Sunday, August 19, 2007

Hey Kids: The Joker!

New photos have leaked from the production of the new Batman movie

(source: Kung Fu Rodeo)




I must say, I'm loving this approach to ol' Pale-face. Sufficiently removed from the original Tim Burton movie, and continuing Batman Begin's realistic/gritty treatment of the Bat-verse

That said, I would by no means take a 10-year old to see this movie for fear of mentally scarring them for life and cause them Brokeback Joker nightmares. The franchise is definitely veering away from 'let's sell action figures to the kids' and into PG-15 classic horror territory.

I guess with Batman, you can't win them all. If you try to make a kid-friendly movie, you're going to lose the young adult and adult dollar. Look how well Batman Forever and Batman & Robin fared. Batman just isn't a kid-oriented hero in his essence, he's born in psychological horror and thrives in it, both for the title character and his entire cast (all his villains belong in a psychiatric institution -- and going by the most popular interpretation of the character in DARK KNIGHT RETURNS and THE KILLING JOKE and ARKHAM ASYLUM, well, so does he). If you stay true to the character's essence and the spirit of Gotham City you end up with what Tim Burton started and now Christopher Nolan continues. Of course Tim Burton went with 'gothic fairytale', while Nolan has shot off to full-fledged urban horror. Brakes, Chris, brakes.

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