Movie Talk - The Nolan Batman Franchise

All this poster needs is Michael Jackson in the middle of the two and a boombox playing "Beat It". 

Well, it's time for that post that will end Spider-Bat Month. I'm holding off the Spidey movies for a while. I haven't seen them. I'm also holding off the other Batman shows because I really don't have much to say about them. The Batman was okay for what it was.  and Batman: The Brave and the Bold was good. That show was more of a DC show than a Batman show though. Yeah, Batman was the main star, but it was the guest stars who made the show interesting.

And finally, it's time to talk about the guy.... What, are you dense? Are you stupid or something? Who the heck do you think I am talking about? I'm talking about Nolan's Batman, suckas!!!

 And yes, I just G-rated the infamous quote from All-Star Batman. Thank you, thank you.

Background
I did not know what to think when I first heard that a new Batman movie was coming out back in '05. After that last franchise, I think no one knew what to expect. I had never heard of Chris Nolan or Christian Bale. I ended up seeing both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight at the KUC on MTSU's campus. The KUC shows movies that are close to coming out on DVD. Then there's The Dark Knight Rises. I just saw that at Pulaski's theatre The Martin. Yes, we have a theater and it's about time.  What did I think about the three? Find out below:


Batman Begins
The is pretty much the origin of Batman. We see him lose his parents, go on his journey, assemble the suit, and kick some criminal butt in Gotham City. There isn't much about this movie that I don't like. It's awesome. The acting was great. Christian Bale might just be the best live-action Batman. His Bruce Wayne is cool too. Everyone else play their parts well. The villains were also  cool. I like that we had a diversity to the villains. We had the gangsters, the crazy ones, and the really crazy/blow-up-your-city ones. I thought the twist to Ra's Al Ghul was pretty good. The suit was pretty cool and he can even look up too!

Lucius: And this, Mr. Wayne, is a prototype to Wayne Enterprise's shark repellent.

Bruce: Uh... say what now? 

L: Well, let just say that I have a feeling... plus, I saw this video.

Bruce: (watches video)....Wow. Too much free time on your hands?

L: This is R and D. Remember?

Now, there are things that I don't like that much. The shaky camera during most of the fight scenes was annoying. Batman's voice wasn't great in this movie or the others. Still, it wasn't as bad here in BB as it is in the rest. Now while I thought the twist with Ra's was cool, it still sucked that we didn't get the "I am immortal, I have inside me blood of kings" aspect. Also, I think they pronounced his name off here. I'm used to the way it's said in the B:TAS though.

Favorite Quotes:
"It's a black....tank!"
"Well, you know how it is: it's late at night, and you're out looking for kicks, and somebody starts passing out the weaponized hallucinogens ..."
...
"The will is everything. If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely."
...
"Mister Wayne, if you don't want to tell me exactly what you're doing, when I'm asked, I don't have to lie. But don't think of me as an idiot."
...
"Surely, a man who spends his nights scrambling over the rooftops of Gotham wouldn't begrudge me dual identities?"

The Dark Knight
The next movie takes place a few months later. Batman has to face a new threat to Gotham City: The Joker. The same actors (except Katie Holmes) are back and doing it good. The additions like Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gylanhol (yeah, I can't spell that) are pretty good. Then there's Heath Ledger...can I say BRILLIANT? He was that good. Not much is known about him in the movie, but that doesn't matter. He pretty much elevates the whole movie from good to great. He was primarily creepy but there were some funny moments as well. The pencil scene was cool. The whole movie also did not play like the standard superhero movie. Also, Joker kinda wins a little in that he does corrupt Dent and Batman and Gordon have to lie to cover up that corruption. The fight scenes are pretty decent and don't have shaky-cam-itis.

Joker: WHERE ARE YOU?

Batman: He- ....Wait. That was you in the first movie?

Joker: Well, I had to show up somewhere during that time!

And now here's the stuff I didn't like as much. Yeah, there are some negatives, but nit-picky ones. Why did Batman fess up to committing Dent's crimes? I know that there was a reason, but everyone know that Batman doesn't kill and here's an example: THE JOKER STILL LIVES AT THE END. I also thought Batman's voice got worse here in this movie. Before, it was tolerable. Here, it's too much.  Then there's Two-Face. He was handled well in terms of origin and acting, but I wish he wasn't killed off so quickly. Still, all those points don't detract the movie. It's still good.

Favorite Quotes:
"Why so serious?"
"Some men just want to watch the world burn."
"This city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good."
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
"He's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight."
"I'm a man of my word."

The Dark Knight Rises
The trilogy comes to an end as Bruce Wayne has to don the suit after being out of action for eight years. The new threat is Bane and he is  one BMS. Other characters that show up in good fashion are Catwoman and two other characters that I won't mention here. Anne Hathaway was pretty good as Catwoman. Was she better than Michelle Pfeiffer? Maybe. She was truer to the comics, but Pfeiffer's Catwoman was also good as well. They're both good in their own way, okay? The character of John Blake was also cool. He had a "*****" sense to him.  The story is fine, the acting is pretty cool, and the action scenes are excellent. I thought the twists were good, but kinda predictable especially if you have Internet. It was a great conclusion to this franchise.

 Bane: Have you seen this man? He's about 6'5 and has a messed up face?

Audience: What? Huh? Eh?

Bane:......

I really didn't have anything bad to say about this movie. Mind you, I literally just saw the movie. I guess it did feel a little predictable when concerning the different twists with some characters. While Bane was cool and done better here than in B & R and the Rocksteady games (yeah, those too), I couldn't understand him some of the time. Is it better than TDK? I don't know. I know it's on the same level as BB, but I just saw the movie. All in all, I liked it and thought it was pretty good. Heck, all of these movies are really good. Oh yeah, Teal'C from Stargate SG-1 was in this. I literally had to look that up. It looked liked him, but I really couldn't tell if it was him at first.

Favorite Quotes:
Crowd: [chanting] Deh-Shay, Deh-Shay, Bah Sah Rah. Bah Sah Rah. 
Bruce Wayne: What does that mean? 
Prisoner: "Rise." 
...
"This isn't a car." 
... 
"I am Gotham's reckoning." 
... 
"Don't worry, Master Wayne. It takes a little time to get back into the swing of things. " 
... 
Doctor: I've seen worse cartilage in knees. 
Bruce Wayne: It's good. Doctor: No, that's because there is no cartilage in your knee. Scar tissue on your kidneys. Concussive damage to your brain tissue. I can not recommend that you go heliskiing.
 ...
"Any man who is too extreme for Ra's Al Ghul is not to be toyed with."

 .....

This was a pretty good trilogy. You had great actors, good story, good action, and some pretty pumping music. There isn't much to complain about except that dang grating voice. As to which movie is better, I don't know. I guess I'd just have to sit down one day and watch all three in a day or something. Should they make more from this franchise? I don't think so. Since Nolan and Bale aren't coming back, I think it's best to start over, but no..more...retellings of the origin!!! Just because Spider-Man and Hulk did it again doesn't mean I need to sit through another Batman origin! And with that and this ending picture, I end this time and look toward something else: