THE DARK POST
Here's my batman post! .
How can I NOT talk about Batman? It's impossible. It's just so hard to know where to start. I adored the film. I saw it twice. It was awesome both times! I wouldn't change a damn thing about it.
It wasn't too long. They packed that mother as tight as... you can pack a mother? That turn of phrase gets creepy as it goes further, so let's say the film was clearly made by professionals who understand very well what they're doing. Everything in the film contributed to something else, I'd say.
Is Harvey Dent dead?
I say yes. The movie made it very clear that he's dead and I'm going to make a guess and say they wouldn't just accidentally lose his body with all those officers around. I suppose its possible they locked him up in Arkham, but it's clear from the movie that his arc was complete. His story was the fall of good and order to evil and chaos. The Two Face in the books has often been more of a petty crook who makes random decisions with his coin toss. What Nolan's Two Face is doing is letting the coin take responsibility from him. He's not a bank robber or a gangster - he's a heroic character that was thoroughly fucked up and is just that far off the deep end. Two Face AIN'T comin' back. I'll eat a piece of pie if I'm wrong. Blueberry pie, I don't like blueberries.
Which Joker did I like better?
It's hard to compare the two. Listening to Kevin Smith here brought this to my attention. Both Jokers worked well in their versions of the films. You couldn't switch the two out. Nicholson played the version the script allowed him to really quite well. Fact is, The Dark Knight had better writers. Heath Ledger did an incredible job with a great script. A lot of little subtle things let him take Joker from a homicidal clown to nihilism personified. There is absolutely no meaning in anything, no one is innocent, and there is only chaos. It was beautifully written and then given to an actor who pulled it off flawlessly.
That sort of leads me to my next thing. I heard a few complaints - valid - that BB and TDK are both major sausage festivals, as Skwisgaar Skwigelf of Dethklok would say. Rachel Dawes is literally the only female character in either film. So people asked, why not Harley Quinn?
I feel safe saying that this Joker would absolutely not tolerate any variety of Harley Quinn around him for very long. Joker never interacts with his henchmen directly in any scene in the movie - he sees them as tools. Even if he saw Harley as another blade in his pocket, he'd get tired of her antics shortly and do away with her. Even more than Batman, Joker is a symbol - of chaos, insanity (or hyper sanity?) and absolute evil. Just like Robin would never work in the "Nolanverse," neither would Harley.
So, they hit a high point with Joker. Where to next? This version of Batman is very heavily focused on reality. The Tumbler is a real car that can really do real jumps and really go 120mph. That's how damn real these movies are. Yeah, not everything about them is perfectly real, but nowhere does it venture into the supernatural.
So, talking about villains, Man-Bat is right-out. No way.
Penguin is too goofy for the serious world of Batman. I think Batman Returns got it about as right as you can. I will say that if you did away with the penguin assistants and just made him into a freakish little hunchback crime-lord with a penchant for umbrella-based weaponry, he could work.
Riddler is probably one of the easiest. Like Batman, much of his appeal is based on intellect and his whole narcissism psychosis makes him a viable option. He's a bit too silly still, but I think if they took his need for attention far enough, and pair that with the hunt for batman, you could do a theme about celebrity/fame pretty well.
Bane would be really easy and really boring. The Knightfall arc would take too long for one movie and no one wants to see Christian Bale confined to a wheelchair for 3/4 of the movie.
Killer Croc - this I could see! In the Batman Gotham Knight DVD they explain Croc as a giant man with a really horrible skin condition. The scarecrow has exposed him heavily to his fear toxin to the point where it's permanently warped his mind. He's carved his teeth down to points. I like that the anime had the sense to justify Croc like that.
Catwoman - I think they'd be stupid NOT to have Catwoman in the next movie. It would help with the man-heavy cast for one thing. She's also an interesting character because of her moral ambiguity - she works with batman sometimes and against him sometimes. They have an on-off relationship. Hot on-screen kisses with masks on! Everybody likes making out. Maybe. Anyway, she is NOT the main villain, however. Her crimes are very focused - theft. She's not a killer or a psycho or anything like that. I don't think she's even been to Arkham. You couldn't carry a movie with a caper-based villain. But she could definitely be a major supporting character, someone who begins as an adversary and ends up helping Batman.
The Al Ghul Family - First off, Talia: She's cool in the comics and cartoons, but in comics you sometimes have to fill space. That's Talia. She's a capable woman that stands with Catwoman as a physical and usually mental equal to Batman, but I don't think audiences would take much interest in her. Now, her dad: Ra's, unlike Two Face, could still be alive. Yeah, there's the whole Lazarus Pit thing. Let's ignore that. Batman said, I can't kill you, but I don't have to save you. Maybe Ra's got out, somehow survived? They don't even have to mention the Lazarus Pit. Ra's is just a horribly mysterious, deceptive man and making Batman think he died is not out of the question at all. If Ra's DID come back, then Talia may follow. However, I don't think anyone wants to see the same villain again. Imagine if Bond fought GoldFinger in multiple movies. No one would care.
The last one I'll bring up is Poison Ivy. Yeah, she helps even out the sausage fest. But her power is controlling plants. Literally controlling plants. Hey, plant, go get that thing for me. I mean, yeah, she could be an eco-terrorist and maybe... i don't know, use lots of plant-based poisons and they could have a cool greenhouse fight or something. One possibility that IS appealing here is her whole Seductive Kiss thing. If there's a plant that can make you hallucinate, maybe there's one that can open the victim up to suggestion. This would call on Batman's willpower in the extreme and that could be something, but I think that those are really minor ways of using plants and to fit Ivy into the Nolanverse, you'd have to strip away what makes Poison Ivy tick. I think that would be a disservice both to the character and to the series so far.
Honestly, I'm not entirely sure another movie is necessary. Joker was it.
I know I'll have more to say later, but this is it for now!