BEFORE: Because Comic-Con is not over until I hang my exhibitor badge ceremoniously from my dresser, atop a collection of about 8 or 9 others. My BFF Andy urged me to watch this one last year, so we could discuss it in a podcast, but then I got busy with Comic-Con, that thing happened in Denver where some idiot shot up a theater, and I figured I could wait a bit. That turned into a year's wait, but it got me other superhero films to bookend it, so I could compare and contrast, and for me that's what it's all about.
A film like this needs to be seen on the big screen - and by that I mean my larger living-room TV, not the small monitor in my man-cave. But the problem with watching DVDs on that TV is that the screen tends to go really dark during night scenes, as in too dark to tell what's happening - it's some bad connection between the DVD player and the TV that I haven't been able to fix. Well, the good news is that I've got the DVD/Blu-Ray combo pack, and I can watch a Blu-Ray disc on the Playstation 3, and I confess that this will be my first Blu-Ray viewing experience.
Maintaining the "JFK" connection, Martin Sheen from "The Amazing Spider-Man" was in that film with Gary Oldman (last seen in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2").
THE PLOT: Eight years on, a new evil rises, causing the Batman to resurface and fight to protect Gotham City...
AFTER: Wow! (I'm sorely tempted to just give that as a one-word review, followed by the score.)
So far this week I've seen three instances of adapting from comic-books, where the screenwriters felt comfortable borrowing from this storyline or that, attempting to put together something that would be greater than the sum of its parts. I think this is the one that succeeded in doing that - taking bits from three of the best Batman storylines: "The Dark Knight Returns" (an injured Batman returns after a long absence), "Knightfall" (Batman battles Bane and gets injured even worse), and "No Man's Land" (Gotham City is cut-off from the mainland).
Echoes from previous films this week, too: Iron Man had to battle back after losing his fortune and was thought to be dead, Superman had to find a way to clear his city of its tormentors without damaging it further, and Spider-Man had to battle an enemy with a similar origin to his own. All of that happens to Bruce Wayne/Batman in this film, and so much more. So, really I have to perceive this film as one of the ultimate superhero films, it really covered a lot of ground, hit all these great story beats, had the big scary tech device, lots of little gadgetry, had a nod toward villains acting like modern terrorists, class conflict (similar to "Occupy Wall Street") and presented a giant conundrum, one that seemed impossible for the hero to overcome, even with the help of Gotham's police and civilians.
I've got no solid complaints, no nit-pick points, the only fault I can find is that the running time is a bit long, but, really, it needed to be, and it made good use of all that time. I felt at times that it might be a little too cerebral, a little too complicated. Maybe a little too much going on? But then the twists started coming, and I won't reveal the key ones here, but as a comic-book fan I was shocked and stunned by them, even though they made perfect sense in retrospect.
Now, your mileage may vary, as always. You might find this too long and overblown, or think this has too many punch-out scenes, I have to admit I don't know all of you well enough to say. But from where I sit, Superman and Spider-Man just got schooled.
Also starring Christian Bale (last seen in "American Psycho"), Anne Hathaway (last seen in "Rachel Getting Married"), Michael Caine (last seen in "The Italian Job"), Morgan Freeman (last seen in "Outbreak"), Tom Hardy (last seen in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (last seen in "Looper"), Matthew Modine (last seen in "Memphis Belle"), Marion Cotillard (last seen in "Contagion"), with cameos from Daniel Sunjata, Nestor Carbonell, Liam Neeson (last seen in "Battleship"), Cillian Murphy (last seen in "In Time"), Thomas Lennon (last seen in "Cedar Rapids"), William Devane.
RATING: 10 out of 10 board meetings
No comments:
Post a Comment