The Dark Knight Rises You Have My Permission To Lounge - Part 7

[The Shape]

Nope. The entire film takes place in there.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

So... Evil Dead style?

 

[Shikamaru]

I disagree. You could watch Logan without seeing previous films and understand and enjoy it. Just like TDK. There's a couple of references but it's nothing huge.

The R rating is really the only thing that makes it less accessible. But it's not made for a specific type of fan. If you're over a certain age, you can sit back and enjoy the film for what it is. A good character driven action movie with more of a western backdrop. Like TDK Trilogy films, this one concentrated on being a good movie rather than a good superhero movie.

It's not just because of the R rating. It's less accessible because it's innately not an action blockbuster.

Often many directors in Hollywood will have to "choose to serve one of two masters", as James Cameron would put it, and pick between aiming for a BO hit or a Best Picture nom. The genius of films like TDK and Terminator 2 is that they manage to capture the best of both worlds. They're "heavy" in the Oscar sense, but still capture the positives of blockbuster films: captivating the audience with effects, having a marketable action hero and villain, etc. (Yes, technically they never got nominated for Best Picture, but it's a very popular belief they should have).

Logan isn't like that at all. It's "heavy" with a character that just happens to have shown up in action blockbusters. Jackman and Stewart aren't played up as blockbuster larger-than-life entities, they've never been played more "regular" (Bale still kinda was despite the more grounded take). It's as if they wrote a drama/Western script where they took out the main character and added in Wolverine.

Also I'm not saying most people won't like it, but I do think there will be a lot of people confused by it. Most will probably still ultimately enjoy it but they might find cringe at the violence or the disturbing themes. I'm not exaggerating when I say that btw. The movie, while I loved it, also partly disturbed me. It still disturbs me thinking about it now. It's what it was trying to do, which shows it did its job, but still.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Nope. The entire film takes place in there.

Honestly, I'd love a JL or Avengers "one location" film where the characters have nothing to do but interact / bicker with each other. Think that Helicarrier sequence with the Scepter, but extended to 2 hours. in 15 years we might just get something similar.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Nope. The entire film takes place in there.

The hateful six.

 

[Shikamaru]

So I don't know if this has been discussed before, but where do Batfans here stand on Mask of the Phantasm? Where would it rank quality wise with the live-action films?

After all this time, I still think it's up there with the Nolan films. It might not have the political complexity they do, but I think all the character stuff they do with Batman is on equal footing.

Supposedly I'm not the only one who thinks this, but I don't hear many other people mentioning it. It's interesting what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Over time, the film has become a beloved cult hit. In a 2010 list, IGN ranked Mask of the Phantasm as the 25th best animated film of all time.[27] Total Film named Mask of the Phantasm the 47th greatest animated film out of 50 in 2011.[28] That same year, Time ranked Phantasm as one of the 10 best superhero films ever.[29] In 2010, IGN stated it was "the Dark Knight's best big screen story" until Batman Begins (2005).[30] Wired's Scott Thill called Kevin Conroy "the finest Batman on record" in 2009.[31] In October 2012, WhatCulture also praised the film, saying it was at the same level as Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy, if not slightly higher.[32] In 2016, the popular Internet reviewer Nostalgia Critic reviewed the film and called it the best ever cinematic representation of Batman, as well as it being completely underrated and deserving of a Blu-Ray release.[33]

Other that the "slightly higher than The Dark Knight Trilogy" part, I think the rest is deserving. Agree or disagree?

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I'll have to watch it again to see if I will like it. So far the only DCAU film I enjoy is Return of the Joker.

 

[Chip Chipperson]

It's a lovely film

Extremely successful in terms of an original story being accepted by so many.

 

[The Joker]

MOTP is one of the all time greats.

 

[Slade W]

It is still my favourite animated Batman movie.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Meh. It's very dull.........BECAUSE IT WILL NEVER LEAVE THE TOP OF THE GOAT BATMAN MOVIE LISTS. It won't excitingly move up and down the lists of greatness. It won't be promiscuous to timely contexts. It will always remain boringly still in GREATNESS.

 

[Kane52630]

Rank wise? Mask of the Phantasm will always cements its position at the top for me. It's better than the Burtonverse and the Nolanverse.

 

[shauner111]

I haven't seen it in a while but I usually put it neck and neck with TDK. Some days I say it's my favorite batman movie of all time. Now I need to see it again !

 

[Tacit Ronin]

It's to the movie's credit that it got me to tolerate the idea of Bruce Wayne giving up on his mission because of a woman simply because it was so well done.

Yes, you could say the same about TDK, but Nolan's Bruce always wanted to settle down. Rachel was just symbolic of that purpose. But not before he could clean up the city. He wasn't thinking about giving up before even starting the mission because a woman just came into his life.

 

[Slade W]

People who defend the DCEU say that it is because risks are taken and they have characters do and say things that fans do not like, but fans can get on board with plenty of things if the are done well.

 

[BatLobster]

MOTP is up there. It's hard for me to rank it against the live action films, just cause I always separate two. But despite the medium it's still extremely cinematic and is this beautiful little tragic romance noir in the Batman franchise. I got to see it on the big screen for the first time this past fall, which was a great experience.

It's too bad none of the other Timm-verse films lived up to MOTP's greatness, although Return of the Joker is definitely quite good. Just not MOTP good. A proper trilogy of animated films of MOTP's quality could have been something else.

 

[titansupes]

Watched it on Netflix a year or two back and didn't like it. Took me two or three sittings to get through due to sheer boredom, too.

 

[BaelaTargaryen]

El Mayimbe claims that WB wants to make an R-rated DC movie.

http://www.thewrap.com/dc-films-r-rated-superhero-movie/

 

[shauner111]

Phantasm was on Netflix!?

Maaan, the animation, score and voice acting...and Andrea is just so likable. Crazy how you were bored. That's surprising. I usually only hear people raving about how good it is. I also saw it a lot when i was a child so that helps with the feels.

As for the Warner *****es wanting a R-Rated film. Well, duh. They jumped on the bandwagon for this shared universe once Avengers was all the rage. Of course they would try to copty the Deadpool/Logan formula. No surprise anyway, since Suicide Squad 2, Gotham City Sirens will probably be rated R. With Black Mask as the villain for GCS, why not?

 

[I Am The Knight]

titansupes, please

El Mayimbe claims that WB wants to make an R-rated DC movie.

So BvS: DoJ don't count?

 

[Kane52630]

that boy aint right.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Of course. WB wants to jump on the newest bandwagon.

 

[Kane52630]

well yeah, they want to be edgy and cool.

 

[StarLord]

It's all part of the plan!

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I saw Mask of the Phantasm again, and I'm significantly more appreciative of it now.
I guess it's due to the emotional scars left behind from watching that garbage tossed our ways last year, and the extended edition that ended up being worse. Trash has a way of making classics look better.