There's a crucial distinction between "good" and "glum". To some extent I agree with her; I think Batman Begins would have been a better film if it had leavened its dourness with a bit more exhilaration. I think there's a trend, of late, towards pomposity in SF/fantasy/comic movies; as if the makers are so keen to avoid campness and triviality that they forget that blockbuster movies are supposed to be fun.

I have a working theory that it's almost impossible for a blockbuster-type action movie (i.e., big budget) to balance the serious with the whizbang, and the best that one can hope for is a mixture of both, so that the one causes amnesia for the lack of the other, in tandem, depending on which is onscreen at any given moment.

Hmm. I'd argue that both XMen and both Spiderman films managed it near-perfectly, but I think you've put your finger on the problem with so many blockbusters.

I think Batman Begins would have been a better film if it had leavened its dourness with a bit more exhilaration.

Agreed. I don't remember Batman having much fun, just looking cool.

Campy tv aside, Batman and dour tend to go together like milk and cookies. You could have people around the Bat experiencing the exhilaration, but I'd argue that the scenes in BB where Gordon was in the Batmobile brought a bit of that. I suppose there could have been more. I'd need to watch it again and think about it a bit.

Does Stephanie Zacharek have a bug up her butt?

Hmmm. I usually like her reviews, even when I don't agree with them. (Her writing strikes me as very... fannish at times, in both the good and the bad way.) Didn't read her Bats review since I wasn't particularly keen on having my mellows harshed, but I'll go read this one since I'm fairly indifferent to WotW.

I may still go see WotW, because sometimes, I like things to go BOOM.

Signed, pointed and laughed, but still had a pretty good time watching The Day After Tomorrow.

I don't want Batman to have fun. I want Jim to have fun. And I didn't have fun often enough.

I may still go see WotW, because sometimes, I like things to go BOOM.

Me too. I love a good disaster flick, and by "good" I mean "lots of disaster."

Signed, pointed and laughed, but still had a pretty good time watching The Day After Tomorrow.

Vonnie K is me. Although I suspected that after our Shark!man crapfest.

I don't want Batman to have fun. I want Jim to have fun. And I didn't have fun often enough.

Didn't you read Calli's post? Jim drove the Batmobile! Whee!!

Me too. I love a good disaster flick, and by "good" I mean "lots of disaster."

tommyrot is I.

I want Jim to have fun. And I didn't have fun often enough.

Jim! Where were you yesterday, when I drowned in a sea of "Well, I liked it; what's wrong with you??"

I'd argue that both XMen and both Spiderman films managed it near-perfectly

I can't say I agree on the skill level of blending whizbang with serious -- I found both Spider-man films deficient on the serious, and the blending was a bit awkward in all four films, and maybe I should add a category for fact-checking, because that is always a distraction -- but yes, those four movies are examples of the attempt to blend/balance I am talking about.

Last time Batman had fun in the cinema, he rode on Bat-skates and fooled around with Uma Thurman -- so unless I'm is drunk, a batman that has fun and I are pretty much incompatible.