Aaron Eckhart cast in Batman sequel

[ScottotD]

BOO! Why are they wasting the perfect Captain America as a Batman villian?

[Moose]

I wasn't that fond of Batman Begins. I love Batman, and I just felt that they thought "we're starting from the beginning again, so we can change a few things" and just changed too much.

Plus I didn't like Bale's Bruce Wayne. He turned him into a pissy, spoiled little rich kid who is just throwing a hissy fit (albeit an extremely violent one). He's meant to be a (somewhat cold) loner, and now he's got corporate developers making his gadgets for him. You think someone in the company wouldn't look at the Batmobile, or the body armour, and think "...that looks familiar..."? And of course in this multicultural era he couldn't just be a guy who learned to fight as he grew up in Gotham, he has to travel the globe and show the respect he has for other cultures.

And there's that one moment, where he stands up for himself and refuses to kill a man, but has no problem with blowing up the building killing dozens of people including the man he just said he wouldn't kill. Why go for logic, when you can have the cliché heroic dialogue and the big explosion in the same scene?

And the one where he (as Batman) is dangling that guy over the edge of a building trying to get information from him. It just seems like it was the last scene they shot, and Nolan said "Christian, you've been whispering for the whole movie, so in this scene I want you to shout as loud as you can."

[gbeenie]

I wasn't that fond of Batman Begins. I love Batman, and I just felt that they thought "we're starting from the beginning again, so we can change a few things" and just changed too much.

Changed what? Batman's origin has become one of the most-told stories in comics; at this point, there's really no definitive origin to mess with.

And of course in this multicultural era he couldn't just be a guy who learned to fight as he grew up in Gotham, he has to travel the globe and show the respect he has for other cultures.

You don't know what you're talking about. The notion that Bruce Wayne traveled the world to learn the things he needed to know in order to fight his war is a firmly established part of the mythology of the character, and has been for a couple decades.

[Nunyerbiz]

The only aspect of Batman Begins that I didn't like was whenever Bale as Batman had to speak dialogue. He had some bizarre "Michael Keaton if he were to have gargled with drain cleaner" thing going on that just grated on me for the entire film. Besides that, it was a bang-up job by everyone invovled.

[Raven]

I wasn't that fond of Batman Begins. I love Batman, and I just felt that they thought "we're starting from the beginning again, so we can change a few things" and just changed too much.

I went from loving the first 2 batman movies Burton did to Batman Forever being alright but missing Michael Keaton to the pure pain of watching George Clooneys Bobble Head Batman performance and thinking seriously about running around with Joel Schumachers head on a stick.  The damage he did with Batman & Robin couldn't be undone and I am so glad they just started over.  As long as Chris Nolan stays involved I can actually like Batman Again.  I still love the Burton ones but Batman Begins could potentially be the start of my new favorite Batman Franchise.  And if I ever meet Joel Schumacher I'll be spending the night in jail for assault cause I'm at least gonna slap him and rub his nose against a copy of Batman & Robin and say, like you would to a little dog,  "No.  Bad Director. Yeah you better hide under that bed."

oh yeah and I'm not gonna but an [/rant] because this is never gonna stop.  So consider this- to be continued...

[torgosPizza]

BOO! Why are they wasting the perfect Captain America as a Batman villian?

Who said that isn't gonna happen?

Too bad about Goyer's flash though =/

And by the way Moose - Batman's origins weren't really fleshed out in any of the movies. A little bit with Keaton and more with Kilmer (but I think that got cut? Or maybe just cut down) but no one had really done an origin story, which is why Nolan and Goyer decided to do it.

Now that the origin is out of the way they can give us an action-packed sequel.. can't wait.

[Raven]

Didn't Nolan say they were following a specific line of comic books.  I'm not a comic guy, never read one.  I think it had Dark in the title. 

[Pak-Man]

He's been sticking pretty close to Frank Miller's Batman: Year One.

[gbeenie]

He's been sticking pretty close to Frank Miller's Batman: Year One.

Eh. Mostly they just drop a lot of names from that book. That, and the general tone of a more grounded crime story. The story elements in that movie come from a LOT of places (that may be why it works so well).

>Rant Mode ON<
p.s. Note to Goyer and Nolan: If Denny O'Neill, creator of Ra's Al Ghul, says it's pronounced "raysh," then FOR FUCK'S SAKE that's how it's pronounced.
>Rant Mode OFF<

Sorry, y'all.

[Moose]

You don't know what you're talking about.

That's more than likely.

It's not that I don't like Begins, it's definitely better than the Schumacher duology, it just wasn't all I expected.
I'm still looking forward to the next one, and I'll probably like it a lot more.

Yeah, I know it's sticking pretty close to the comics. When I said "they changed too much", I was including the original writer(s) too.
I dunno, I'm the same with Transformers. There's so much ambiguity and contradiction between (and even within) the TV series, the US comics and the UK comics that I just pick & mix my favourite aspects of each.

I went from loving the first 2 batman movies Burton did to Batman Forever being alright but missing Michael Keaton to the pure pain of watching George Clooneys Bobble Head Batman performance and thinking seriously about running around with Joel Schumachers head on a stick. The damage he did with Batman & Robin couldn't be undone and I am so glad they just started over. As long as Chris Nolan stays involved I can actually like Batman Again.

Ermmm... yeah. Ditto.

And as for the multicultural thing, it probably wouldn't have bothered me if it weren't the same with Samurai Jack. It's SJ that really pissed me off (as he's a samurai, and I have huge respect for samurai, but he literally went everywhere and learned something from every conceivable culture and subculture on earth), I just saw Begins as doing the same thing, so it absorbed some of the venom by proxy.

[Jamin]

I despise Batman Begins with every fiber of my being.
It was nothing (and i do mean nothing) more then a montage of pathetic, predictable and downright boring scenes that had me wishing id been born blind deaf and dumb so i wouldn't have had the traumatic experience of trying to sit through that monstrosity.
I pray that Mike and co never riff that movie as i really couldn't stomach the thought of sitting through it for any reason.  I try to watch every film to the end, but in this case me and the people i watched it with were so disappointed that after an hour or so we had to turn it off (i honestly cannot remember the last time we had to do that) or else run the risk of internal hemorrhaging.

I understand that there was no one definitive source of batmans beginnings, but why must it be reenacted yet again?  I dont think there was anyone going to the cinema wondering "Who is this batman guy, why does he fight crime?"  and if there was ill happily beat them with a claw hammer until my hands bleed.
The acting was awful, the dialog sucked ass and the action scenes were just awful too.  For example, in the first few minutes Bruce Wayne is sliding down that icey hill towards the cliff, and (predictably) he just manages to get a handhold as he slides over the brink and manages to haul his sorry ass back over to safety.  I was just yawning by then, its not exactly exciting if the guy telling his story is sliding toward his death.  As, if he had plunged to his death (as I'm sure we all know) he couldn't tell us about it, which doesn't exactly make the scene exciting - just very, very dull and predictable.

The whole movie seemed to be written in the space of one rainy afternoon and given no further thought.  The idea that the same people have been given the all-clear to make the next movie only fills me with dread and ensures that ill be avoiding that franchise until they find something else to butcher.

Sorry about the rant, but i do believe what Ive said is right and I'm really shocked that anyone at all liked the film.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

im shocked anyone could EVER have such a harsh reaction to a MERE movie.

[Jamin]

Me too 

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

then maybe you ought to stop

[Pak-Man]

Yeah, you watched the wrong hour. It picks up around the time when Batman finally dawns the cowl and has to keep the fear toxin from poisoning the city. THAT is a true Batman dillema, and I don't think I've ever seen such a perfect Batman situation in a Batman movie. :^)