alfred and so, Alfred humorously
tells Wayne that he can borrow the Rolls Royce if he likes, but that he
has to bring it back with a full tank of gas. The humour helps to give
the film a bit of pizzazz that I find so lacking in the previous Batman
movies.

The best part of the new Batman movies though is the storyline.

Continued Pg. 11