Nolan's Batman, drained of fun?

[Optimus_Prime_]

Originally Posted by Daniel Thompson

Most of the film felt like a crime drama imo. You have the cat and mouse game between the detective(batman) and criminal(joker). I mean before Joker became a terrorists in the film he was just a bank robber. Film felt like a crime drama despite some stuff that we know could not happen in real life because the law does not work that way.

I agree. Until the Joker become the God of chaos there if definitely resembled a crime drama.

[Squaremaster316]

I hope they go even further with the "dark tones" future installments. Nolan's films are by far the most refreshing additions to an overall stale and dull genre of films (CBM's).

Let's hope the next director gives the next Bat film something akin to a "Mystic River" treatment.

[CConn]

Stale and dull?

Scott Pilgrim, Sin City, Kick-Ass, The Avengers, Watchmen, Stardust, and X-Men: First Class were stale and dull?

[Steve Sanders]

Originally Posted by Blitzkrieg Bop

I think Nolan is a terrific action director and both his Batman movies, especially the sequel, are fun.

amen to that.I have a bad feeling about The Dark Kinght Rises though.

[Captain_Obvious]

I prefer Batman at his unfunniest.
Dark and miserable is my cup of tea.


lol BTAS was the darkest cartoon I ever watched tbh - thats some serious animated business.

[Dark Knight Fan]

Not at all. TDK could have used a little more, but it might have repercussions to the film because of its dark theme.

BB
- The tumbler
- First appearance of Bats
- Flass and Bats scene
- Police chase
- Bats taking down Ras and his men

TDK
- Any Joker scene

[lancimouspitt]

Originally Posted by CConn

...Arkham City?

Haha. My bad. That game is branded on my mind.

[shadowknyght]

Batman isn't supposed to be fun. Christopher Nolan has done a great job of making Batman the way it always should've been. Just because we saw the Tim Burton Batman first, doesn't mean that, that's the way Batman should be. There is nothing bizarre about Batman, there is nothing whimsical about him either. He is a dark character. He doesn't joke around. He's serious. He's always been serious. My only issue with Batman is the same issue I have with all of DC's secret identity characters. Christian Bale makes a great Batman, but he's a pretty crappy Bruce Wayne. Which is probably why they focus so much on him being the Bat. Brandon Routh is a pretty good Superman, but a pretty crappy Clark Kent. Maybe it's just that I'm so used to seeing Tom Welling do it, but Tom Welling did a pretty decent job at both Clark and Superman. Maybe now that Brandon Routh hasn't killed over after playing Superman, Tom Welling would be willing to give it a shot.

[Ethan al Ghul]

The dark atmosphere of the trilogy is why I love it so much. I dark is realistic and provides for the great acting, action, and the emotional movement and attachment to the charecters.
To conquer fear, you must become fear. You must bask in the fear of other men. Ra's al ghul

[Cain]

Originally Posted by shadowknyght

Batman isn't supposed to be fun.

Wrong.

There is nothing bizarre about Batman, there is nothing whimsical about him either.

Wrong and wrong.

He doesn't joke around. He's serious. He's always been serious.

Wrong.

I take it you're not much of a comic book reader at all.

[JAK®]

Batman himself is serious and his world is dark and macabre but that doesn't mean the stories aren't fun to experience.

Keep in mind that he is still a grown man who dresses up as a superhero. A certain amount of levity needs to be present to make it work.

[Cain]

Batman being serious is possibly the most overstated wrong assumption I've seen repeated all over this thread. Makes it seem like many here are only really familiar with the movie Batman (who has also quipped in costume from the Burton to the Nolan movies) but this is a guy who has been quipping in comic books since 1939. Even Frank Miller's Batman which many find synonymous with the term "grimdark" cracked jokes. I'm not saying he's Spider-Man or Johnny Storm now but he's not some overtly serious fellow either who could never seem to crack a smile under the cowl. He's a human being; he too has a light side to him.

[JAK®]

Originally Posted by Cain

Batman being serious is possibly the most overstated wrong assumption I've seen repeated all over this thread. Makes it seem like many here are only really familiar with the movie Batman (who has also quipped in costume from the Burton to the Nolan movies) but this is a guy who has been quipping in comic books since 1939. Even Frank Miller's Batman which many find synonymous with the term "grimdark" cracked jokes. I'm not saying he's Spider-Man or Johnny Storm now but he's not some overtly serious fellow either who could never seem to crack a smile under the cowl. He's a human being; he too has a light side to him.

No, Batman is a serious man. He has a sense of humour like most human beings but even that itself is more cynical than most. He must be a serious man because he has devoted his life fighting crime to avenge his dead parents.

In fact most scenes depicting his sense of humour reflect his serious nature and are portrayed as cracks in his normally stoic demeanour.

I suppose 'stoic' is a better word to use rather than serious, actually. I think we can both agree that Batman is stoic.

I think BTAS and JLU are the best representations of Batman's personality. He is straight-faced and serious but he's not moping around and being sad either. As JLU progresses he becomes more relaxed and hopeful. But he is still the group's 'straight man'.

[Destructus86]

I don't think Nolan drained the fun out of Batman....I thing his over-emphasis on realism drained Batman of it's mystery.

Maybe mystery isn't the right word....

Go play the Arkham games...that's the Batman I like.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by JAK®

I suppose 'stoic' is a better word to use rather than serious, actually. I think we can both agree that Batman is stoic.

Yeah I guess it's more appropriate though still not quite on the mark if only because he has let his guard down and expressed emotions (like smiling and being jovial) openly even while in the cowl. So I don't think he's emotionally repressed enough to be labeled as being stoic; at least in the comics. But yeah I do feel the TAS universe Batman is still the closest we've gotten to really capturing the character to the fullest in any media adaptation. The way they handled the humor with playing "straight man" and being sarcastic was on the money and a nice touch.

[TruerToTheCore]

David V. Reed could tell you something about a funny Batman.

[Cain]

Originally Posted by TruerToTheCore

David V. Reed could tell you something about a funny Batman.

The man in your avatar might have known a thing or two about that as well

[TruerToTheCore]

I really love listening to those Hype posters trying to talk tough. They make me laugh. If Bob Haney was here, he'd laugh too.

[Gale]

I personally find it a great balance between dark and fun, but then again some people might not find the Joker as fun as I do

[Frodo]

Batman films are fun event films and I think the Batman films which work tone wise are the ones that can balance the serious moments with the fun popcorn action sequences like Batman 89, BB, TDK, and even BF . The Batman films which tend to miss the mark imo are the ones which place emphasis on the tone and let the fun aspect fall by the waste side. Imo BR and TDKR fall into that category. As far as whether Bruce Wayne is serious or not , I would say yes in regards to his mission, but he's not all doom and gloom all the time , at least in the films.

In fact, I would argue that Bale's Bruce Wayne had much more a sense of humor and levity than Keaton or Kilmer's Bruce Waynes did, at least in BB and TDK. As Batman he's serious but its not like Bruce doesn't joke with Alfred, Rachel and Lucius. Keaton and Kilmer's Batman/Bruce Wayne were the ones which seemed to be serious 24/7 , with the exception of Kilmers Batman smile and a few lighter moments with Keaton's Batman.

[66 Face]

I think the Nolan films are fun but just not in a Marvel way. Thank god... You just can't think of them along the same lines as those movies and more like a James Bond movie.

The thing is that the humor is sort of adult too. IMO the funniest part of the series is "Drunken millionaire Burns Down Home" along with quips from The Joker, Alfred and Bruce Wayne. I'm not sure if that wry sense of humor went over well with kids but its still humor.

I'm actually hoping that future DC movies go closer to what Nolan did as well as movies like Planet of the Apes and Avatar. They're scifi movies first and then we get some humor and a lighter tone. Maybe a Flash movie doesn't work like a Nolan movie but it better not even come close to GL.

[PSYLENTGuardian]

I actually found TDKR to be the most fun out of the three, thanks to the levity of some pieces of dialogue and of some scenes.

[darthneo64]

Again, Bruce Wayne, Batman does not exist in a world with a lot of levity, if so, he would eventually lose his ANGER and no longer be Batman...

Batman needs a dark, criminal filled world to feed his mission...

[dark_b]

Originally Posted by 66 Face

I think the Nolan films are fun but just not in a Marvel way. Thank god... You just can't think of them along the same lines as those movies and more like a James Bond movie.

The thing is that the humor is sort of adult too. IMO the funniest part of the series is "Drunken millionaire Burns Down Home" along with quips from The Joker, Alfred and Bruce Wayne. I'm not sure if that wry sense of humor went over well with kids but its still humor.

I'm actually hoping that future DC movies go closer to what Nolan did as well as movies like Planet of the Apes and Avatar. They're scifi movies first and then we get some humor and a lighter tone. Maybe a Flash movie doesn't work like a Nolan movie but it better not even come close to GL.

what do you mean?

[Optimus_Prime_]

TDKR was actually fun. I was not as impressed with TDKR as I was with both the first two, yet I felt it was the most fun. It's kind of a dark comedy in a way. Bane is very over the top, like a wrestler on WWE, which is befitting such a presence. Talia's freak out is kind of silly-crazy. Catwoman is just an outrageously glorious b**** to everyone and everything. There's even some unintentional hilarity and I began to wonder whether that was simply adding to the fun. To me there was something very fun and slight wry and funny about this last movie.