Batman Begins.
 

OK, what's going on here?

How can they just start the series over again. Sure it really sucked a lot more ass after the first movie, but I don't understand how the Bruce Wayne/Batman character just starts over.

A little help here please.

Part 1 was the best but part 2 was pretty good as well. Everything after 2 was terrible.

Somebody told me it actually did follow suit with the original comic series. But I completely agree. I really don't see how it will really tie in with it all. We'll see.

I suppose that Batman Begins, as the title would suggest, tells the story of Bruce Wayne's beginnings. A more indepth look at how his parents died, how it ultimately effected him, how he was trained to be such a fucking bad ass, and then the beginning of his career as Batman.

After Begins, you can then watch Batman and Batman Returns, and the story all falls into place.

Don't watch Forever or Batman and Robin. They are the aborted fetuses of the Batman saga.

But we already know how his parents died, he already made the jump from regular Billionaire Bruce Wayne to becoming Batman. The long ass trailer I watched on 'The Space Channel' showed that all over again. And that car. Come on. Shenanigans.

This is him training to be Batman, cmon now

Batman Begins will have nothing to do with Tim Burton's Batman.

Nothing except for some of the Characters like Bruce Wayne and Alfred and Gotham are the only things that will be the same.

Yes, and that is shenanigans.

I actually think it will be much better, but thats just me.

Is Morgan Freeman playing Alfred? :wtf:

No, he is playing Lucius Fox.

Michael Caine is playing Alfred.

who is Lucius Fox?

They showed a ten minute preview of this movie after the seaon finale of Smallville.

Some looked real kickass, with him training with ninjas and all that, but some looked like it could be "meh". I'm just hoping that the "meh" will turn to "awesome" when it's actually in context.

The black guy who is like 2nd in command of Wayne Enterprise's.

Remember the cartoon when Bruce would talk to a black guy? Well that is Lucious Fox. Pretty sure he was only black guy in the cartoon too. Someone please correct me on that if I'm wrong.

Harvey Dent was black as well, originally.

Anyway, Batman: Begins is going to be the saviour of the Batman franchise. It is simple. Scot, do you object to Star Wars Episodes I-III because they tell a story that is already known? I, for one, am very interested to see him training to become Batman, and the transition he goes through as he takes on his double life. The Scarecrow and Ra'as A-Ghul (sp?) should be great as well.

It is, on the whole, going to be a much darker, grittier movie than Forever and Batman and Robin, and even moreso than the first two (apparently). Christian Bale has what it takes to make this franchise great again. :heart:

Only in the movies.

I think Scarecrow should have got his own movie.

Though I hear Ra's doesn't really do much and is just "the man behind the scenes" or something.

yea, I don't understand that eathier Hero. I mean, we already saw how and why he became Batman. We already saw the Joker kill his parents. Is that even in the comic book? It's weird saying, "ok, forget about everything you saw before, we're starting over again."

The joker doesnt kill bruce's parents in the comics. Joe Chill does. Tim Burton was the one who changed it to the joker for his movie. These movies will have nothing to do with the other 4 batman movies.

According to some sites ive read (not that they can be trusted) they are looking to include the Joker in the next movie.

On a side note, Previous to becoming the Joker, he was only known as Red Hood and not Jack Napier as in the Tim Burton Batman. The last name of Napier was included to honor the actor who played Alfred on the 60s batman series. His last name was Napier. Not sure where they got Jack from.

Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian from Star Wars) played DA Harvey Dent in Batman, Tommy Lee Jones took over when he actually played the villian Two Face.

Harvey Dent isn't black in the comics, who knows why they got Billy Dee Williams to play him, Burton must be a Star Wars fan. :)

Its like in the Spawn comics, Terry Fitzgerald is a black guy but in the movie they get D.B Sweeney from Memphis Belle to play him. Oh yeah and he was white?

LOL D.B. Sweeney

Can't wait for this, BTW

Batman: Hey Robin, get over here!
Robin: What is it, Batman?
Batman: I need to put your costume on!
Robin: I don't wanna wear the thong Batman.
Batman: You have to, put it on
Robin: Batman, the thong makes my ass show
Batman: Thats right it does, doesnt it? Put it on!

exactly.

If they want to start over, then IMO, they can't be doing it already. More time has to pass.

I'm not losing sleep over any of this. Don't get me wrong, just making an observation.

8 years have passed since the destruction of the franchise in Batman and Robin. How much more time needs to pass? :$

Well at least they started over and didn't pull a Superman and make the new movie a sequel of the second movie, thus pushing away the bad sequels.

20-50 years

Meh, I am quite happy for them to start over.

Every time I see the trailer for this movie I get chills and cant wait for it......

HURRY UP DAMN IT

I wanna see Baine break his back in one of these movies. I love that comic.

I want to see Robin get beat to death by The Joker.

yea LOL. I think I have that one too.

I don't have the Superman one though

http://batmanytb.com/comics/batman/batman10c.jpg

Yea, look at that shit

Should be very good. The costume is much better except for the way the cape is attached to the rest of the suit. It's good to know that Year 1 by Frank Miller was a big influence. Hopefully they'll do something similar to Loeb's Long Halloween next.

P.S. Anybody read the new arc in Batman called Under the hood that reveals red hood is Jason Todd. Kinda disappointed though since I thought it was a bad idea to go back on what the fans voted on.

Yeah, I read the arc, but I disapproved of the unveiling of Jason Todd for a different reason. I don't know if you read the "Hush" story arc, but Clayface posed as Jason Todd for a while posing as Hush. If you follow. And that was like last year, so it seemed a bit soon to be pulling Jason Todd back into it. Dunno, they could've gone plenty of other ways. :-\

Ordered the 90s Batman Animated Series Volume 1 DVD. Kick ass show and quite faithful to Batman in general. Can't wait to see it again.

I always felt Kilmer made a decent Batman but a shit Bruce Wayne and Clooney a decent Wayne but shit Batman, so if they ever wanted to explore the Jean Paul Valley as Batman era, those two could have worked well together IMO. But it's far to late for that.

The first 4 each barely had anything to do with the rest especially considering how drastically their looks changed. In fact the only thing that really linked them was that Alfred was always the same guy and Chris O'Donnel plays Robin in the last two. There's no true feeling of continuation, not to mention the changing of Batman's origin was stupid anyway. Other than that the sum of the franchise is 1 pretty good movie (Batman 1989), one decent but hardly anything special movie (Batman Returns), one below average movie (Batman Forever) and one piece of shit (Batman and Robin). There is hardly a true saga or series to the Batman movies so shaking things up with an excellent director (Christopher Nolan) and awesome lead (Christian Bale, potential to be better than Keaton), could lead to a better and more established series. It's been 16 years since the original Batman, and the sequels are all pretty much nothing to write home about anyway as I already said, so I think now is a good a time as any to start fresh.

It's people like you who are destroying the movie industry Hero, what with your 'questions'.

For shame :nono:

You either have to continue with the Batman franchise as it stands now and improve it from here on in OR shelve it for at least 20 years. That's my opinion. NO DO OVERS SO SOON :mad:

Agreed. Yeah, I read Hush (first arc I ever read in comics) and I was also disappointed with that. The ending was kinda too obvious IMO.

Hush was the first arc you ever read?

Damn, way to make me feel old. :$

lol

I know the first Batman Arc I ever read was the "KnightQuest: Crusade" arc, which (I THINK) started in Batman #501... which was late 1993.

But damned if I could tell you the first overall comic I ever read. I think it was Fantastic Four, to be honest.

I always thought the same thing. :y:

Funnily enough, I semi-agree. I always thought that while Michael Keaton wasn't a fantastic Wayne/Batman (short in stature, weak jaw - though he had the image of a very psychologically disturbed loner down), he was in two exceptional films. Conversely, Val Kilmer was an excellent Wayne/Batman (he just has the playboy look and the build to play the Dark Knight) but was in a cinematic train wreck. Clooney I don't even count.

Christian Bale has hopefully struck gold from both worlds. I saw one trailer where he spoke a fair bit, and he has the Batman voice down. It is knee-tremblingly good. :love:

Yeah, when he's in the Batman costume he actually uses another, more menacing voice. Which is how it should be. None of that same exact voice thing for him.

Agreed. I still wonder how Mary Jane couldn't recognize Peter's voice before she found out.

It was beautiful. Bruce should have a quieter, more reserved voice. He is Bruce Wayne, distinguished billionaire. Batman is dark, menacing, gruff. I love the transition in voices. Keaton didn't do it too badly, I just found it hard to take him seriously because he was so small :( The dude who did him on the Animated Series had it down. :heart:

You have to remember at the point (in the movies, anyway, bit different in the comics) when MJ talks to Spidey, she has no reason to believe that Peter isn't still just a nerd. I know plenty of people who sound alike. Peter is the LAST person she would be thinking of when trying to figure out who the flexible, athletic, gravity-defying, web-slinging, people-saving superhero is.

It's the same thing with Superman and his facade as Clark Kent - a lot of people have said to me over time "his secret disguise is a pair of GLASSES. As if people wouldn't realise it was him". This isn't so - for it ISN'T just the glasses, as often suggested. It's the fact that Clark is slovenly (in some cases, he has been shown as quite fat and out of shape - other times he just appears unkempt), quiet, mild-mannered, a fence-sitter and a lover of all things sugar-n-spice. When looking at a man FUELED BY THE EARTH'S SUN, built like a brick shithouse, and who has the ability to fly, see through solid objects, lift ridiculous amounts of weight and countless other amazing abilities, you're not gonna say, "heeeeeeeeeey... if he was wearing glasses...y'know...he'd look a lot like old Clarky. Must be the same guy!"

In hindsight, those paragraphs were choppy and hard to read, but I think you sorta get where I'm coming from, yeah? :$

Lando Calrissian was Tommy Lee Jones?

Yes, pretty much.

Yeah, those are some good points.

Kevin Conroy does Batman on the animated series.

LOL yep in the first batman Billy Dee williams was harvey Dent

He also had a contract saying that he would play Harvey Dent/Two Face in any sequels. They had to buy it out to get Tommy Lee Jones to play Two Face.

I honestly did not know that, they should have made him walk around with a sign around his neck saying that he was black in the original film.

Interesting. I always thought that if Tim Burton was still at the helm for "Batman Forever", Billy D. would have made a great Two-Face in the somber style of the Animated Series character.

So are The Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul the lead villains in this one? If so, this is going to be awesome. There's something about it that just seems...different to most comic book movies. Maybe it's because this one just seems to be a stand-alone movie, not on relying on its comic book roots.

I'm really looking forward to this. There's just something about the way this has been done that doesn't make it scream "Batman!", yet stays truer to the story than a lot of other ventures into the franchise.

Only Batman worth watching is the TV show. HOLY ATOMIC PILE BATMAN

I'm not a big fan of the costume. Still much too plastic and rubbery for my tastes.

I just watched Bravo's "20 Best Vixens" countdown last night where Catwoman placed as the #1 Vixen. (It's a very sad list, by the way, when frikkin' Barb Wire actually gets on it.) They played a clip from the 60's TV series where Batman is confronting Catwoman in her lair. It seems the conversation is done, and Batman asks here if there's anything else she needs.

The Julie Newmar Catwoman replies to the effect of "Well, I need someone to brush my pussywillows."

So, yeah... that pretty much floored me right there.

Also, besides you "die hards" everyone is going to relate this film as yet another Batman film in the shit series of Batman movies. This = is the main reason it needs to die for 20+ years.

I saw the first good preview for it in the theatre the other day. It looks to be very good. I'll be going to see it for sure.

Nonesense.

It's been promoted as a new start, the name makes that clear, the trailers make that clear. We have a talented and abled writer/director in Nolan and a bonifided new star in Bale (the first one to not only be a great Batman but a great Bruce Wayne too) The movie is a start of a new franchise. It's been 16 years sice the first Batman, 13 years since Batman Returns, the last good Batman movie. The previous 2 barely even relate to the first 2 anyway. Very few people, die hard or not, will see this film as being related to the others in any way, short of there being Bruce Wayne in a Bat suit and a butler named Alfred. The trailers alone set a different tone for this film than any of the others (Especially the Shumacher rave Batman ones) First sign of that is a totally new score devoid of the recongizable Batman theme.


Anywho Saw a midnight showing of it. It's awesome but actually I found it a little short even at 141 minutes. Great cast, great directing, great writing, faithful adaptation of Batman's origin. Now the key is they need to maintain actor continuity, Bale needs to be Batman in the next 2 films at least (that's what hurt the old Batman series the most imo), same with Caine as Alfred and Oldman as Gordon, Nolan needs to stay on as Co-Writer/director as well (alongside Goyer) to maintain a stylistic continuity and they should get it out within the next 3 years if at all possible. Never the less I look foward to the next one in this new series

I cant wait for it...

There was no midnight showing near my house so I was a little let down. But im going to it this morning and I cant wait.

I heard that Mark Hamill may be playing the Joker in the next film. Did'nt he do the voice of the joker in one of the cartoons?

Yup.

The reviews are great for this film. At first i thought it was going to be a dud. Now i think i really want to see this.

Christian Bale has always been the man. American Psycho is one of my favorite films of all time.

GREATEST SUPERHERO MOVIE EVER.....

I thought it was one of the greatest things ever. Very dark....i know if I was a kid and this was my first view of batman I would be scared to death.

Very good....hope there is another

blah blah blah... I guess that's why I hear people say; "Another Batman Movie?" Usually followed by some derogatory remark about how Batman sucks since the original.

All you did with your long post was state what I said about die hards. Yes you know all about the new direction, director, etc. You get it. Most people are not that keen at following for whatever reason, mostly because most peoiple are stupid.

It brings new life into the Batman legacy...hopefully starting its own

Siiiiiiiiiick movie. Katie Holmes sucked, but the movie was excellent

Awesome movie. Best Batman yet.

Well it's getting grand reviews and will easily win people over. So it's hardly like it's going to fail at the box office because of Batman and Robin which was 8 years ago anyway.

Another reason for not waiting till 2018 or whatever you insist they wait, is that for the past 5-6 years (ever since X-men really) there has been a huge market for comic book films.

I saw the ad, is THAT big black army car the new batmobile?

Absolutely sensational. Really well acted by all parties (even Katie Holmes wasn't terrible). Bale was amazing in his dual-identity as playboy and Dark Knight, and his "Batman voice" was sensational. Best Batman by FAR. And I am a die-hard fan of the two Tim Burton films, so that's saying something.

So, this is inevitable anyway... what do you foresee for the sequels, since (I believe) they are basically relaunching the series (since it has been so long since the only two "real" Batman films)?

Yes :love: And it ruins everyone's shit. It is fantastic :love:

Mark Hamil's rendition of Joker's voice is excellent.... don'tknow how HE would actually be.

Yeah it'd be better if they got someone like ionno, Crispin Glover (not a recommendation, just a name that's been floated before) who has the right sort of build and look, and then dubbed him with Hamill's voice.

simple: it's based on the comics, not on the other movies.

note that the Batman movies in the late 80s and early 90s weren't the first Batman movies either.

regarding it failing at the box office:

1) it was brilliant
2) the theater was FULL last night.

Do you also call shenannigans on "Charlie and the Chocolate factory" because Depp looks nothing like Wilder?

Scot you have to pretend the other Batman movies don't exist - if anyone starts talking about them you just stick your fingers in your ears and go NA NA NA NA NOT LISTENING NA NA NA NA.

And now you can say HOLY SHIT THEY'VE FINALLY MADE A BATMAN MOVIE!!!!

I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE IT!!!!!!!!!!

When you block things out life is all roses again.

I can't wait for someone to make The Phantom movie HOW FUCKING COOL WOULD THAT BE?!!!!

Yeah, I knew it would be the Joker, which I both support and am kinda iffy about. I know it's a brand new franchise and all, and the Joker has to be in the series somewhere, but having him second may confuse a lot of people into thinking they are trying to remake Burton's original Batman :-\

That said, I don't envy Mark Hamill, or anyone else who has to try and follow Jack Nicholson as the Joker. :$

Frankly though, if they ever bring back Mr. Freeze, anyone who plays him should have a pretty easy time besting their predecessor. :$

I am still in awe over this movie, even the morning after. Wow. That's a multiple-viewer for sure. I have to say, there were moments when Bale was so deep into Batman (Not really a spoiler but don't really want to ruin anything: such as when he was dangling the fat cop upside down and playing bungee with his body, all the while menacingly interrogating/borderline torturing him) that I was thinking, "God, he is absolutely terrifying. Holy shit." It was fantastic.

Cast your doubts aside, Scot, you won't regret it.

Do to the fact there is virtually nothing else playing at the theater, if the mood to go out hits me (which usually ends with me at the theater) I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up sitting there watching it. BUT I WON'T LIKE IT

Yes, you will. And you will begrudge us for being right, but you will like it. Trust me. If there was ever anything in your life you were going to trust some kid in north-east Australia who you'd only ever had cyber-sex with once about, this would be it.

That new batmoblie is... :-\ It hasn't got the original charm :'(

That's because you haven't seen it in action. By the end of the film, I was in love with it.

has he got a shotgun or flamethrower? does he use the bat weapons like that flying metal bat thingy, the grappling hook, the smoke grenade or that batmobile defense shell? :cool:

I hear the movie tries too hard to be sardonic. That the movie has a lot of 'homeland security' feel to it.

This is a great film. It is easily the best cast superhero movie ever. Forget about Bale (who seems like he was born to play this role) for a second. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Liam Neeson (who I'd like to say more about but can't without spoiling the movie) all deserve to be remembered when the oscars role around, but the real prize is Cillian Murphy, who is extraordinarily creepy even without a his scarecrow mask. Please, please, PLEASE bring Scarecrow back for another movie.

Anyway, definitely see this movie, even if you aren't a comic fan. Can't wait for the sequel.

the cast was good, but nothing in this movie could really be considered oscar-worthy.

ssss Cillian Murphy was sensationally creepy. He was really, really good. Morgan Freeman rocked my socks off as always too. As I said about Caine, he did well, and I really liked him as Alfred, but he slipped back into his Cockney accent like once or twice which sorta threw me very very slightly. But you are right, amazingly cast superhero film.

I took my oldest daughter to see it. It was ok, much better than all the others minus perhaps the first 'Tim Burton' Batman. I still think they need to spend more time explaining (or distancing) that this is a different Batman and not a prequel. The ending, with Gordon showing the Joker card, had the people around me saying things like; "ah, so that's where the first Batman movie they made starts"... Nevermind that with a little thinking you'd see that isn't the case, but people don't care to comprehend.

Just saw it.

AMAZING AMAZING movie. Best Comic Book Movie to date. Everything clicked perfectly

I think the tip-off is that The Joker doesn't kill Bruce's parents in this one haha

I thought it was a great movie. However, the first 30-40 minutes of the movie are hella slow, and I pondered dozing off for a few. Once Bruce Wayne starts doing his Batman shit, the movie begins to kick some serious ass.