Bat-goodness
Jul. 20th, 2005 02:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kingandyLast night was great, dinner and a movie with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
myki. (and queenbiff. But that's not as funny.)
BatmanBeyondReturnsBegins is the movie we saw and I enjoyed it, though Aubrey is absolutely correct. On the positive side at least he was not rewarded with sex as is more common in wholesome family movies; all he got for his troubles was a snog and a promise. A much more realistic reaction to a creepy vigilante who dresses as a bat than, say, Vicki Vale in the first Burton movie. Yes, this is a man with whom to build a lasting relationship.
My enjoyment of the film was massively increased by the subterfuge regarding the identity of Ra's Al Ghul. At first I thought maybe I'd just forgotten, or somehow missed it, but upon viewing the credits - and the IMDB - I see that there was some genuine misdirection on the part of the studio. Even to the point of the merchandising. In fact, unless you speak to somebody who's seen the film (or read internet spoilers), it seems you have no way of accidentally finding out beforehand. I heartily applaud the studio for engaging in a lie on that scale. You don't often get that moment of revelation in a movie these days. (I still curse New Line/Warner Brothers for putting Gandalf's "BTW I'm Not Dead" in the actual trailer for Two Towers. Yes, most people will have known, but come on, the trailer?)
The funny part is, when I heard of Ken Watanabe's casting I was quite disappointed. Ra's Al Ghul is not oriental. I thought I could see some shape of why they would change that (well, firstly they wanted to cast Ken Watanabe, and secondly maybe they thought it would seem too faddish to have an arabic villain in the current climate), but I didn't agree with it. This new Al Ghul could never be more than a pale imitation of the animated series incarnation voiced by Mr David Warner. Then, watching the movie, I regarded Neeson with a slight sadness, thinking that he would make a much better Ra's than Watanabe ever could. He had the right voice, the right sophistication. He even had the right beard.
God, I can be stupid sometimes.
I think another sign of the craftsmanship of the movie was that they didn't belabour anything that wasn't directly important to the plot. Where other Batman movies have gone to great lengths to include an origin story for each and every villain - which was fair enough, as the villains were more or less the point of those movies; a new villain appears to threaten Batman oh what will happen - here things are coyly understated. "We sacked Rome," says Ra's, "we burned London." And all the fanboys are smiling to themselves, grinning and thinking, "When he says we..."
So, yeah, good movie. Of course, if anybody tries to say that Lucius Fox does not know, they are only lying to themselves. That man is clearly no fool and he'd basically have to be.
I think, personally, I would have made a couple more nods to the eager fans, like maybe giving Young Bruce one or two more friends in the opening sequence, and maybe calling one of them Tommy. But maybe that would have been too much.
myki. (and queenbiff. But that's not as funny.)Batman
My enjoyment of the film was massively increased by the subterfuge regarding the identity of Ra's Al Ghul. At first I thought maybe I'd just forgotten, or somehow missed it, but upon viewing the credits - and the IMDB - I see that there was some genuine misdirection on the part of the studio. Even to the point of the merchandising. In fact, unless you speak to somebody who's seen the film (or read internet spoilers), it seems you have no way of accidentally finding out beforehand. I heartily applaud the studio for engaging in a lie on that scale. You don't often get that moment of revelation in a movie these days. (I still curse New Line/Warner Brothers for putting Gandalf's "BTW I'm Not Dead" in the actual trailer for Two Towers. Yes, most people will have known, but come on, the trailer?)
The funny part is, when I heard of Ken Watanabe's casting I was quite disappointed. Ra's Al Ghul is not oriental. I thought I could see some shape of why they would change that (well, firstly they wanted to cast Ken Watanabe, and secondly maybe they thought it would seem too faddish to have an arabic villain in the current climate), but I didn't agree with it. This new Al Ghul could never be more than a pale imitation of the animated series incarnation voiced by Mr David Warner. Then, watching the movie, I regarded Neeson with a slight sadness, thinking that he would make a much better Ra's than Watanabe ever could. He had the right voice, the right sophistication. He even had the right beard.
God, I can be stupid sometimes.
I think another sign of the craftsmanship of the movie was that they didn't belabour anything that wasn't directly important to the plot. Where other Batman movies have gone to great lengths to include an origin story for each and every villain - which was fair enough, as the villains were more or less the point of those movies; a new villain appears to threaten Batman oh what will happen - here things are coyly understated. "We sacked Rome," says Ra's, "we burned London." And all the fanboys are smiling to themselves, grinning and thinking, "When he says we..."
So, yeah, good movie. Of course, if anybody tries to say that Lucius Fox does not know, they are only lying to themselves. That man is clearly no fool and he'd basically have to be.
I think, personally, I would have made a couple more nods to the eager fans, like maybe giving Young Bruce one or two more friends in the opening sequence, and maybe calling one of them Tommy. But maybe that would have been too much.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-20 03:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-20 03:47 pm (UTC)Though of course it should have been pronounced Raysh, at least according to the animated series. (And I would have liked to hear him refer to Batman as "Detective" at least once, even if he didn't actually do very much detecting. He could have done it all ironic like.)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-20 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-20 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-07-20 04:06 pm (UTC)Yes. I wasn't completely happy with Caine's Alfred - I think he would been better with Ian McKellan's voice - but he was still good.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-21 12:50 am (UTC)