Monday, July 11, 2005
The Hero or The City?
We only gave a very brief nod to the movie Batman Begins, and I feel this oversight is a sin beyond redemption given our self-appointed titles of Uber Nerds. Wait, we didn't give ourselves titles? I'm the only one wearing an Uber Nerd puffy letter iron decal T-shirt? Screw you guys...
Anyway, so I've been trying to figure out what made Batman Begins such a dam good movie. There are the usual suspects like dialogue, acting, pacing etc...and if I wanted a 3rd grade book report of the movie, those are the elements I would focus on. I believe it's deeper than that though.
As much as I enjoyed the beginning of the film, the movie didn't capture me until the Wayne's were riding on the triple decker super train towards Wayne Tower. I think the one thing that Tim Burton and now Christopher Nolan did so very well, was to create a Gotham that was as equally compelling as its caped champion.
Now where Nolan blew Burton out of the water was fleshing out the supporting cast, but we'll save that for another post.
I'm now going to jump a bit between movies and comics, so please forgive me. Spider-man is the star of his series. The city is incidental. However, with a character like Superman, I believe he is sometimes overshadowed by the city he protects. When Brainiac took over Metropolis and introduced all of his strange technology into the infrastructure, the Superman titles belonged to Metropolis, not Superman and his domestic woes with Lois.
When the setting is as vivid as the protagonist, it enriches the story ten fold.
Just look at one of the best books written in the past ten years: Astro City. The characters posses facets of DC and Marvel characters, but the city is so dam unique and vibrant you just can't help loving this book.
Anyway, so I've been trying to figure out what made Batman Begins such a dam good movie. There are the usual suspects like dialogue, acting, pacing etc...and if I wanted a 3rd grade book report of the movie, those are the elements I would focus on. I believe it's deeper than that though.
As much as I enjoyed the beginning of the film, the movie didn't capture me until the Wayne's were riding on the triple decker super train towards Wayne Tower. I think the one thing that Tim Burton and now Christopher Nolan did so very well, was to create a Gotham that was as equally compelling as its caped champion.
Now where Nolan blew Burton out of the water was fleshing out the supporting cast, but we'll save that for another post.
I'm now going to jump a bit between movies and comics, so please forgive me. Spider-man is the star of his series. The city is incidental. However, with a character like Superman, I believe he is sometimes overshadowed by the city he protects. When Brainiac took over Metropolis and introduced all of his strange technology into the infrastructure, the Superman titles belonged to Metropolis, not Superman and his domestic woes with Lois.
When the setting is as vivid as the protagonist, it enriches the story ten fold.
Just look at one of the best books written in the past ten years: Astro City. The characters posses facets of DC and Marvel characters, but the city is so dam unique and vibrant you just can't help loving this book.
