..Of the big Black Bat ?
So what does Wes Craven the director of horror movies have to do with Batman? Read on to find out..
A look back at Christopher Nolans Dark Knight trilogy:
In the pantheon of comic book movies director Christopher Nolans Batman trilogy will go down as one of the all time classics .
Batman Begins
"It's not who you are underneath. It's what you do that defines you."
Batman Begins is an above average movie, beyond the fact that it reintroduced Batmans origin it had a few good bits which were a nod to Frank Millers brilliant Batman: Year one. It also introduces movie viewers to one of the comics major villans: Ras Al Ghul played by Liam Neeson
It returned to what is a recurring theme in the Batman books; that he is a deeply scarred individual and there is only a fine line between him and his enemies.
Dark Knight
Fast forward a few years and we have what is probably one of the greatest movies of all times. The Dark Knight starring Heath Ledger as the Joker is a brilliant mixture of several movie genres wrapped in a comic book movie. It is part gangster, part serial killer wrapped up in a story about society and chaos. In this scene stealing sequence you have Batman brutally interrogating the Joker. In the end you come to the spine chilling realisation that it was the joker who was playing with Batman.
Here you have it all, a nod to the comics, the joker does not want to kill Batman (because who would he have to play with ?) , the jokers belief that given the right incentives people and society will break the very laws and rules they hold so dear. The nod to chaos versus order is played out in one exchange of dialogue between Bruce Wayne and his butler Alfred (played brilliantly by Michael Caine)
Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.
Bruce Wayne : Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. Just have to figure out what he's after.
Alfred Pennyworth : With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that *you* don't fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
Bruce Wayne : So why steal them?
Alfred Pennyworth : Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
The Curse of the 3-qel:
Finally we come to the end of Nolans trilogy, the Dark Knight rises faced a real challenge. First was the announcement of the villan: Bane.
Bane was introduced in the comics nearly twenty years ago, as a super strong enemy, of Batman whom literally breaks his back in a series called Knightsfall. Since then he had just not been done right in the movies or the comics. It was a bold choice by the creative team, who could have gone for the more well known character like the Riddler ?
More importantly comic book trilogies like X men and Spiderman had not ended on a high. So how would the team manage the raised expectations and the challenge of repeating the success of Dark Knight?
Here is where Wes Craven comes in, in Scream 3 he outlines what to expect from the concluding part in a trilogy.
Scream 3 - Rules for the concluding chapter of a trilogy
-The killer is going to be superhuman. Stabbing won't work. Shooting won't work. In the third one, you have to cryogenically freeze his head, decapitate him, or blow him up.
- Anyone, including the main character, can die.
-The past will come back to bite you in the ass. Any sins committed in the past are about to break out and destroy you.
-Basically..In the third movie, all bets are off.
And that my friend is what the Dark Knight rises does hands down! The movie is long and does have some obvious story gaps but it fails by comparison but not on its own. Tom Hardy as Bane is the opposite of the Joker. He is a cold cruel killing machine merciless and very Darth Vaderesque. All in all this is a movie that despite its flaws stands on its own right and is a worthy conclusion to the trilogy.
Finally when all is said and done and regardless of your views of the Dark Knight Rises. The fact is Warner Bros will eventually get around to remaking Batman once again. When they do you have to pity the team that has to top this trilogy and a word to the wise: they should remember Wes Cravens final rule
You forgot one rule about remakes. You don't f**k with the original.
All pictures and videos copyright Warner Bros
So what does Wes Craven the director of horror movies have to do with Batman? Read on to find out..
A look back at Christopher Nolans Dark Knight trilogy:
In the pantheon of comic book movies director Christopher Nolans Batman trilogy will go down as one of the all time classics .
Batman Begins
"It's not who you are underneath. It's what you do that defines you."
Batman Begins is an above average movie, beyond the fact that it reintroduced Batmans origin it had a few good bits which were a nod to Frank Millers brilliant Batman: Year one. It also introduces movie viewers to one of the comics major villans: Ras Al Ghul played by Liam Neeson
 |
| The definitive Ras Al Ghul tale is Batman: Son of the Demon |
It returned to what is a recurring theme in the Batman books; that he is a deeply scarred individual and there is only a fine line between him and his enemies.
Dark Knight
Fast forward a few years and we have what is probably one of the greatest movies of all times. The Dark Knight starring Heath Ledger as the Joker is a brilliant mixture of several movie genres wrapped in a comic book movie. It is part gangster, part serial killer wrapped up in a story about society and chaos. In this scene stealing sequence you have Batman brutally interrogating the Joker. In the end you come to the spine chilling realisation that it was the joker who was playing with Batman.
Here you have it all, a nod to the comics, the joker does not want to kill Batman (because who would he have to play with ?) , the jokers belief that given the right incentives people and society will break the very laws and rules they hold so dear. The nod to chaos versus order is played out in one exchange of dialogue between Bruce Wayne and his butler Alfred (played brilliantly by Michael Caine)
Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.
Bruce Wayne : Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. Just have to figure out what he's after.
Alfred Pennyworth : With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that *you* don't fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
Bruce Wayne : So why steal them?
Alfred Pennyworth : Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
The Curse of the 3-qel:
Finally we come to the end of Nolans trilogy, the Dark Knight rises faced a real challenge. First was the announcement of the villan: Bane.
Bane was introduced in the comics nearly twenty years ago, as a super strong enemy, of Batman whom literally breaks his back in a series called Knightsfall. Since then he had just not been done right in the movies or the comics. It was a bold choice by the creative team, who could have gone for the more well known character like the Riddler ?
 |
| Jim Carrey as the Riddler |
More importantly comic book trilogies like X men and Spiderman had not ended on a high. So how would the team manage the raised expectations and the challenge of repeating the success of Dark Knight?
Here is where Wes Craven comes in, in Scream 3 he outlines what to expect from the concluding part in a trilogy.
-The killer is going to be superhuman. Stabbing won't work. Shooting won't work. In the third one, you have to cryogenically freeze his head, decapitate him, or blow him up.
- Anyone, including the main character, can die.
-The past will come back to bite you in the ass. Any sins committed in the past are about to break out and destroy you.
-Basically..In the third movie, all bets are off.
And that my friend is what the Dark Knight rises does hands down! The movie is long and does have some obvious story gaps but it fails by comparison but not on its own. Tom Hardy as Bane is the opposite of the Joker. He is a cold cruel killing machine merciless and very Darth Vaderesque. All in all this is a movie that despite its flaws stands on its own right and is a worthy conclusion to the trilogy.
Finally when all is said and done and regardless of your views of the Dark Knight Rises. The fact is Warner Bros will eventually get around to remaking Batman once again. When they do you have to pity the team that has to top this trilogy and a word to the wise: they should remember Wes Cravens final rule
You forgot one rule about remakes. You don't f**k with the original.
All pictures and videos copyright Warner Bros
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