If you’re referring to the part in the preview that goes
“He’s here.”
“Who?”
“the Bat Man.”
Then thug #1 would be the scarecrow sans costume.
OK, essentially this new movie is rebooting the entire Batman franchise to the beginning. It will be all about Bruce Wayne’s training and his origin as Batman. He’ll probably be a lot less experienced, and it will have a more “realistic” tone (compared to the surreal darkness of the Burton movies and the coloful campiness of the Schumacher sequels). It won’t make any references to those four movies, as if they never happened. Just go in with an open mind and be ready to see a whole new “first” Batman story. Since Schumacher ran the franchise into the ground, they are starting fresh, and it should be great.
Oh, Darren Aranofsky (the director of Pi and Requiem For a Dream) was supposed to write and direct Batman: Year One (based directly on the comic story that retold Batman’s origin story in the mid-'80s), but he left the project. Then Wolfgang Petersen was set to make Batman vs. Superman, but he chose to make Troy instead, and Bryan Singer left the X-Men franchise to do the next Superman movie (another reboot). Everyone felt it was a good idea to start fresh with Batman after the last four movies (none of which got it right, IMO), so instead of a direct adaptation of the Year One story, director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) is doing a new origin story, Batman Begins.
I think it looks promising. Caine, Freeman, Oldman and Neeson is a shitload of formidable talent for any one pic.
I rented the first Burton Batman film last week and it hasn’t aged well. Michael Keaton was great as Bruce Wayne. Nicholson was, frankly, too old, fat and out of shape to be the Joker. Kim Basinger was easy on the eyes but her character’s subplot was unbelievable. Batman wouldn’t hook up with a girlfriend at that moment, he had a lot of work to do. Alfred would recognize that fact and wouldn’t have pushed Bruce to get involved with this woman. Neither one of them would tell his new girlfriend that he’s Batman. Burton’s first Batman suit sucked. The rubber cowl made it impossible for him to turn his head. Not good for fighting.
This suit looks better. They kept the glider-cape aspect from Burton’s movies and actually expanded on it, which seems pretty cool. I’m not too sure about this batmobile yet, but I’ll stay open minded.
sleeepy2, you realize that that suit looks like Adam West’s suit from 1966, right?
Liam Neeson: “Your midichlorian count is high. I will train you, Batboy”
There’s a sizeable minority of us in this world who see NOTHING WRONG with the cloth Batsuit. Don’t get us ornery.
Lest you start throwing punches…
- BIFF! *
- KA-POW! *
- SOCKO! *
I dunno, I find that there’s something a little more realistic about a guy wearing some sort of body armor going out to fight criminals who are armed with guns.
The rubber cowl on the other hand.
I think the black eye makeup is supposed to be part of the mask.
The Scarecrow is our villain? Excellent! Best Batman villain of all in my opinion.
Actually, it’ll be a double-threat: The Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy from 28 Days Later) and Ra’s Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe from The Last Samurai).
Hopefully they don’t do the whole villain team up crap from the last few. It’ll be much more interesting to watch batman have to deal with two villains doing to different things and likely never in the same room together.
That’s my best guess how it will go, actually.
So, who’s Morgan Freeman’s character supposed to be? It seems pretty clear from the fact that he’s providing all of Batman’s gear to Wayne that he’ll know who Batman is, don’t you think?
Yea, Freeman plays Lucius Fox, one of Bruce Wayne’s confidantes and oldest friends. He runs Wayne Enterprises and Bruce’s other businesses on a day-to-day basis , and Bruce trusts him implicitly.
If you have any questions about what Bale can bring to this role… rent Equlibirium.
Or buy it. It’s a great darn movie. Like Farenheight 451 meets John Woo.
But in the comics, Lucius isn’t aware that Wayne is Batman, correct? So is all this gear going to be Wayne Enterprises-designed equipment, then? Interesting. I’d assumed from the previous trailers that the Batmobile was going to be a military vehicle. Which I suppose it still could be, with Wayne Ent. as the contractor. I personally like “The Tumbler,” it’s more realistic that the space plane-looking Batmobiles from the previous movies.
In Batman:TAS - Lucius Fox and the guy that supplies all the Batgear are 2 different people. IIRC, there was a good 2 parter about someone (Joker, I guess) finds out who had been working on the batmobile. And, Lucius doesn’t know Bruces alter ego and the guy with the toys doesn’t know Batmans alter ego.
This looks like it could be OK, although nowdays when i see trailers like this i worry that the special effects are simply substituting for good direction and acting. It does have an excellent cast, although i can think of a dozen people i would have chosen before Katie Holmes.
I’m not sure how i feel about witnessing Bruce Wayne’s whole training period, and his introduction to the tools of his trade. It seems like it’s pulling back the curtain to reveal the wizard, all to no real purpose. On a lesser scale, it’s a bit like trying to explain the Force scientifically in the recent Star Wars movies. For me, part of Batman’s charm was the fact that he cold just do this stuff.
And i thought the scene where Morgan Freeman’s character was showing him all the cool stuff smacked too much of James Bond and his interactions with Q.
But i’ll still probably go see it.
Christian Bale just does not work for me here. The speech patterns and hair just feel all wrong.
I like the suit. And I like the Batmobile getting away from the silly over grown 40’s concept car look, though maybe full fledged tank is a bit much.
The overall look and feel is right, but when you have concerns about the role of Batman…you’re in trouble.
Comic Book Batman has to avoid being shot, bullets don’t just bounce off his “armor”. Personally, I’d be in a kevlar fat-suit, but I’m not as cool as Batman. That’s my point- cloth costume Batman has to be good enough to take on armed thugs without getting shot.
And I realize what the eye makeup is “supposed” to be. However, he looks like Billy Joe Armstrong and I’m not going to pretend I can’t see the makeup.
Still looking forward to tthis movie, though.
OH, NO! Instead of making me excited about this film, the new trailer has me worried! Watanabe’s one line (and he is what excited me more than anything besides the awesome director) made him look like a cheesy, cartoon supervillian. I was expecting gritty crime drama. I am worried it may be more “comic bookish” than I had hoped given Nolan’s participation.
[QUOTE=BMax]
Kim Basinger was easy on the eyes but her character’s subplot was unbelievable. Batman wouldn’t hook up with a girlfriend at that moment, he had a lot of work to do.
[quote]
Holmes has me worried, much for the same reason. I guess I understand the studios pushing for a love interest in EVERY film made (we had a thread once about films without any romance, I think…), but Batman is NOT a love story. Every bat film had to have a romance angle. Why? How often does Batman REALLY romance? It is all a ploy to keep up the playboy image. I have no problems going into non-fanboy territory for the sake of a good film, but it never results in dynamic cinema. It is always the same. The damsel in distress (with a sprinkling of “tough” because it is a modern world), is preachy or whiney (or both it seems in Holmes’s case). And Batman, who is a cold crime fighting machine, has a chance to show his softer side. And it eats up 1/3 of the film. The “romance” angle could torpedo this film. Though that scene with the arching back was nice, though!
Actually, I disagree with this. Alfred didn’t WANT Bruce to be Batman. He hates Batman. He was secretly thinking “this guy needs to get laid!”
Another worry that reappeared was the concern of too many names above the title. That’s a lot of characters! Especially given that Bruce and Batman effectively count as two different characters.
A lot to fit into two plus hours.
I might have cut Lucious, Scarecrow, and saved Gorden for the sequel (and certainly cut the Holmes character).
And I was really excited about this one. It was the only movie that excited me for the 2005 year…
Worried. Worried. Worried.