I went to see the new Batman movie last weekend. Now it was not a bad movie, and I don’t want to give that impression. In my opinion it was also not one of the best movies of all time nor a masterpiece. Maybe I was expecting too much. It was mostly entertaining, which is the prime aim of a comic or superhero movie. And it was very dark, almost too dark. There was little in the way of humor in this movie. I went to see the Avengers again at the $3 theater the day after seeing The Dark Knight, and I found The Avengers, a movie I considered much superior, to be chocked full of humor. Humor made me care for the characters. After two hours of pure darkness I really didn’t care what happened to Batman, or the fine citizens of Gotham City. I just wanted them out of their misery. The Avengers was a longer movie that could have been even longer. The Dark Knight was too long for what they tried to do with the material. People clapped enthusiastically at the end of The Avengers. I was among them. People clapped politely at the end of The Dark Knight, and I was not on board.
One of the major problems with the movie, in my opinion, was the overuse of flashbacks. At one point I thought I was watching a remake of Sleeping With The Enemy. A couple of flashbacks in a film are fine. But too many are just, too many, no other way to say it. And when they did a flashback toward the end of the movie, the climax, totally slowing down the action to present a vignette of the childhood of the villain, I almost lost it. Why, oh why did you have to present such an action breaker right in the middle of the action. I also wondered throughout the movie what had happened to the Batman of old. The one who was so acrobatic and well equipped, with a utility belt of gadgets. All he used in this movie was a batarang (once) and some sleep darts sort of shaped like bats. And he fought like a flat footed slugger. I kind of miss the old representation of Batman.
Before the movie they showed a preview of Man of Steel, the upcoming Superman movie. While watching the scenes of the water and the fishing boat at the beginning I got kind of excited, thinking this might be a movie about Aquaman. But no, it is another reboot of Superman. D C seems to be caught in a cycle of making movies about their two main characters, and only those two. Superman, Batman, Superman, Batman. How many times can we watch different takes on Superman’s upbringing? What about the other heroes of the D C Universe? The Flash, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, The Martian Manhunter. Maybe even the Justice League. Sure, they did a Green Lantern movie, but that was the only deviation from the Superman-Batman franchise. D C could learn a lesson from Marvel, which is now basking in the profits from their multiple hero movies. The Hulk, Thor, Iron-Man, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Captain America, The X-Men and derivatives. They’ve even done Blade and Ghost Rider, and will soon be releasing an Ant-Man movie. And all the while D C is stuck in a rut with their two big headliners. Wonder what the next Batman reboot will be like? Maybe they can get Adam West to play Alfred.