The Batman

(And yes, I will continue to use the term “The Batman” for any reference to the Batman character himself. I simply and particularly enjoy the sound of that name.)

Thanks to McGinnis’ good idea, we’ll be tag-teaming this post about The Dark Knight. I’m not sure what his opinion is, yet, but I didn’t really jive with the film. Here are some sketchy details, but stay tuned as we’ll be dueling this out over the next few posts (see what I did there, I just set the rules for this tag-team post):

1. I get sleepy in movie theaters, and 2 1/2 hours is much too long for me. Yeah, superficial, I know, but it honestly effects my viewing pleasure. Now, had Nolan decided to make this film into two, two hour flicks, I feel that the character development this film was lacking could’ve been much greater.
2. This film was lacking character development (hey, is there an echo in here?). Yes, I liked the Joker. He was cool and creepy. I just didn’t like that there was zero anticipation before his entrance. If I were writing this film, I would have made the audiences want to see him, rather than just handing him over in the first freakin’ scene.
3. As a writing instructor, one of the most difficult tasks to teach is how to trim down an excessively long paper. That’s one of the major issues that I felt occurred in this film. Again, making this particular film into a series released quickly after one another might have boosted the storyline into awesome-ness. (Think Kill Bill or Pirates of the Caribbean).
4. “Maybe we could settle it with a talking like this contest.” For you Baldwin/30 Rock fans out there. Jeff and I keep imitating The Batman’s voice. Another superficial point, I know…
5. Too many plots at once, too little time to develop them. Although, in Everything Bad is Good for You the author does indicate that today’s audience needs high cognitive skills to organize the complexity of interwoven plots, etc. Maybe I’m a bit lacking in that department. I only “get” Deleuze (Derrida if it’s a really, really good day).
6. And in a new illness we’re calling Spiderman 3 Syndrome (S3S): too many villians. However, The Batman avoided a song and dance routine (literally), so I’ll give it a few points there…
7. I saw the semi flip over in the preview. I saw The Joker ruin the trust-fund baby party in the preview. I saw the movie in the preview.

I think that’s enough to get this party started…