When I Am Legend opened last Friday, I scrambled to see the very first IMAX showing, at one in the afternoon. I was so desperate to see the movie that I considered forgetting about IMAX and seeing the 10:30 AM show, just because it seemed like a better option than waiting two and a half hours, but then I got a hold of myself. When I sat down in the IMAX theater and struck up conversations with the excellent folk around me, the first question I got asked was, "Are you here for Legend or for Batman?"
What?
And then I remembered that there was supposed to be this intense IMAX The Dark Knight excerpt that Christopher Nolan had put together that only a privileged few would get to see. I had completely forgotten about that, and here I was about to see it, inadvertently. (I told my seat-mates about myself and octopunk taking long lunch breaks and buying tickets to Meet Joe Black just to the Phantom Menace preview. Memories...) Anyway, as I posted before, the six-minute Dark Knight prologue is so incredible that it will "make you feel like you're high even if your're not." As proof, here's the inevitable low-quality handycam bootleg, which even in this totally gelded form has people going bananas. Watch it, or don't watch it; you'll see it eventually. I recommend hitting the IMAX to see real thing. What's that? You don't have an IMAX theater eight measly blocks (a five-minute walk) from your house? Oh well. Too bad. I guess you live in a concrete-and-cactus wasteland that is magically devoid of snow this time of year. My condolences.
P.S. I feel like the only person who was completely aware at the time of how ridiculous Jack Nicholson's Joker was. Suddenly everyone's coming out of the woodwork yelling about how this new version is obviously the "real" Joker done "right" but back in 1989 there were maddenly few objections to Tim Burton's vision of a fat, mincing, prancing, wax-lips-wearing birthday-party-magician who -- gasp -- poisons Gotham's hairspray supply and -- gasp -- puts on a fun parade. (And dances around to Prince songs; don't forget that little detail. Remember Nicholson dancing around?) In the permanent candy-coated toy store inside Burton's mind (where the same capering figure is the protagonist of every single movie, most often played by Johnny Depp in pancake makeup), that's what a "menacing" supervillian is like. Anyway, it looks like we've all (or, everyone else has) wised up.
12 comments:
What a great Horrorthon news day! I'm still a little skeptical about this Joker but hopefully the trailer will allay my fears. For example, what's with the smudged lisptick? He obviously cares about his appearance based on his snappy outfit. Is he trying to look slutty?
You have bear in mind that when the first Batman movie came out, there was nothing like it. Superman was the only real big screen superhero in town so I thought the gothic Tim Burton look was a real treat. I still maintain that Batman is a damn solid movie overall and I have no problems with Nicholson's performance, though now that you mention it, he was kinda fat and mincing wasn't he?
Damnit, I'll have to watch this later, I can't get it at work. I'm pumped by the trailer though!
It's an interesting movie, no doubt. I watched it last month out of curiosity right after watching Batman Begins. It's so old by now that the years give it a nostalgic soulful quality. And I still think Michael Keaton's performance is excellent.
But it's just all wrong, and I said so at the time. I remember coming out of the theater with my friend Josh, who loved it, and he said, "Come on; nobody's ever created a fictional, fantastical city like that one." I said, "Blade Runner." That shut him up. It was a comic book movie made by people who didn't seem to think that making a movie of the material you read in a comic book was worth doing, and therefore decided to do something else. Yes, it's a fantastical conceit all its own, and Burton's Gotham City is a strange, beautiful confection along the lines of Maurice Sendak or Dr. Seuss or The Wizard of Oz, but those of us who wanted to see a movie of Batman (especially in the wake of Frank Miller's Dark Knight and Alan Moore's The Killing Joke) were terribly disappointed. All the critics were doing their usual idiotic routine of "Oooh! It's dark! that's so brilliant!" (which really means that they've never been anywhere near the source material and are basing their critique on Adam West television episodes). The thing definitely is an arresting cultural oddity, and a portrait of a very strange time (the first year of the first Bush presidency; I remember it well) but as Batman it's a bust.
Also, viz. the smudged makeup: the thing to remember about the Joker is that he's nuts. He's got this completely operatic craziness that somehow combines egomaniacal theatricality, Chaplin-level comedic genius, and a complete and utter contempt for human life. The wanted signs in The Killing Joke show the Joker's face with an enormous warning that says "DANGEROUS: DO NOT APPROACH." He kills people without even looking (which happens in the IMAX prologue; I loved that bit). In The Dark Knight, one of his interior monologues goes, "You could line the bodies up in geometric shapes like an endless June Taylor dance routine and it would never be enough." "Some people just want to watch the world burn," Michael Caine tells Christian Bale in the other trailer's voice-over. That's why he's Batman's bete noire: he's a doppelganger; a freak who wants to kill innocents as much as Batman wants to save them. Tim Burton understands none of this. All he understands is adolescent alienation.
Just reading your prose has gotten me SO PUMPED to see this!
Dammit Jordan - when you're right, you're right!
(I was admittedly one of those people who said "Oooh. It's dark! That's so brilliant!" And though I had read the Dark Knight graphic novels, I refused to recognize their brilliance. I was still swearing my undying allegiance to the Marvel universe.)
You also somehow managed to sum up every single Tim Burton movie in 2 words. Sigh.
I can't wait to see it!
That first movie has some game but it's a weird take on Batman that I never for one second wanted to consider the "real" take that a live-action movie often seems to represent.
Batman is a myth big enough for multiple interpretations, and he has more than most.
When I think of MY favorite cinematic Joker, it's the animated one voiced by Mark Hamill. But Heath Ledger seems to have found the right vibe for this gritty, realer Batman.
Just to make this tricker, I also think that Batman is a particularly badly made movie.
Tim Burton doesn't have much technical skill as a director. (He's more of a production designer.) I read an interview where Burton huffed, "I'm not interested in 'What a great shot.'" (I wonder why.)
The years have not been kind to Burton's lack of filmmaking chops. Watch the leaden "Wayne Manor party sequence" or any of the "battles" in Batman and you're seeing television-level directing. The matte paintings and sets and production design in general is, of course, notable and skillfully done, but he's a very flatfooted director with a very pedestrian style. Christopher Nolan, on the other hand, knows how to direct; moving the camera, use the correct lens, lighting etc. and the contrast is profound.
I finally got around to watching it and was greeted by "This video is no longer available".
For all of you batman fans out there. I definitely recommend Batman - The Movie (1966).
If you want a trite joker, look no further :)
Also, its EXTREMELY funny. In not only a " this has to look as much like a comic book as possible" way but also in a " the actors realise how stupid they must look so they are clearly making fun of themselves".
(Yay X-mas soon!)
I picked up a nice bootleg set of every single episode of the Batman 1966 series, I love it!
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