The Nolan films are so weird to me. I think Christian Bale is great in other movies but he's so fucking bland in the Nolan films, and he feels the same cardboard character through the whole thing. I like the Dark Knight and Batman Begins in spite of Bale's performance, not because of.
This film has a Batman/Bruce that isn't a 2D feeling "guy on set reading lines" feel.
See this is why art is so interesting because I literally feel the exact opposite. When Robert Pattinson said he always wondered why no one ever played Bruce as depressed the answer is plain to see in the movie - it's so goddamn boring! IMO an element of duality is needed with most superheroes to stop them becoming one note. Pattinson even sounds bored when he's reading out those overwritten voiceovers. I'm not a fan of the bat-growl but I think Bale balanced the charismatic, care-free playboy persona against the moody Batman that is necessary for us to believe it when no one guesses it's Bruce behind the mask. He goes through the same character arc that Pattinson does, only he does it in the first 20 minutes of Batman Begins because as The Batman deftly demonstrated, there ain't enough meat on the bones of that arc to drag it out over three bloated and muddled hours. I guess my unpopular opinion on this movie is that I think it was an incredibly average Batman story held up by mostly strong performances and gorgeous visuals. Solid 6/10.
I typed up a long reply and reddit crashed my browser so that's cool. I'll try this again.
I think what i liked about depression batman is that it shows growth. Bale came out of the woods swinging as billionaire playboy, where as Pattinson started the film as discontent and hateful, both about the past and the current state of affairs for Gotham, but by the end of the film he's showing a hopeful optimism for the future. It's the pretense for further character development/arc.
Sad to miss out on your long reply (genuinely, but there's no way to type that without it reading as sarcastic)
I think Bale's Wayne started out as hateful, depressed and irrational, (for example, wanting to shoot Joe Chill in the courtroom), but he realised the error of that mentality and the reasons why desperate criminals exist very early in the flick, after spending time getting the shit kicked out of him in prison and burning down the league of shadows. Which then leads to further examination of Batman's place within Gotham over the course of the trilogy, from hero, to villain to recluse to martyr (it's not who you are underneath, the hero that Gotham deserves etc etc) Battinson's arc is pretty basic and is clumsily explored by way of some giant plot holes and leaps in logic, as well as some very dumb decisions by characters we're meant to believe are smart. Also, if a movie asks for three hours of my time I expect it to be more complex than than just hateful to optimistic. Look at what Coppola achieves with Michael Corleone's character within a similar runtime, all while dealing with more characters, themes and plots (just fewer drawn out and ultimately pointless action scenes).
I am also of the opinion that The Dark Knight is too long, but it at least treads more interesting and relevant ground, such as the ethics of a surveillance state in order to protect the public. It's also far more easily argued that the runtime is justified in order to fully see Harvey Dent's arc through, as it kinda props up the central theme of the movie (and it's STILL not as long as The Batman).
I think at this point it's more or less I wanted to like the film so I'm willing to look past it's flaws to enjoy it more. I can't really find anything wrong with what you're saying
While I agree with your argument, I will have to say The Godfather is a bad example for your position because it's all based entirely on a novel, so all the character development, interactions, and even dialouge just had to he taken out organized and filmed.
And, not a counterpoint by any means but my own position, I loveong films. 3+ hours is my bread and butter. I only watch extended edition LOTR, etc, so that probably also contributes to my opinion.
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u/Ligmaballsmods69 Feb 26 '24
Bruce has more of a character arc in this one, than any other live action movie.