'The Dark Knight Rises' is one of the biggest anticipated films of the year. On July 20th we will all witness the end to Christopher Nolan's epic trilogy, which revolutionized the style in which superhero films were made. When Nolan brought out 'Batman Begins' in 2005, we saw something new, a realistic view on a Comic Book movie. It moved away from the comic themed Batman movies of the past and into the real world. But where did it all begin? How have the films changed over years? In this blog entry, I will go through all of the Batman films, including the ones that didn't happen, and talk about how the tone has changed throughout years, all building up to the end result. 'The Dark Knight Rises' is actually the first film in the series that is intended to be the last. All the others were made with sequels in mind, but Nolan has confirmed that this is his last Batman movie. THIS IS A SPOILER FREE BLOG POST.
We begin back in 1966, with 'Batman', often promoted as 'Batman: The Movie'. The film based on the 'Batman' television series, and the first full-length theatrical adaptation of the DC Comic character. It was released by 20th Century Fox and stars Adam West (Family Guy) as Batman, and Burt Ward as Robin. The film was directed by Leslie H. Martinson, who also directed a pair of Batman episodes from season one. Looking back at this movie today, it wasn't great, it was very cheesy and the acting wasn't the best, but it was funny, I can give it that much. It very much continues the comic book theme that the television series had (with the 'whack' and 'smash' every time they hit someone). The film appealed to the mass audiences that watched the television series because it included all the major villains, including The Joker (Cesar Romero) and The Penguin (Burgess Meredith). Surprisingly it received very positive reviews, getting 82% from Rotten Tomatoes.
It was a while before we saw Batman on the big screens, not until 1989 when Tim Burton took the helm of director (back when his style was new and interesting). The films revolves around the rise of The Batman and his struggle to deal with an up and coming costumed criminal know as The Joker, and stars Michael Keaton as Batman and Jack Nicholson as The Joker. It was the first installment of Warner Bros' initial Batman film series. The film takes a much darker tone than the first Batman movie, it still keeps an element of humor, but it reflects the darker tone that much better suits the character. Admittedly today a lot of the effects don't look good, and The Joker's make-up looks ridiculous, but the acting in it is superb, especially Jack Nicholson's (the man's amazing at everything he does). Altogether the film stands the test of time better than the 1960s Batman film, proved to be the biggest competition for Nolan's 'The Dark Knight', because everyone wanted to know whether or not Heath Ledger could stand a chance against Nicholson's performance. Tim Burton created a style that would come to define future Batman film. The success of the film also led to the created of the Emmy Award winning 'Batman: The Animated Series'.
In 1992 we were presented with Burton's second installment, 'Batman Returns', the film features the return of Michael Keaton as Batman, with the new arrivals Danny DeVito as The Penguin and Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman. Burton originally didn't want to direct a sequel because of his mixed emotions towards the previous film. Daniel Waters delivered a script that satisfied Burton. Wesley Strick did an uncredited rewrite, deleting the character of Robin and rewriting the climax. 'Batman Returns' was released to financial and critical success, though it caused some controversy for being darker than its predecessor. The story revolves around murder, corruption and abandoning children. The films takes out much of the minor comedy
With 'Batman Forever' (1995) Warner Bros decided to go in "lighter" direction to be more mainstream, with the intention of making it a family film. Before writing began, Burton was interested in a third film, but Keaton would only return with Burton as director. As the studio wanted a more "family-friendly" approach, Burton was to serve only as a producer. With Warner Bros moving on development for 'Batman Forever' in June 1993, a 'Catwoman' spin-off was announced. Michelle Pfeiffer was to reprise her role, with the character not to appear in Forever because of "her own little movie". 'Batman Forever' ended up being directed by Joel Schumacher, and Val Kilmer replaced Michael Keaton as the lead role. The plot focuses on Batman trying to stop Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and The Riddler (Jim Carrey) in their villainous scheme to drain information from all the brains in Gotham City. Nicole Kidman plays psychiatrist Chase Meridian, who falls in love with both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Batman is joined by Dick Grayson/Robin (Chris O'Donnell), the two are brought together when Robin's family is killed by Two-Face.
Interestingly, although they didn't go with Tim Burton as director, they did who with the story that he had planned to use, Burton had planned to continue along the dark route he had been previously using, but he wanted Robin Williams to play The Riddler, which although I think Jim Carrey did a great job portraying him, I think Robin Williams would have been brilliant. The biggest change that was made was the inclusion of Two-Face, the only reason they added him into the film was money (they wanted more characters that they could design toys off). I quite liked this film, but there is a large audience who think it is awful, and I can understand why, it was such a rapid change of tone from the two previous films. They went from being serious films, to being family films.
Now we reach a dark time in the world of Batman, the 1997 'Batman & Robin', George Clooney replaced Val Kilmer as the title role, the film also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger (as Mr. Freeze), Uma Thurman (as Poison Ivy) and Alicia Silverstone (as Barbara Wilson/Batgirl). Chris O'Donnell reprised his role as Robin. The film tells the story of Batman and Robin struggling to keep their partnership together while trying to stop Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Bane from covering Gotham City with ice and vegetation. It is well known for being the first Batman film of the series, observers criticized the film for its toyetic andcamp approach, as well as the possible homosexual innuendo added by Schumacher. The film also has some of the worst acting I've ever seen, especially from Clooney and Schwarzenegger, and the worst portrayal of Bane they could possibly have done. 'Batman & Robin' received 11 niminations at the 1997 Razzie Awards and frequently ranks among the worst superhero films (and work films) lists. The way you have to look at it is that Schumacher was told to make a two hour toy commercial, which is what it ended up being, with more good guys (with more costumes), more villains and more vehicles that could all be made into toys.
After the awful reaction towards 'Batman & Robin', Warner Bros cancelled the planned 'Batman Triumphant', which was going to include The Scarecrow and Harley Quinn. Jack Nicholson was going to have a cameo as The Joker in one of Scarecrow's hallucinations experienced by Batman, and Harley Quinn was going to be The Joker's daughter rather than his girlfriend. I like the idea of The Joker being back, but changing Quinn messes with the source material, and that's never a good idea. Clooney and O'Donnell were set to reprise their roles, but after how poorly received 'Batman & Robin' was, Clooney swore never to wear the cape and cowl again.
The studio decided the best direction to take would be to make a film adaptation the series 'Batman Beyond' (or 'Batman of the Future' as it's called in the UK) and an adaptation of Frank Miller's 'Batman: Year One'. Warner Bros would pick which ever suited them best. Schumacher believed he owed the Batman fans a real Batman movie, so he approached Warner Bros in 1998 about doing 'Batman: Year One', he said he take it back to the origins of the dark knight, but they were more interesting in going with Darren Aronofsky. Obviously, none of these films ever made it to production.
Eventually in 2005 we see the return of the caped crusader, with Christopher Nolan's first installment, 'Batman Begins'. The films starred Christian Bale as Batman, Gary Oldman as Sgt. James Gordan ,Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Cillian Murphy as The Scarecrow and Liam Neeson as Ra's Al Ghul. The film reboots the series, telling the origin story of the character, beginning with Bruce Wayne's initial fear of bars, the death of parents, and his journey to becoming Batman. The story leads on to Batman discovering a plot by The Scarecrow to poison Gotham's water supply with his hallucinogenic toxins. The films draws inspiration from classic comic book storylines such as 'The Man Who Falls', 'Batman: Year one' and 'Batman: The Long Halloween'.
The film was a fresh look at the character that audiences had not seen so far on the big screen, we've went from comedic, to dark, to family-friendly, to terrible and now we're at realism. This is the first Batman film where we actually see Bruce Wayne become his masked alter-ego. We also get to see how he rebuilt Wayne Enterprises after being away for so long (by this point the company has gone public). We see how he learns to fight, where the choice to dress as a bat came from, and where he gets all of his equipment/how it works. We also get to see how he initially makes an impact on Gotham City, by putting fear into the criminals and marking his territory with symbols of bats (one great scene is when he ties a beaten up criminal to a flood light, making the beam look like a bat in the sky). Nolan wanted the audience to care for both Batman and Bruce Wayne, so we see Wayne a lot more than we have done in previous films and we see him and Batman as one, it's not like during the day he's Wayne and at night he's Batman, the two are the same person. He uses his business to fund his crime fighting and seek out corruption in the business and the police. Ra's Al Ghul turns out to be a much more formidable foe, having a much more devious plan than The Scarecrow's. There's a huge theme throughout the film, and it is facing your fears, Batman/Bruce Wayne are forced to do so throughout the film, both by Scarecrow and by Ra's. Wayne also has to face his fear of returning home, and the fear of facing his guilt (he still believes that he was responsible for his parents death).
'Batman Begins' was a massive critical and box office success, and was the first of what was to become Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, following with the sequel 'the Dark Knight' in July 2008, and another sequel 'The Dark Knight Rises' which is due for release in July of this year. 'The Dark Knight' is possibly the greatest superhero movie ever (The Avengers Assemble is very tough competition though). Christian Bale reprises his role, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Maggie Gyllenhaal, and introduces Heath Ledger as The Joker and Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Harvey Dent is Gotham's newly elected District Attorney and the cohort of Bruce Wayne's childhood friend Rachel Dawes (Gyllenhaal), who joins Batman and the police in combating the new rising threat of a criminal calling himself The Joker. The film received eight Academy Award nominations and won for Best Sound Editing and posthumous Best Supporting Actor for Ledger's performance. The film often appears in the top ten of Best Movies lists.
The thing that really won this film for me was Heath Ledger's The Joker, I was really skeptical before I went into the cinema because I didn't think anyone could best Nicholson's portrayal of the character, clearly I was proven wrong, and I'm glad. I also love the scale of this movie, when I bought the DVD years ago, I watched the special features and found out that they actually build a full scale hospital to blow up, nothing was faked (except one floor of windows because they were stolen) and that is some accomplishment! I also loved the score, especially the sound that's played whenever The Joker is there, which was an electric bass guitar, being played with a violin bow, it sounded really good, really sinister, the notes would get higher and higher, leading to the climax of the scene, it reminded me of nails on a chalk board. Basically I could talk all day about how much I love this movie, it is easily the best Batman film, and it has left some big shoes for 'The Dark Knight Rises' to fill.
Sadly, Heath Ledger died on the 22nd January 2008, before the release of the film, which was really a tragedy because he had already proven that he was an amazing actor well before 'The Dark Knight', but even so this event cast a dark light over the project, and the future of the franchise. It was assumed that Nolan wanted Ledger to return for the third installment of the film and at the news of his death, Nolan was put off from doing a third film because of his relationship with Ledger (and that is why The Joker will not even be mentioned in the new film).
So what do we know about 'The Dark Knight Rises'? Well we know that this is definitely Christopher Nolan's final Batman film, he and Batman will part ways after this. We know that Tom Hardy is playing Bane, and from the trailers we can see that he looks so much more awesome than Bane in 'Batman & Robin' (well he'd have to be, he couldn't be any worse). From the trailer we can also see that Nolan has made Bane into a more realistic character to follow his theme like he did with The Joker. Bale, Freeman, Oldman and Caine are reprising their roles. Eckhart wanted to return as Two-Face, but Nolan said no, he said that Two-Face was dead, he will definitely not return. We see that Batman has a new vehicle, the Bat-Wing, or I think it's just called 'The Bat' in this film, it looks pretty cool. Anne Hathaway is playing Catwoman, which concerns me a bit, there's a reason she is normally cast to play characters like princesses, because she looks like one, she just doesn't seem to suit this role. However Michelle Pfeiffer says that she loves the new Catwoman, stating that she works really well in this universe. I also know that Nolan never intended to have Catwoman in the film, it was his brother who convinced him to include her. Also Nolan announced that Robin will not be in this movie, which is a disappointment for some fans, but I agree with that decision. Although for all we know Nolan could be doing Ridley Scott and say for months that somethings not going to happen, then say it does. You never know. Also apparently Liam Neeson has a cameo as Ra's Al Ghul (yes the character that died in 'Batman Begins'), so that could be interesting. There has been no confirmation that Cillian Murphy's The Scarecrow will appear in the movie, but he has been seen on set and has been in the previous two films, so I think it's safe to assume he may make an appearance.
This next section is about what I think is going to happen, this may contain spoilers. So what will happen to end the trilogy? This is the first Batman film that isn't made with a sequel in mind. I personally think that either Batman's identity will be revealed to the people of Gotham, or he will die at the end of the movie. It would be the perfect way actually end the series. We can expect Batman to actually face a villain that can actually fight back. All of the villains Batman's faced have never had the strength to match him in a fight (except maybe Ra's Al Ghul). The Joker was cunning, and didn't intend to leave it all to a final fight (as he says in the film "You didn't think i was going to risk the battle for Gotham's soul in a fist fight with you?"), but Bane, from what we've seen, has the same destructive mind as The Joker, but he also has the physical capability to fight Batman. I think that'll be amazing, something we haven't seen yet. Hardly any Batman villains have the strength and ability to physically fight Batman in a fist fight.
So there we have it, that's a look at all the Batman movies to date, and we can clearly see a change in tone across the decades, from comedy in the 60s, to darkness in late 80s, early 90s, family fun and utter awfulness for the rest of the 90s and finally realism and works of cinematic art for the 20s. Is this the end of Batman? No. It is the end of Christopher Nolan's Batman, but the character is being rebooted with the possibility of a 'Justice League' movie in mind (most likely to compete with 'The Avengers Assemble'). Sadly the film will probably go back to looking more like a comic book in order to fit in with current DC films like 'The Green Lantern' but hope is on the horizon, apparently Christopher Nolan may agree to produce the new Batman movie, so there is a chance it could be good. Questions now are, who will play Batman? Who's the new villain? Who's directing? All of these I cannot answer yet, but I can say this, The Joker is one of Batman's greatest foes, and I'm pretty sure the Justice League run into him a few times, so we may see a new Joker on our screens in the future. I hope you have all enjoyed reading this blog entry, I certainly enjoyed writing it. There was a lot I had to leave out because of time and length (didn't want this entry to be ridiculously long), but I hope that everyone will agree that what I have included is all good information (I'll accept that 'Batman & Robin' isn't good information, but I had to include it).
'The Dark Knight Rises' is released in cinema on 20th July 2012.
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