Not too long ago, Warner Brothers and DC Comics launched a massive event known as DC Fandome. Mostly a virtual convention where the respective companies make announcements of upcoming projects. Primarily in the form of movie trailers. One such preview is for yet another movie starring Batman, the one superhero character upon which Warner Brothers and DC Comics seem overly reliant. That is not to say that I'm not too fond of Batman; he is indeed one of my favorites of the DC library. However, in recent years, Batman has proven that you can sometimes have too much of a good thing.
My grievances with Batman as of late come down to oversaturation and overreliance. Warner Brothers and DC Comics have been operating under the delusion that Batman is the only superhero they own. As such, the vast majority of their media, be it film or television show or comic books, has been either a brand new Batman series or a brand new spin-off about a supporting character from the Batman universe. When it's not a Batman project, it's advertised and promoted as having a famous Batman writer, such as Frank Miller, involved in its production. If it's a movie with a superhero who isn't Batman, it's director or producer was somehow involved in a previous Batman outing. In short, Batman has not just become a cash cow; his picture is in the dictionary under cash cow.
As you could imagine, I have not been all that excited over new Batman material as of late. Again, I do like Batman. Some of my fondest movie memories involve Batman in some capacity. I'm just getting tired of how much dominance he seems to have over the DC Comics landscape, especially when you consider how much success Warner Brothers and DC Comics have had with their other films such as Wonder Woman and SHAZAM. You would think that after finally realizing that Batman isn't their only source of accessible income, they would start expanding on their library. Sadly, that does not seem to be the case. At least not yet.
Anyway, let's get to talking about this trailer. If you have not yet seen it, I recommend you give it a watch first before proceeding. You can see the trailer right here.
From the tone and style of the trailer itself, we can easily surmise that the filmmakers have decided to adopt a similar presentation to Sweedish crime dramas, such as The Killing and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Given how writer/director Matt Reeves, along with co-writer Mattson Tomlin, openly said they wanted to make something akin to a detective film-noir, it makes sense to model it after other successful modern takes of the sub-genre. Which would be exciting if that wasn't what Batman has always been. Announcing that the next Batman film is like a film noir detective story is like proclaiming that the upcoming Star Wars movie takes place in Space. We already know that, and there's nothing spectacular about it.
The Sweedish crime drama angle also brings me to another aspect of DC Comics that has always bothered me as of late; the excessively dark tone. Please understand, I do not have an issue with narratives that feature a somber tone. When done well, it can be just as impactful and beautiful (in its unique way) as any other narrative. My problem is with DC Comics' overuse of dark tones, as found in most of their recent media. Ever since Tim Burton's first Batman film back in 1989, DC Comics has been operating under the delusion that darkness and bleakness equal greatness. That being depressing, ugly, or even shocking, is somehow on par with being nuanced or deep. This over-reliance on the darker tone has been nothing more than a lousy leftover from the early 2000s when superhero movies weren't treated as "real" movies unless they had dark and gritty narratives where everything was bleak, and no one was allowed to smile. It desperately needs to stop!
Another thing that gives me little faith in my potential enjoyment of this upcoming film is the possibility of a last-minute connection to the atrocious trainwreck that was Joker from last year. For those of you who didn't see the movie (which I highly recommend you don't), one of the final scenes was a recreation of the death of Bruce Wayne's family. Since Joker is supposed to be a one-time spin-off story, the only reason for this scene to be there is so Warner Brothers has a lame excuse to connect Joker to this brand new Batman film, for no adequate reason other than the fanboys are demanding it. I hope I am wrong, but if they do indeed connect Joker to this new movie, I will refuse to give it my money out of spite.
Alright. Now that I vented my frustration with DC Comics, let's move on to the more positive observations I have about this trailer.
Batman's new costume does look pretty awesome, even though the all-black style has been done to death. Robert Pattinson shows that he is indeed capable of dawning the cape & cowl. The Riddler is the perfect choice of villain for the mystery style of storyline they want to utilize. Last but not least, casting Jeffery Wright as Commissioner Gordon is excellent. Also, I have to be honest; I am enjoying the Red & Black color theme. I'm not entirely sure why, as of yet, but it looks so cool.
Despite my predominantly adverse reaction to this trailer, I admit that I am still genuinely curious about this upcoming new take on Batman. If for no other reason than I am, at the very least, a fan of Matt Reeves as a director, and do enjoy watching his work. I still would be more interested in this movie if Ben Affleck were still in charge, but that's all in the past now. Let bygones be bygones. Maybe there is a chance of this film turning out better than I fear, or it could just be another dud on arrival. In any case, we won't find out until next year. Until then, I'm going to try my best to reserve judgment. Here's hoping I will be able to see it in theaters by the time it comes out.
Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm, thank you all for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment