Went to watch The Dark Knight last night, the second Batman movie featuring Christian Bale. Now I am usually not a superhero movie lover. In fact, I don’t like superhero movies. I hate the Spiderman movies; Fantastic Four is as good as a dying duck drowning in a puddle of mud; never bothered with Ironman, The Hulk or whatshisname who wears red panties on the outside.
Now before any of you comic fans / lover / nerds start throwing vitural eggs and tomatoes my way, let me just say that I am talking about the movies here, not the comics.
I’m sure The Hulk or whoever it is that happens to drink that funny tasting liquid is a good read. But the fact of the matter is, I don’t read comics, nor do I have the inclination to read them, not when I was a kid, not now, and not in the future. So I’m just going to comment on what the movie presents to the audience, which may or may not be how the hero is depicted orginally in the comics.
Now that’s out of the way, I am happy to say that I don’t hate all superhero movies. There are two superhero franchises that I do enjoy to some degree. One is X-Men, and the other is Batman. Save for the last two Batman movies before Batman Begins, I find the movies fairly well written.
One of the reasons why I hate the Spiderman movies is the moronic nature of the citizens who ran away as soon as they smell trouble (which is normal), but then stop and clap and cheer when Spiderman turns up to save the day (which is not normal). I was like, “WTF? Spiderman might have arrived, but don’t just stand there and watch him fight. How about running away to safety?” It was as unrealistic as the day when KFC stops selling chicken, or when Microsoft makes a decent OS, or when…. you get the idea.
The Dark Knight has none of that. In a way, Batman is normal. Superman is an alien and Spiderman is a giant walking radioactive drum. Batman is not someone who can see through walls, or hanging on a thread dangling in mid-air upside down (now that I think about it, why doesn’t Batman hang upside down, after all, he is Batman). He is only human with lots of gadgets. He has vulnerabilities.
Batman is more of an antihero. No-one cheers or claps when Batman arrives. It is especially true in The Dark Knight because of the plot (I won’t spoil it here, let’s just say that he’s not very welcomed). As commissioner Gordon said, “Officially, we are to arrest Batman on sight.” No one would say the same thing about Spiderman or Superman. In fact, people can’t get enough of them both. Batman is different in a good way. He gives off a dark, mysterious aura. One that makes him who he is.
And then there is the Joker. A villain that is truly evil, not one of those ‘I-want-to-take-over-slash-destroy-the-world’ type found in other superhero movies. To me, they are very superficial. Joker is different, he is there to challenge Batman, to cause chaos, to disrupt order, just because he can.
Joker is the extreme opposite of Batman. If Batman is the finiest Pinot Noir coming from France, then Joker is the blood of the sewer rat that has been dragged in a puddle of the finest toilet water.
While other superhero movies are a straightforward good guys vs bad guys, Batman movies of late have been set in a darker tone. Is Batman really that good? Does people really want this vigilante ruling the nights? One thing I have noticed in Batman movies is that not many people see Batman like they do with, say, Superman. They know of him, but never really see him in person. It seems like Batman is not known for his social skills.
All in all, I think The Dark Knight is an interesting movie. I don’t like superhero movies, but Batman is not as superhero as he seems, and that is what make this movie enjoyable. And of course, there are all the action and explosion and all.
I still think Michael Keaton’s Batmobile is the best looking one.
