The Dark Knight: 10 years later.

I never understood all the hype and praise placed on this movie; some of it yes but not all. When I hear people say “The Dark Knight is the best comic book movie ever made!” my response is always “What?” There are far better comic book movies than that one. Now don’t get me wrong I do think it is a good movie, but is it the best comic book movie? No it is not and here is why:

-         The Joker: Heath Ledger was mesmerizing as the Joker and some have said he was the best person to have taken that role. Unfortunately I think the same people are caught up in his performance knowing it was his last before his unfortunate death prior to the release of the film. Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton’s 1989 ‘Batman’ film is so much better than Ledger. Nicholson brought the Joker to life in a way that had never been done before. He truly captured the essence of the comic book’s clown prince of crime. Ledger played up the Joker in a way that was not what comic book fans expected from that character. He was good but not as good as Nicholson.

 

 

-         Two-Face: I love this character and I was excited he was introduced in this film. But no sooner do they introduce him they kill him off and somehow Batman is the bad guy at the end of the day…WHAT??? Two-Face would have made for a great villain in his own Batman film and was completely wasted here.

 

 

-         People having to decide who lives and dies: The whole Joker rigging the two boats to blow up and leaving it to the people and prisoners on the boats to decide who dies was just dumb and very un-Joker like. Joker is an agent of chaos and does not care about what people will decide…he kills for fun and laughs and to get under Batman’s skin. The whole ship sequence was an attempt of Director Christopher Nolan to make this film deeper than it really is.

-         Batman the bad guy: So Commissioner Gordon and Batman its best for everyone that they do not find out the truth about Harvey Dent/Two-Face so Batman takes the wrap for killing Dent and everyone Dent killed prior to his death…WHAT?? It was such a stupid plot twist and again an attempt to give the film a deeper meaning than it really had.  

 

So what comic book films are better than ‘The Dark Knight’? Here’s a few:

-         Iron Man

-         Avengers

-         Avengers Infinity War

-         Every Captain America film

-         Spiderman (2002)

 

‘The Dark Knight’ was a great comic book movie, but definitely not the best.

Nuff said.

-Chris

Blog #32: State Of The 'Bat Nation'

With DC's New 52 last fall I decided it was an excellent opportunity for me to jump on the Batman bandwagon. I have always been a fan of Batman but I have never been a regular reader of any of his titles. The only Bat-comics I have have been story arcs that interested me, but I never dedicated myself to a particular title. but with the New 52 I decided this was my chance to jump onboard and hit it from the beginning. Here is my reviews of each title, rated on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best rating.

Batman: Written by Scott Snyder and drawn by Greg Capullo. This is the BEST Batman title out there. The writing is amzing and the art too is just as amazing. This is the BEST title in all of the 'New 52' in my opinion. Their 'Court Of Owls' storyline has been absolutely amazing. The 'Owls' are probably the best Batman villain creation since Bane in the 90's. Batman and all his allies have truly met their match with the Owls. This really is an amazing book.

Batman:  Rating of 5 out of 5.  Read this book!!!

Batman & Robin: This too is a good title. I love the Batman and Robin dynamic, especially this Robin because he is actually Bruce Waynes son, Damien. And Damien may be a little evil himself, too much like his Grandpa Ra's Al Ghul. The art is OK, but not great, and the writing too is OK. This book definitely has room to grow and I do enjoy reading it every month.

Batman & Robin: Rating 2.5 out of 5.

Batman The Dark Knight: This is a good book too. The writing is OK, but what is awesome with this title is the art!! Aside from Greg Capullo on 'Batman' this is the second best Batman art in the Bat titles. This is a beautiful book to look at and read. Especially the character of the 'White Rabbit'. Wow she looks amazing, too bad she's not real.

Batman The Dark Knight: Rating 3 out of 5.

Detective Comics: Again this is a good book. Like 'The Dark Knight' this is a book with OK writing and great art. And as the title suggests this books focuses on the 'Detective' side of Batman. The story line so far has not been great, but the more recent Penguin storyline was better.

Detective Comics: 2.5 out of 5.

Batman Incorporated: I still have to read this title. I had read the previous run before the New 52. But I like Grant Morrison on 'Batman'. So I will definitely be reading this title with a review to come.

Have a great week!