I'd love to forward this entire conversation to the woman who complained about Batman Begins in the latest Ebert Answer Man column:
Q. I just saw "Batman Begins" and thought it was OK. There were children at the show, however, and I felt sorry for them because the movie contained nothing that might appeal to 8 years and younger. Why have filmmakers decided to ignore young audiences? Aren't comic books at heart really meant for children?
I'm not saying the movie should have catered to young minds exclusively, but I find it more than a little cruel that the film offers nothing to the age group that made "Batman" a success in the first place. What would the young Roger Ebert have thought of the movie? I think the 8-year-old me would have found it visually confusing and disturbing.
A. Trying to appeal to every possible age group is one of Hollywood's fatal errors. Batman is the darkest of the superheroes, and the recent graphic novels about his life have been intended for teenagers and adults.
One of the reasons the movie is so good is because it deals with the darker side of the character's early life and isn't dumbed down with too many special effects or the clowning of the villains. The young Roger Ebert would, of course, have agreed.
But the criminal was alone with Batman, in Batman's mind. He didn't know he had an audience. No reason to build up the fear there. Technically.
Really? I think if you build up fear in the criminal, then he tells 2 friends, and they tell 2 friends....
Seriously. Batman has to create the I Am The Night (and I Will Fuck You UP, Motherfucker) image.
t edit
Or, what ita said.
However, I still saw no enjoyment of his little hide-and-seek "Here" to the criminal. He wasn't being scary because he *could,* as I see it; he was being scary because it was effective for what he needed to do.
Batman is VERY practical and utilitarian. He's not theatrical; at least, not for the sake of being theatrical. Yes, the whole Bat thing, the cape, etc., *is* dramatic, and Bruce knows it. But he's not doing it to be all theatrical and faaaaabulous; he's doing it because he knows a little theatricality will leave an impression. And if he does it right, that impression is Don't Fuck With The Bat.
Teppy, will you marry me?
If he wants to instill fear in criminals, scaring the bejesus out of one thug with a "boo" and somewhat opening his defenses in the process is not the way to go, I'd say. ESPECIALLY since the thug probably got a better look at him that way. The flying around the ceiling, always just out of site, striking without ever being quite seen is the way he should go, it builds up a mysterious what-the-hell fear thing in large groups of thugs, rather than exposing him immediately as a ninja man in a really cool halloween costume.
I did love the scene, don't get me wrong. But you have to enjoy the reaction if you jump out at somebody and yell "boo" or else why do it? It doesn't really inspire true fear, just startlement.
I just don't see any evidence in Batman Begins (to bring it back to *just* the movie) that Batman gets any joy out of scaring the crap out of Gotham's criminals.
I agree with you. Among many other details, that is a reason why I couldn't care about the Batman I saw onscreen. He was rhetoric and abstracts without enough/any concrete emotion.
Of all the comic book heroes, I expect to care about Batman the most. He's got no magic powers, and he has a tailor-made woobie-worthy backstory. My inability to care about him in this movie suggests that they left out too many of the emotions I recognize. (I don't mean that he was emotionally expressionless; I think that's a standard among many Batmans. But the film itself left out some of the variety of emotion that would have made me able to empathize.)
No reason to build up the fear there. Technically.
Except that the explicitly stated purpose of Batman is to scare criminals. And since he doesn't kill people (mumblecoughcarchasecollateraldamagemumble), he kind of has to be scary all the time. If a criminal lives to say, "Yeah, well when I was alone with him, he wasn't scary, he was just some guy in a kevlar wetsuit," then the whole Batman mystique falls apart.
[holy x-post!]
Aren't comic books at heart really meant for children?
Someone hasn't stepped into a comic book store in many, many years. Possibly ever.
Teppy, will you marry me?
If it means Blue Mountain coffee every morning, hell yes I will!
But you have to enjoy the reaction if you jump out at somebody and yell "boo" or else why do it? It doesn't really inspire true fear, just startlement.
Was the character depicted as scared? Honestly, if a man dressed as a bat and promising (authoritatively, judging by physical language) violence jumped out at me, I'd be scared.
