The Dark Knight

By Mr. Blunderson

I am one of those people who adores the fact that Christopher Nolan is working the Batman franchise right now. Even though I had some misgivings about the final third of Batman Begins, it was by far the best Batman movie made so far in my opinion.

Although I am not a serious comic book fan, one of the things I hated, hated, hated about the franchise from 1989-1997 was that every shot was choked by this cartoony ridiculous and claustrophobic Gotham that first came in the form of Tim Burton's standard crooked buildings and evolved into the Joel Schumacher nightmare that I don't even want to discuss without my therapist close by. I couldn't say how true those visions were to the source material, but it was never for me.

-warning, I may be committing comic blasphemy here-

I've felt that Batman could have worked if shot in a gritty, grounded in reality environment. Batman struck a chord with me because the only difference between him and me is his massive set of cahones... and of course his bank statement (that and he probably doesn't need a step ladder to reach stuff on the top shelf). He is one of those super heroes that could exist in the real world... you know like Al Gore.

But I digress...

Superman (1978), despite it's more fantastic elements worked really well for me existing in world that was similar to my own, so imagine my disappointment when I saw Tim Burton's Batman looked liked parts had been filmed on sets left over from Beetlejuice.

Other than the train sequence at the end of Batman Begins, I was blown away by the look Nolan and his creative team brought to the franchise. I can't say enough about the amazing Wally Pfister, who in my opinion is one of the finest cinematographers working today. How many people have been nominated for an Oscar for best Cinematography for a super hero movie? Actually just one besides Wally as far as I can tell (unless Dick Tracy counts as a super hero), and sadly, that was Batman Forever. Wow, I just vomited a little. But you get the idea.

Shame on me for busting out the Oscar angle since I deeply suspect those awards are total crap--that is a tirade for another day, but if you don't believe me about Wally Pfister (and yes, get it out of your system) do yourself a favor and see the movies he's shot, especially Insomnia, and you'll see what I'm getting at.

The only reason for telling you any of this is that a new teaser for The Dark Knight is online and I am giddy as a school boy. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it and enjoy.