See, what bugs me is this notion that anyone who likes a creative decision or the look of a character can't actualy like it, but in fact they are only pretending to like it out of blind devotion to Christopher Nolan.
It just seems so convenient. "Oh, I've never seen Bane as being a bug guy" ********. They just don't care because they are more interested in Nolan's ideas than the character, which is fine, just don't pretend that those who are more interested in the characters are wrong.
Calling anyone who likes something you don't like "apologists" is just as ridiculous as calling anyone who hates something you like saboteurs who are just willing the movie to fail because they secretly hate Batman.
But that's the thing, I like this Bane, provided that steps are made to make Hardy taller, which seems to be the case.
I don't know how "revisionist" this history is, but I remember a lot of discussions on the Batboards in the past:
Ra's is the wrong ethnicity (first with Watanabe, then when we found out he was played by Neeson), he's going to be unrecognisable as Ra's al Ghul!
Liam Neeson's performance is generally well received.
Ra's ethnicity has always been ambiguous in the comics. But Neeson resembled Ra's so it worked.
They got some pretty boy kid to play Jonathan Crane! And he isn't even dressed like a Scarecrow! It's nothing like the Scarecrow from the comics!
Cillian Murphy gives us a convincing portrayal of Scarecrow that totally captures the spirit of how he is in the comics.
Scarecrow had the mask, which has always been the main point of his constantly changing design. Murphy's appearance made sense when it turned out he has a talent for looking completely insane.
Heath Ledger's too young! He's too chubby! No way he'll be physically convincing as The Joker!
Then when we got pics of him....
The Joker is supposed to be permawhite! The Joker's hair looks more blonde than green! The Joker doesn't have scars! The Joker's supposed to be classy, not like this hobo Joker! Where are all the prank-themed gadgets? Knives? LAME! JINO! JINO!
Yeah, some fans are too early to jump the gun. In the end, all of those things were present in the character, and it was a quite faithful, albeit different, adaptation.
But I also remember the arguments against the complaints. Like how it was obvious that the Joker would wear a black trenchcoat, purple would never work in Nolan's universe. How he has never relied on gadgets, that he was never classy, which were all lies. I think that's worse than petty complaints. If it's so certain that things will turn out fine, then why spend so much time defending them? People just need to wait and see.
Can't comment too much on Two-Face, as so much about him was kept under wraps right up until the movie's release. But you get the idea. I've seen this time and time again over the course of this franchise, people panicking that Nolan doesn't have a clue about these characters, that the look is so wrong that there's no way the essence of the character can possibly be captured. If you dare try to defend this crap, you're a blind fanboy sheep apologist. And time and time again, these people are proven wrong.
You know who else are proven wrong? The apologists that say the comic version will never work, and then Nolan delivers an interpretation closer to the comic than they thought. I'm glad you brought up Two-Face. The apologists had already come up with reasons why his comic appearance would never work. And then Nolan delivered a perfect Two-Face.
In the end, it's just a giant circle of stupidity, but I respect the whiny purists more, because at least they have their priorities straight, the apologists change their tastes to suit the needs of what they are defending.
