Countdown to “The Dark Knight Rises”: Part 11 of 11 – A Look at “The Dark Knight Rises”

If you missed it here is Part 1 of 11: Introduction to Batman “The Gift”

And here is Part 2 of 11: A look Back at Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

And Part 3: ‘Batman Returns’

And Part 4: ‘Batman Forever’

And Part 5 ‘Batman and Robin’

Part 6: ‘Batman: The Animated Series’

Part 7: ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’

Part 8: ‘Batman: Arkham City’

Part 9: ‘Batman Begins’

Part 10: ‘The Dark Knight’

Eleven weeks ago, when I started looking back at how Batman has played out over the years in visual media and even further back when the thought occurred to me to do this, the objective was both to hype myself up and anybody following along for The Dark Knight Rises.

There were two points at which I became afraid of lathering too much anticipation on the film. The first came when I had procrastinated on watching as much “Batman: The Animated Series” as I needed to in order to finish the column by my self-imposed deadline. In order to do so, I binged on 75 – 80 percent of the series over two weekends. The thought occurred to me. How much is too much? Will I get sick of this character after spending so much time with him and in his world in such a short amount of time? He might be my favorite superhero, but how much exposure can you have before it starts to grate on you? Spaghetti is my favorite food and though I’m sure I’ve claimed in the past that I could eat it every day of my life, it almost certainly isn’t true. Variety helps. Morgan Spurlock probably liked McDonalds before he made Super Size Me and then this happened:  http://youtu.be/ATYJx3x0nyo. Ultimately, once the 88 episodes were powered through and I allowed myself to live a non-Batman life for a week until the next installment was due, my faith in the project was renewed when it was imminent that breaks would be had. I wonder how Batman does it night-in and night-out.

The other instance of heaping too much hope on a new movie came rushing toward me once I finished re-watching The Dark Knight. I’d seen it three or four times prior to then, but never in the context of what would come next in the life of the Caped Crusader. I recognized how great a film The Dark Knight was and couldn’t imagine it possibly being topped or even equaled. I instantly lowered whatever expectations I had for the trilogy’s conclusion for fear of being disappointed by it. The last thing I want is to not like a movie, especially one that I’d been excited about, even moreso one I’d been trying to hype up for close to three months and spent hours thinking, and tons of words writing, about.

A couple of years ago, I decided to stop hyping myself up on any movie. It was 2010. I made the decision to feel I’d burned myself on hype before a movie was ever released only to be let down. I’d devour stories (some of which I wrote myself), watch trailers, re-watch trailers, send links to people, make lists of what I was looking forward to, buy magazines for the sole purpose of gleaming more information and when the time came to sit in the theater to see the movie I was so excited about, I felt I had already seen it. There was no mystery left to discover. Unlike someone who thinks they can quit smoking cold turkey, I was able to give up my addiction with little issues. There were no late-night shivers. No body parts had to be amputated. And I definitely never ended up at a party hosted by Keith David.

I accomplished my goal by not visiting any movie-related websites and a steadfast refusal to watch any trailers or TV spots. I would literally turn my head, close my eyes or just talk to someone (imagine the courage). I was posed with the dilemma of “how am I going to know which movies exist and which I want to see?” For that, I’d just look at the IMDb release calendar, see who was involved in the production and read some synopses. What transpired was my favorite calendar year of movies since probably 1999. I’d feel extremely comfortable putting each of my favorite four films of that year (“Inception,” “Toy Story 3,” “The Social Network,” “Black Swan”) on the top of the list on any given day (though the order I just gave was their “official” ranking in my head). Could it be that the movies released that year were just that good? Or was it a product of not oversaturating myself in media related to the film before actually seeing the product? Since I can only have the first experience once, it’s not really possible to know. I’d had discussions with others about the results and the thing that changed my mind after my year-long Stanford Prison experiment came right back down to The Dark Knight. After all, The Dark Knight was a film I was super excited about. One in which I watched everything, read everything, looked at everything, waited in line for, talked about and it met every single expectation I could have possibly piled on top of it, if not downright exceeding them. So maybe, if a movie is good, it’s good, regardless of what baggage you bring into the movie theater. Maybe The Dark Knight Rises will do the same thing. It lives or dies on its merits as a film. Any disappointment or letdown would be due to that, not my months-long anticipation.

Those are the thoughts I brought with me as I sat down in front of the seven-stories-high IMAX screen and let the movie play out right before my eyes.

If you’d been following me on this journey so far, the chances are you’ve seen the film at this point. However, just in case you hadn’t, be sure to do so before reading further. The specifics of the film and how it fits into the legacy of the trilogy Christopher Nolan created is what I’m here to discuss rather than suggesting whether it is or isn’t worth your time.

The Dark Knight Rises accomplishes what every sequel sets out to. It capitalizes on the story preceding it and expands it onto a grander scale. The epic nature of the story is felt in literally almost every frame (for those lucky enough to see it projected in true IMAX theaters). The movie also manages to accomplish what so few movie sequels fail to do, which is circle back on itself and close the book on the multiple-film-spanning story it wanted to tell. Most sequels are set up to beget more sequels. Let us remember another Christian Bale-starring sequel, Terminator Salvation (not that we want to). In that way, the trilogy came to an end with an approach more akin to serialized TV shows. The long-form storytelling afforded television is remarked as one of the factors for the small screen having surpassed its silver brethren in quality. Luckily, the quality of The Dark Knight Rises is never in question.

We are immediately introduced to the series’ newcomers. Bane and his group of heathens hijack a plane for a specific passenger and Selina Kyle poses as a maid in order to invade the Wayne Estate in pursuit of some pearls. Bane is a brute using force to impose his will. Selina (whom I don’t believe was ever called “Catwoman”) uses finesse and wits to obtain what she wants. The latter event triggers Bruce to emerge from his eight-year self-imposed exile and seek out his new object of interest and take up the old hobby of protecting Gotham in menacing black garb.

Alfred is against the notion from the start. His heartfelt speech to Bruce about not wanting to see him re-suit up as Batman and to instead see him abroad with a wife and a knowing nod echoes a similar desire of Ben Affleck’s Good Will Hunting character to the titular man. Having seen how such a speech played out in the 1997 Oscar winner left little doubt as to how this one would end, but there were enough twists and red-herrings to make you believe it wouldn’t or at least not in exact form.

With Selina Kyle having trouble showing any loyalty to either Bruce Wayne or the man in costume, I presumed the partner he’d end up with was Miranda Tate. She’s the first woman Bruce ever really pined for since Rachel’s death in The Dark Knight and the first one we’d ever see him sleep with. This gave him the courage to entrust her with overseeing the one thing that could be transformed into a weapon large enough to destroy the city and the one Bane uses to control Gotham’s citizens.

The cage-faced ball of rage known as Bane is largely a mystery, though we’re given several details about what we presume to be his background. Whereas Scarecrow wanted to spread fear throughout Gotham in an effort to carry out Ra’s Al Ghul’s plan of destroying Gotham and Joker wanted nothing more to cause chaos and evil throughout the society, Bane is able to get the city’s population to do what some Americans talk about and Egyptians fulfilled – overthrowing the government. What the new world order actually creates is a dystopian wasteland that could have led to the events depicted in Children of Men. Bane gets Gotham to rise up like a great dictator then proceeds to rule them with an iron face.

After breaking Batman in a Selina Kyle-produced betrayal, Bane has Bruce banished to the underground prison in which he was raised to watch the city Bruce once loved and protected turn to hell on earth. The only hope allowed in the prison had been provided in story form. A child, the offspring of Ra’s Al Ghul, escapes the pit and the lifetime of misery it assured. Bruce summons the courage to continue living, the anger to get back in shape to return to Gotham and finally the fear of death to provide the adrenaline needed complete the task. The lesson afforded to him by his father at the beginning of Batman Begins comes back to propel him.

While Gotham is still a wintery hellscape, Batman returns to enlist Selina Kyle in his quest to return the nuclear bomb being paraded around the streets of Gotham like a megaton manifestation of oppression to its secure resting place. Commissioner Gordon has been sentenced to walk the icy plank and after all the Batman I’ve soaked in over the past several weeks, I’ve never felt the man in black to be more of a badass then when he has Gordon light a flare to reveal his emergence from the shadows and set off a flaming reminder of the symbol he represents.

Batman finally bests Bane in a mano-a-mano showdown in the middle of thousands of citizens/”Baners” duking it out. Only then does Miranda reveal herself to be kin to Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia (a fact IMDb seems intent on spoiling for you in its Cast/Character section of the movie’s page). Selina comes to Bruce’s rescue and his faith in her is rewarded. No longer is she on the antagonist end of the character totem pole and the woman Bruce is to share the rest of his life with is destined to be her.

Instead of leading us right to the ending we wanted and felt was preordained, Nolan forces the audience to wrench one last time as Bruce seemingly martyrs himself to save the city whose fabric he’s so deeply sewn into. His death is marked by a gravestone next to the parents who left him orphaned all those years ago, which started him on his journey. Alfred is beside himself with sorrow until providing that knowing nod while abroad we knew we wanted from its first mention.

Nolan’s trilogy has come to a close. And as it does, so does this series of articles looking back at the past and how things went from Adam West to superhero-on-film’s best. There’s already been talk of a reboot, as is inevitable. We all have to hope the timetable is longer than Sony gave to Spiderman, but rest assured this task won’t be carried out again when the film’s time in the sun comes to rise. I never did get too much Batman. Things were never ruined for me. In fact, I have more fondness for the character now than I ever did before. And I was wrong, by the way. My fears of this film not living up to what I wanted from it were unfounded. I should have known Nolan would never let me down, but it’s nice to know he followed through with the theme he set up in his first Bat-film. “Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” After Joel Schumacher left the franchise for dead, Nolan brought about its resurrection.

Now, I get to watch all the trailers and TV spots I’ve been avoiding before I go see it again…

Countdown to “The Dark Knight Rises”: Part 9 of 11 – “Batman Begins”

If you missed it here is Part 1 of 11: Introduction to Batman “The Gift”

And here is Part 2 of 11: A look Back at Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

And Part 3: ‘Batman Returns’

And Part 4: ‘Batman Forever’

And Part 5 ‘Batman and Robin’

Part 6: ‘Batman: The Animated Series’

Part 7: ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’

Part 8: ‘Batman: Arkham City’

It’s more than cliché to describe things as emotional roller coasters. It’s a quick reference to get. You visualize the ups and the downs. Your heart and stomach seemingly temporarily lodged in your esophagus. Unfortunately, the roller coaster description doesn’t take into account the thrills the ride is supposed to provide. What activity can simultaneously make you thrilled, then underwhelmed, then depressed, finally turning you toward ambivalence and apathy? If that’s the way the Batman ride at Magic Mountain works (appropriately enough, it’s called “Batman: The Ride”), then I guess the analogy is more than apt, because that’s exactly how I felt through the stages of my Batman fandom from unwrapping my first Batman toy through Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin.

Once that film hit and it graced (probably not the word I’d use to describe it, regardless of the fact that I just did) my sightline, I was ready to give up. My favorite character had been kicked to the curb by the film industry and I was happy to just let it happen. There was an X-Men movie coming to screens soon and I could just latch onto my second-place medal in the shape of Wolverine. Of course, that movie disappointed me before it was even released (I still hate the costumes) and maybe comic book movies just weren’t for me.

As each year passed, fewer and fewer new movies excited me. I went to college and was taught the beauty held by older films. Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick became my super heroes. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly – my objects of affection. Actually, the sentence doesn’t really work for Cary Grant, but he’s still a stud. Any desire to watch what could be deemed a “flick” had been seeped out of me, much like the artificial butter on that proverbial popcorn you’re required to consume when taking in one of those films.

When Batman Begins arrived in 2005, I knew nothing about it. It was as much on my radar as the new Adam Sandler movie (which that year was The Longest Yard. *No, I’ve never seen it.*). I was still singing the hook from J. Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” from three years before (specifically the “bridges were burned part”). Instead of a girl doing me wrong, it was a man named Joel Schumacher and a mastermind named Warner Bros. Like a jilted lover, I didn’t want to dive back into the pool again. The movie arrived in theaters with nary a peep from me. But then something happened. Talk was positive. People started clamoring about the movie and how different it was from any previous incarnation.

At that point in time, Christopher Nolan’s name meant two movies to me. A perfectly fine film in Insomnia and the excellent Memento. Regardless of the latter’s greatness, it wasn’t a paragon of action, nor could it be intrinsically linked to what I’d imagine a “Batman film” to be. That was due to a lack of imagination on my part and I was happy to be proven wrong.

After much time and goading, I finally sat down in a theater to watch the film. It was a non-stadium-style-seating theater in a college town that was pretty packed by the time we sat down, so we sat close to the screen. I still wasn’t particularly excited for the experience and definitely had whatever anticipation there was brewing within me diminished by the proximity of the screen to my face. Despite the issues, I was seeing a new Batman film for the first time in eight years and the sour taste from all those moons ago would slowly evaporate from my taste buds as each minute passed.

As a Batman fan, it’s odd to think how little I knew about the character’s beginnings going into Nolan’s reboot of the franchise. There’s never been a true origin story covered by either Tim Burton or Schumacher in the previous films, outside of some brief flashbacks. And even then the only part of the story we’d ever been given was Bruce Wayne and his parents leave the theater and are mugged by a thug. The thug shoots both of his parents dead. That’s our hero’s humble beginning.

Outside of the murder of his parents, even “Batman: The Animated Series” never truly filled in the gap between what brought Bruce from being an orphaned child to a cape-donning crusader. There are brushes with him learning the art of ninjitsu, but these are told via flashback as well, never really bringing the viewer up-to-date. And though Ra’s al Ghul was involved in the show, they were in latter episodes I had either never seen or never bothered to connect from when I was younger.

Luckily, as Nolan says in one of the Blu-ray extras, the timespan between Bruce’s parents’ death and his rebirth had never really been filled in anyway, so they were at liberty to do so and I was off the hook not being as hardcore a Bat-fan as I purported to be.

Scarecrow looks like he's got a bad episode ready to happen.

I found it initially difficult to get with the idea of Bruce Wayne being in prison and fighting with samurai swords due to my lack of knowledge about that period of the character’s life. It was unfamiliar territory for me and as the typical reaction goes when you don’t know about something, you fear it. Luckily, that’s exactly what this movie is all about. Overcoming your fear. Then embracing it. In fact, though that’s not a directly quote, it’s a decent paraphrase of what Ducard says to Bruce during their training together. Of course he then adds using that fear to combat those that prey of the fearful and that just doesn’t really fit the theme of either this writing or my viewing.

After my initial reluctance and upon further viewings of the film, I’ve embraced the training sequences. They’re obviously a necessity to get you to believe how Christian Bale went from being a toothpick in The Machinist to resembling a stallion in this. However, there’s little more joy had in the origin story than during the construction-of-the-suit sequence. I could have easily spent a half-hour purely on this spectacle. Batman’s costume is the fetish of all his fans and the scenes of him selecting each piece is the pornographic footage we’d been salivating for. This is done with such perfection that I’m convinced one of the reasons Iron Man is viewed to be so successful is because it took its costume construction cues from Batman Begins.

As mentioned above, the resounding themes within the movie are both conquering/embracing your fears and the ability to get back up after falling down (No, Chumbawamba did not make an appearance on the soundtrack).

The theme about fear pops up throughout the movie. It’s initially verbalized by Ducard during his training sessions with Bruce. The trainings are all about bottling up the fear that brews within Bruce and channeling it into something else. Ducard would like it channeled into anger. Bruce just wants to overcome.

After the training, Bruce retreats to Gotham with dreams of becoming more than a man, and transforming himself into a symbol. Learning from Prince’s past mistake, he chooses one that’s clearly definable. At the same time, it allows him to embrace one of his own fears – bats.

With the symbol concocted and the Batman costume created, Bruce is ready to rid the residents of Gotham of Carmine Falcone, the gangster who rules the streets with an iron fist of fear.

The Batman cadre of villains has a nice roster to fit any occasion and none of them satisfies the theme of fear (with the addition of never being part of a Batfilm before) than the Scarecrow. Dr. Jonathan Crane uses his burlap sack mask that could only be creepier if it was worn by a mute child (watch The Orphanage to get the reference, or just this clip: http://youtu.be/oXfHOY3CC0g) and his patented “fear toxin” to induce terror in criminals in order to get them moved from a potential jail cell to a padded one.

Scarecrow uses his two-step fear combo on Batman, culminating in lighting the be-winged Bruce on fire. This merges the two themes into one as Bruce needs to shake off the fears the toxin induces and get right back up to continue fighting crime.

The tools at Bruce Wayne's disposal help make him Batman.

Dr. Crane is ultimately a puppet for Ra’s al Ghul’s plans for destroying Gotham altogether.  It’s amusing the scheme they’ve hatched has to do with tainting the city’s water supply, which I mentioned when talking about “Batman: The Animated Series” seems to be a go-to Batman villain scheme as it’s done by Scarecrow in an episode of that show and by Joker in an installment of the ‘60s “Batman.” At the very least, Batman Begins differentiates himself from that “Batman: TAS” episode with the microwave emitter acting as trigger of the tainted drinking water.

The great divide between Batman Begins and any other filmed version of Bruce Wayne’s alter ego is Chris Nolan set out for realism. Bruce doesn’t have super powers. He trained hard to get to where he is. He’s grounded and woven in the fabric of the Gotham community. Even if he’s their richest citizen and not remotely included in their 99%, he represents them without being a card-carrying member.

The only times the film becomes a “movie” in the winking/nodding sense is with some of its buttons to finish scenes. Dialogue like “Does it come in black?” after taking a joyride in the tumbler or “Dr. Crane isn’t hear right now, but if you’d like to make an appointment…” when Scarecrow suffers from a taste of his own medicine, caters to a certain type of moviegoer and brings levity to the situations. I’m not saying those lines aren’t amusing and/or chuckle-worthy, but I believe they’d been stripped from any draft if they’d existed at all in The Dark Knight. I’d either blame studio meddling on being afraid to just embrace the realistic take or perhaps on co-writer David Goyer’s involvement (he only has story credit on the two “Dark Knight” films). It’s obviously an easy thing to overlook in the grand scheme of things, but it’s one of the things that separates it from even its successor, The Dark Knight.

Batman Begins works as a great title in many ways. It signals the start of a new franchise. It triggers a rebirth of the character. It renewed my faith in what Batman could be. I’m thankful people braver than I struck out to see the film before me and assuaged my fears by forcing me to see it myself. In the end, that’s what the movie is all about.

Next week: Nolan provides us with perhaps the best superhero film ever made and without a doubt the darkest in “The Dark Knight.”

Countdown to ‘The Dark Knight Rises’: Part 8 of 11 – ‘Batman: Arkham City’

If you missed it here is Part 1 of 11: Introduction to Batman “The Gift”

And here is Part 2 of 11: A look Back at Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

And Part 3: ‘Batman Returns’

And Part 4: ‘Batman Forever’

And Part 5 ‘Batman and Robin’

Part 6: ‘Batman: The Animated Series’

Last week’s part 7: ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’

I was recently discussing with some friends that although I love Batman as a character, I think it’s actually the villains that populate his world that truly define Gotham City, enabling the landscape to become a character unto itself. I’ve already established that I’m not 100% familiar with the comic-book lore surrounding Batman and his band of disrupting enemies and it’s the 1960s TV show that really allowed me to witness this array of colorful archetypes for the first time. Though I couldn’t possibly say with certainty, I wouldn’t imagine the TV show ever presented us with origin stories for these characters. They were just borne on screen fully-formed, waiting for you to accept them. Joker, Riddler, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze and the Penguin – all of them doing their damnedest to spoil the delectable life being lived blissfully by Gothamites.

It was through the TV show that I became familiar with these characters. Recognized them by their bright costumes and was given hints at the individual traits that made them “bad guys.” Joker was a clown with make-up. The Riddler thought he was smarter than everybody else, leaving clues to his whereabouts figuring no one could possibly possess his equivalent intellect. Catwoman was a thief. Mr. Freeze needed everything around him to be physically cold. And Penguin? Penguin had a monocle, a top hat and tuxedo tails. It wasn’t until I experienced the films and “Batman: The Animated Series” that these characters were fleshed-out for me and I began to truly understand the makings behind each of them. To play “Batman: Arkham City,” the game almost assumes some familiarity with the Dark Knight’s plethora of enemies and it allows you to experience crashing their parties, cracking their bones and crushing their spirits. Any step further and you’d be brandishing Edward-Norton-in-American History X-style street justice. Don’t watch that clip. You know what it contains.

Outside of Scarecrow, every villain from “Arkham Asylum” returns (remember, Batman doesn’t kill people. He stuns them). However, a deep roster of almost everyone you could even hope to be here – Catwoman, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Penguin and a surprise appearance – join in the fun. Nevertheless, this is still the Joker’s show.

After wrecking the entire asylum and its surrounding grounds, Joker and the rest of Gotham’s abhorrent creatures are placed into a walled-off section of the city, left to their own devices to police themselves like grown-up, deranged Lords of the Flies. This experiment goes about as well as a trio of two-year-olds locked in a room with only one toy to play with. War breaks out. Or rather, it breaks in, and Gotham being a member of the socialized world sends in some of its finest men and women to help break up the mayhem. Naturally, they’re no match for the criminals within and Bruce Wayne takes it upon himself to gain entry into the city and transform himself from billionaire playboy to Playboy Bunny. No, that’s not it. Punishing Badass. There, that’s better.

With the tremendous execution of “Batman: Arkham Asylum” preceding it, the gamemakers decided not to change much gameplay-wise. There’s still a ton of rapid button pressing that reminds you of the cheating controllers back in the day that would automatically trigger a button-push with each millisecond of holding its “cheat-button” down. Alas, it’s vastly more enjoyable to feel that soreness in your forearm after a multi-minute repeated beat down of your controller as you traverse from enemy to enemy, slowly dusting them off one violent strike at a time. The moment the madness ends and you flex you’re your fingers in an effort to release some of that tension is always well deserved.

Batman throws down with Mr. Freeze (sans Arnold) in the "Arkham City" video game.

Again, like it’s chronologically first entry, there are a couple of sequences in the game that brought a higher level of joy to the experience than the rest. You can rest assured that the name “Penguin” is not going to appear in the subsequent paragraphs describing those sequences as I still don’t quite understand his purpose. I used to think I liked him. He was flamboyant with his monocle and cigarette stem and although I never expected it to happen, I was open to the thought of Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing the character in the sequel to The Dark Knight Rises, as the rumor mill insisted. However, the definitive edition of this character was probably captured in Batman Returns and should have remained there, as much I liked the extra villain to pursue. It seems his big skill is gathering up foot soldiers to hide behind. He’s like a fat Army recruiter brainwashing youths with promises of riches, prestige and family, but rather condemning them to a life of getting their ass whupped. Oh, so he’s exactly like an Army recruiter with just a different physical appearance.

Moving on to the great things of the game making it a very worthy follow-up to “Arkham Asylum.” They both happen to involve the added villains. First up is Mr. Freeze. His name was never bandied about in rumors for the The Dark Knight Rises at any point, but I always believed him to be a more captivating thought than The Riddler. Unfortunately, I think his name was forever sullied by Batman & Robin, blacklisting him from the list of possible inclusions into Christopher Nolan’s franchise. Though perhaps possessing the slightly cartoonish trait of having to surround himself in freezing temperatures, he has a backstory I find interesting. His wife Nora is terminally ill and he has her cryogenically frozen (was Walt Disney the original Mr. Freeze?) until he can find a cure. That’s ultimately his motivation for doing anything and thus makes him an ally and foe to Batman at different moments.

There are some fantastic moments around the Mr. Freeze story, starting with invading his icy lair. You get to ride blocks of ice, towing yourself along via grappling hook and large brass rings embedded in the environment. The frozen landscape creates an added obstacle to maneuver and makes for a satisfying maze of “strategery,” made all the more so once encountering the boss himself. Instead of savagely beating a bigger or more plentiful opponent, you have to outsmart Victor Fries using different techniques at your disposal, as he learns counters to your moves each time you strike. Exposure to extreme temperatures may cripple the human mind, but Batman is almost certainly an evolutionary step above.

Not all of the greatest elements of the game are relegated to unique arenas and the best accompany the inclusion of Catwoman into the game. Much like Mr. Freeze blurring the line between bad and misunderstood, Selina Kyle and her alter ego are placed firmly in Gotham’s gray area. At times an ally to Batman and at others at odds due to her chosen trade of thievery, the character continues her two-faced streak in the game by becoming a playable character.

Though playing-as-Catwoman mode isn’t native to the game, it’s a downloadable add-on included with the game’s purchase. It’s possible to complete the game and Batman’s storyline without every donning cat ears, but you’d be missing a large chunk of the experience.

Whereas the Batsuit is built with brute force and endurance in mind, the cat costume is purely sleek, sexy and designed for movement. There’s a grace in which you move beneath the cat cowl that makes you feel like a ton of weight has been literally lifted off of your shoulders. Sprinting is quicker. Dashing from thug to thug is made at BreaknecK speed. You maintain the ability to grapple up buildings with use of a leather whip and similar to Batman’s ability to see enemies through walls with “Detective Mode,” Catwoman can do the same with “Thief Vision.” But she gains one attribute, which is the flexibility to crawl along wire ceilings. This makes is vastly easier to pickpocket unsuspecting marks.

Arkham City's version of Catwoman, flaunting the requisite cleavage. Motorboat, anyone?

None of these attributes would be worth mentioning without a compelling reason for them to exist. After all, you had the ability to throw on some make-up and play some mini-games as Joker in “Arkham Asylum.” Catwoman has a heartstring tug-of-war at certain times. With Batman in danger, she needs to make a choice for either the good of her wealth or her moral health (now’s the time of the half-sentence when we rhyme). It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure chapter stop in a fairly narratively straightforward game. It’s nice to be in charge sometimes.

This visual depiction of Catwoman attire is the first I’ve seen with goggles outside of the set pics of Anne Hathaway in the upcoming film (reminder: I’ve never really read Batman comics), therefore intrinsically linking the two portrayals in my mind. It’ll be nice to finally abandon the laughable image of Halle Berry in Pitof’s 2006 abomination (I’ve never seen it and won’t be covering it, but feel more than confident in speaking poorly about it).

Speaking of reimagined character portrayals, Nolan and Christian Bale have gone on record about how there will never be even a hint at Robin in their trilogy. I can’t argue against that decision, but with so much confidence in the filmmakers, I’m positive they’d be able to make the character work in that world. Since these steadfast denials of a few years ago, I wondered what the character would look like and due to the similarities of the Catwoman costume between the game and The Dark Knight Rises, you only need to look to the game again, as there is a brief appearance of “The Boy Wonder.” Perhaps it was in an effort to jumpstart the yoked-Robin t-shirts available in stores.

Though I favor some sequences over others, I mentioned there is a twist toward the end of the game. I’ll obviously leave it spoiler-free, but know there’s still much to look forward to after finishing the Mr. Freeze and Catwoman elements of the game. It may not necessarily work to serve up any more hype to the forthcoming film, but everything else in the game certainly will. Buy it, beat it and put it on your shelf. It deserves a spot amongst the DVDs or Blu-rays of Nolan’s films that helped get it made in the first place and in turn informed the film franchise.

Next week: The homestretch is here. Nolan starts it off with “Batman Begins.”

Countdown to ‘The Dark Knight Rises’: Part 7 of 11 – “Batman: Arkham Asylum” Video Game

If you missed it here is Part 1 of 11: Introduction to Batman “The Gift”

And here is Part 2 of 11: A look Back at Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

And Part 3: ‘Batman Returns’

And Part 4: ‘Batman Forever’

And Part 5 ‘Batman and Robin’

Last week’s part 6: ‘Batman: The Animated Series’

I wouldn’t say that I have an addictive personality as I sadly can quit things at almost any point in time. I have instant remorse, of course, and regret even contemplating stopping at all. My biggest issue, rather, is I can be talked into being interested in anything. I have way too many things that interest me and am constantly adding to it. It’s why I cursed my brother when he brought up baseball cards to me after ditching the hobby sixteen years ago. Instead, I spent a week on eBay buying several individual cards I never thought I even needed to know existed a week prior. Another hobby I had at one point in time and was doing just fine after signing the separation papers several years ago was playing video games. The last system I bought purely to play video games was a Sega Genesis (which I coincidentally re-bought a couple of years ago to continue playing games, but really to relive part of my youth). I owned an XBOX, but I won it through a Taco Bell contest that was rigged in the favor of my two friends and me. I bought my PS3 purely to watch Blu-rays. However, I flirted with my old flame by buying a three-pack of the “Grand Theft Auto 3”-related titles and helped myself to an absolute must-own in the form of “The Simpsons Game” (I finished “The Simpsons Game” and got probably about 40% through one of the GTA titles and just stopped). This is why I quit things. I have too many interests on my plate to keep them all going to satisfaction. However, when I thought about how I wanted to immerse myself in Batmedia, the thought of picking up the two latest Batman video game titles leapt immediately to mind.

“Batman: Arkham City” had just come out to great hype and fanfare, so the natural starting point for someone to jump into that world would be to pick up a copy. That’s why I ventured two years into the past and picked up “Batman: Arkham Asylum.” Because I’m cheap. I fired myself up reading reviews which I had ignored just twenty-four months ago. The resounding claim seemed to be that the game made you feel what it was like to actually be Batman. Thinking back to the time I donned a cape around the house (last weekend was a blast), this was a dream that I couldn’t wait to realize.

I had downloaded the playable demo randomly when the game was initially released. The controls were simple to grasp and I enjoyed grappling from gargoyle statue to gargoyle statue, silently repelling down to take out my enemies. There was a lot of patience involved on my part and seeing the condition of the enemies go from “calm” to “nervous” to “paranoid” once they discovered their cohorts’ lifeless bodies was highly amusing. Of course it didn’t entice me to buy the game back then (remember, “too many interests” and “cheap” are the phrases that define me), but I was happy to find out that aspect comes up numerous times in the full-fledged version.

This isn’t really meant to be a review of the game, but rather how the experience of playing helps to put me in the middle of Batmania as the countdown to the release of “The Dark Knight Rises” continues.

The storyline is relatively simple. Batman has just arrested the Joker, whom he suspects of somehow wanting to be caught. Once inside Gotham’s notorious prison, Joker seizes control, leaving it up to Batman to tap into his inner Alonzo Harris and snatch it back, taking every villain in Gotham with him.

Aside from the aforementioned “hanging from the rafters” elements of the game, which I loved, there were two other sequences that stood out to me. The first sequence is one that recurs I believe three times throughout the game. You (as Batman) are caught up in the storyline of searching for Joker when you notice something amiss. You find a dead Commissioner Gordon, stunned that the game would dare killing off a central character before you truly have a chance to save him or you walk down a seemingly endless corridor and you suddenly have less control of where you’re walking. The walls start caving in and the floor dissipates around you. Your darkest fears are tapped into and you’re forced to relive the moment that turned your heart forever cold and steered you toward justice and vengeance. You realize you’re in the clutches of Scarecrow.

Batman duels with Scarecrow's minions in Arkham Asylum.

These Scarecrow sequences are fantastic. It truly jars you from the beat-‘em-up, problem-solving style of the game to this point and forces you to recognize the environment that you’re in. These scenes are almost straight from “Batman: The Animated Series,” but there’s a haunting aspect to them in the game. Scarecrow represents a Freddy Krueger-like figure, complete with a sharp-nailed glove, lording over the nightmarish dreamscapes he’s used to penetrate Batman’s mind.

Scarecrow’s environments separate themselves from the game in style and control, more like twisted mini-games than anything else. The camera shifts from a third-person behind-the-back viewpoint to a sidescroller more akin to “Super Mario Bros.” This tonal difference is a fun shakeup of the rest of the game and makes you truly feel one with Batman’s mind.

The other sequence in the game that leaps to the forefront of my mind comes toward the end. Prior to your showdown with Joker, you need to grapple with Poison Ivy. Outside of the Uma Thurman-played character in Batman Forever, I’ve always felt that Poison Ivy had been a particularly sexy-looking villain (just watch those “Batman: The Animated Series” episodes). The game certainly didn’t disappoint on that front, but it was the lead-up to the confrontation that I found truly engaging.

Once Batman finishes his last task prior to traveling to the section of the asylum Poison Ivy has carved out for herself, a bunch of Venus flytrap-like plants are scattered about the premises. As you near them, a violent orb rises out of the plant and attempts to sting you. You can knock these orbs away with a quick flick of your Batarang, but you can kill them when in close by plunging your fist right into the middle of the plant and tearing out its guts. And when you do this, Poison Ivy gets PISSED. Her voice comes booming through the speakers like that of a vengeful God, threatening you and your life after each stealing of a plant’s existence. Poison Ivy feels the death of a plant in her soul and she gets more and more riled up about it after you eliminate each one. Every subsequent time she threatens you, it gets a little nastier and you can’t help but have a surge of adrenaline coursing through your veins as you get closer and closer to coming face-to-face with your accuser, all but assuring you don’t take a bathroom break anytime soon. You knew you were hurting her, you loved that she was upset about it and you knew she was next.

Poison Ivy is dangerous to the touch, in games and in life.

That was undoubtedly the climax of the game for me. I’ve read some reviews poo-pooing the final battle with a ‘roided-up Joker as something too comical that it felt out of place, but I don’t necessarily buy into that. I think the letdown of the finale is that it wasn’t built up like the showdown with Poison Ivy.

Once completed, you’re given the opportunity to play through some levels as Joker and that’s a fun little gimmick for a while. Perhaps the fact that I was essentially terrible playing as the Clown Prince of Crime had something to do with my only minor enthusiasm for the feature, but I still think it’s a cool inclusion. Joker has a gun with one bullet in it and he has a couple of chattering teeth bombs that are pretty handy, but he mainly gets through with kicks and punches, just as Batman does. Thinking about that reminds me of that Batman figure I had all those years ago and how much of that kind of fighting existed in the ’60s TV show. It would obviously be a very different game, but what if they decided to make a ‘60s TV show mod of this game? Batman favors the gray-and-blue suit worn by Adam West and each punch and kick is met with a big “Zok” or “Blam” across the screen. Like the playing-as-Joker mode, it’d probably get old in a hurry, so let’s pretend like I never came up with the idea in the first place.

The fact that I made it through the entire game should tell you something about how I feel about it. It’s a strong testament to a product that I had only a fleeting interest in that I would see it through to completion. A word of warning to those that aren’t like me and do have addictive personalities, if you pick up this game, you might find yourself saying this.

Next week: The Asylum gets its own zip code in “Batman: Arkham City.” You can imagine how Batman takes this news.

Countdown to ‘The Dark Knight Rises’: Part 6 of 11 – “Batman: The Animated Series”

If you missed it here is Part 1 of 11: Introduction to Batman “The Gift”

And here is Part 2 of 11: A look Back at Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

And Part 3: ‘Batman Returns’

And Part 4: ‘Batman Forever’

And last week’s part 5 ‘Batman and Robin’

In 1992, Warner Bros. figured they could capitalize on the success of Tim Burton’s two cinematic offerings of the DC character to which they owned the rights in the form of an animated TV show. The camp of the 1960s TV episodic had given way to Burton’s darker vision and the studio figured out how to tame that and frame it within the confines of a show aimed at kids. I was smack-dab in the middle of their target demographic and I was hooked when I saw the show’s first commercial. I was watching TV with a neighbor when we witnessed the ad together and it was like living life with cataract-infested eyeballs to be handed eyeglasses by Jesus, himself. A whole new world had opened up to me and Aladdin was nowhere in sight. My friend and I knew our lives had been pointless up until the moment the show debuted (which meant my life was of utmost patheticism, as he was a few years younger than me). We conspired to make the most sacred of pacts: wake up early on a Saturday and get together to watch the show. And it was done.

When I decided to do a Batman retrospective, the task that excited me the most was the idea of going back to watch all 85 episodes of “Batman: The Animated Series.” I hadn’t seen an episode since its original airing, but a couple of housemates had done some renting of the DVDs after The Dark Knight came out and I was always a bit jealous I didn’t get to partake in this nostalgia with them. As exciting as the prospect was, I couldn’t will myself to start. I had only watched 12 of the plethora of episodes laid before me two weeks before I needed this article written. My notes were slight and about as descriptive as any sentence found in the series of “See Spot Run” books. If I retained one lesson from college, though, it was how to cram. I went on a Batman bender the likes of which only Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan have lived through. My notes got longer and more elaborate and by the time I hit the finish line, there were 36 pages and 25,000 words of notes – something about each episode. I promise to spare you the details.

Batman: The Animated Series Ran on TV From 1992-95

It’s difficult to tackle Batman without talking about his enemies. I’ve done a little bit of that already and will look at them as a whole in a couple of weeks. What struck me most when re-watching the show (other than my open palm, trying to keep me awake) was how many episodes didn’t revolve around the main cast of villians. At least a third and up to about half (depending on whom you count as “the main cast of villains”) of the episodes don’t involve either Joker or Two-Face or Poison Ivy or Scarecrow or The Riddler or Penguin. There are episodes involving werewolves and invisibility and the mafia. As you can probably imagine, the quality of the half-hours that didn’t involve the non-name characters varied, but I thought it was a tremendous risk to take which led to some inventive storytelling.

Batman's image presides over several villains from Batman: The Animated Series

Before delving into specific episodes worthy of mention and how they did or didn’t play into Christopher Nolan’s take on the character, the show itself had a wholly unique style worthy of discussion. Though Burton had constructed modern Gotham, which Nolan has followed upon, Joel Schumacher and “Batman: The Animated Series” opted to for more of a retro look. It’s almost insulting to compare the latter two, but that’s apparently what Schumacher was going for. It just went as horrifically wrong as overexposure to Daggett face cream (I’ll get there in a second). “Batman: TAS” did it properly. The show looks like a 1940s noir spectacle sourced from a Raymond Chandler novel.  And it has the art deco architecture to prove it. If that wasn’t enough, every TV broadcast is in luxurious black-and-white. Not even Bruce Wayne has sprung for a color set yet.  The period setting is a perfect fit with some of the storylines and harkens back to when the character was created and the Batman serials of the era, just minus all the cheese. It’s a setting befitting of the World’s Greatest Detective.

As much as I’d love to give a recap of all the episodes or at least the ones I really enjoyed, this isn’t the proper venue. Those sites exist and you can peruse their 30,000 words. I’m here to give you a condensed version. What you should know from the outset is in narrowing down the list of 85 episodes to highlights I wanted to cover, I still had a list of 46. It suffices to say, there’s a lot of gold to be found in this series and you won’t have to dig for long to find it.

This series hits its stride with its first two-part episode, appropriately tackling the origin of “Two-Face” (which is the episode’s title). The tale of Harvey Dent in “Batman: TAS” differs a little from the one Nolan tells in The Dark Knight, but it’s no less impactful. Harvey and Bruce Wayne are good friends. They go out on double dates together. However, Harvey’s had this burgeoning personality called “Big Bad Harv” that’s been developing from within him ever since an accident on the school playground. When he’s blackmailed by local mafioso, Rupert Thorne, Harv gets angry. And you wouldn’t like him when he’s a victim of a bomb blast that disfigures half of his body giving Big Bad Harv a chance of existence. The second half of the episode shows Two-Face’s fight for bringing Thorne to justice. Although the circumstances are altered, this episode fits thematically with Nolan’s depiction of the character and though this show is animated, it’s vastly less cartoonish than Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever.

Could Christopher Nolan Have Used Some Other Villains From Batman: TAS?

It remains to be seen what Nolan his in store with Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises, but another two-parter, titled “Cat and Claw,” could serve as a nice basis. Assuming you’re counting Catwoman as a “villain,” there are two villains in these 60 minutes, much like we know The Dark Knight Rises to have with Catwoman and Bane. In the episode, there isn’t an origin of Catwoman like Batman Returns. Instead, Selina is already donning the costume to perform her jewelry heists. When Batman catches her, there’s an instant attraction between the two. While Bruce and Selina meet in their civilian lives, and Selina is just as wealthy as he, she can’t help but wish Batman was attracted to her instead of Bruce. Her passion is animals, though, and she fights to create a mountain lion preserve which is shut down due to interference by a criminal organization manned, nay, womaned, by Red Claw. Batman and Catwoman have a common enemy, but once defeated, the sides of the law in which they stand are not the same.

Though it’s not his origin episode (that’d be “Nothing to Fear”), the Scarecrow-starring “Dreams in Darkness” serves as the character’s most potent time in the spotlight throughout the series’ run and the most darkly reminiscent of Batman Begins. Scarecrow hatches a plan to taint Gotham’s drinking water with his fear toxin. Batman gets a taste of that medicine before the plan is hatched and has to face the fears of his parent’s death while hallucinating about Joker infiltrating the Batcave and narrowly running over Robin with the Batmobile. Naturally, the scheme is eventually halted. There was a 60s “Batman” episode where Joker tainted Gotham’s water supply. He turned it into red jelly. Hardly frightening, but again Joker isn’t about scare-tactics, only chaos. Still, how the times have changed.

The villainous Clayface might have made a formidable foe for Nolan's Batman films

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I can keep going. But I know I shouldn’t. Before I get to what I consider the pinnacles of the show, here are a few episodes to check out. “Heart of Ice” is the Mr. Freeze origin story that was told within the confines of corniness in Batman & Robin. This is the episode that makes you think he would’ve been a worthy addition to Nolan’s world. Joker pulls a Tyler Durden, plucks a potential victim’s ID and tells him he’ll come back later, asking for a favor in “Joker’s Favor.” Robin’s origin from Batman Forever gets a retelling in “Robin’s Reckoning.” Edward Nygma perfects his riddles in “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?” and “What is Reality?” Jim Carrey, he is not. Killer Croc finds a family of former Freak Show stars in a forest in “Sideshow.” And Poison Ivy claims to be reformed only to be hatching clones like Invasion of the Body Snatchers in “House & Garden.”

After seeing The Dark Knight, I couldn’t help but read every rumor about who the next villains were going to be and scan every list throwing out ideas of every character Batman ever faced in any form of media. When discussing the subject with a friend, character names were tossed about and he stopped on Clayface. I was aware of the character from a vague memory of “Batman: TAS” a decade and a half prior and my memory was that he was a brown monster. There’s no way I wanted that in my gravel-and-grit Batman franchise. It sounded more like something for Sam Raimi to screw up in Spider-Man. After re-watching the show, I’d be completely onboard with a Clayface inclusion.

It still sounds strange to even suggest and there are only two episodes of 85 that deal with Matt Hagen, the man who would be Clayface. But they’re fantastic. Hagen is a B-movie actor whose age is finally starting to show. He’s no longer getting the roles he once was and turns to a face cream called “Renu-U,” created by one of Gotham’s Donald Trumps, Roland Daggett. Hagen’s so addicted to the cream that his face becomes less than “camera-ready” unless he has some on hand. With supply running low, he breaks into Daggett Industries to feed his addiction and is helped to all of the Renu-U he can take, courtesy of Daggett thuggery. This transforms his body into this massive clay-like blob, but he has the ability to change into different forms, thus taking on the moniker, Clayface. Hagen is a “villain” in a similar sense to Mr. Freeze. He’s not a bad man, but was forced into a life changing circumstance that propelled him into doing the unlawful. It’s Daggett who’s the true villain. Clayface is the subject of the two-parter “Feat of Clay” and an episode titled “Mudslide.” They could conceivably be written into one long three-act story, which (minus the Mr. Fantastic-esque feats of limb growth) boil down to a great dramatic narrative and character arc Nolan could have hammered home.

My favorite one-off episode belongs to another lower-tier villain, The Mad Hatter. Jervis Tesch is a scientist practicing the how-could-it-ever-be-used-for-ill art of mind control. He tries to impress a woman named Alice and give her the night of her life. Only when she gets back with her boyfriend does he become enraged and use his scientific discovery to control her. This is all established in the episode “Mad as a Hatter,“ which is uniformly excellent, but the character and the show reaches its zenith in “Perchance to Dream.”

If Nolan has surpassed The Dark Knight in his filmography to date, it was with Inception, the story of which dreams are made. “Perchance to Dream” is the Inception of “Batman: TAS.” Bruce wakes up to a nightmare he feels is deathly real. He can’t find the entrance to the Batcave and Alfred professes to know nothing about it. Bruce finds his parents are alive and well and that he’s engaged to Selina Kyle. He even sees Batman flying outside a window. He feels something amiss and sees an old family friend who knew of his alter ego. She tells him his whole Batman thing was a delusion. Just when Bruce accepts his new life and couldn’t be happier as a result, he sits down to read the paper and all of it is gobbledygook. He knows he’s stuck in a dream and he has to find a way out. The Mad Hatter is behind it all.

There’s no way this episode could have made for a whole movie. Or even part of one. It’s just a great episode of television. However, it works on a level you’ve seen before with Nolan. There’s no way I would ever throw Inception back, but you wonder if he could have incorporated a character like The Mad Hatter and a concept like this in his Bat-world. The thing you know for sure is if he had, it would have been astounding. Instead we’ll just have to take that episode for what it is and the series as a whole: a great 40+ hours of Batman, no matter the viewpoint from which it’s seen.

Next week: Batman attends his own version of “Take Back the Night” by rounding up the inmates in “Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

Countdown to “The Dark Knight Rises”: Part 4 of 11 – “Batman Forever”

If you missed it here is Part 1 of 11: Introduction to Batman “The Gift”

And here is Part 2 of 11: A look Back at Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

And Part 3: ‘Batman Returns’

If ever I could have been in my Batman fan prime, it was 1995. I had turned 13, so there was no way a PG-13 rating could possibly keep me away. I was wiser about the world and could understand Batman’s predicaments a little better than I ever could have comprehended when squeezing his plastic legs together seven years prior. I owned two different kinds of Batman Forever cards (Fleer and Fleer Metal). I even owned the novelization of the movie, which my parents probably purchased for me to stop from beating on my younger sister during a long road trip vacation to Canada. Plus, the movie was going to feature Robin, the character closest to what my young mind could ever conceive of growing into: Batman’s partner. In short, I was charged up beyond belief. What I got in return for all my franchise loyalty and constant day-dreaming was Batman Forever.

I don’t believe I felt that was necessarily a bad thing back then. I’m sure I was happy enough with the movie. Jim Carrey undoubtedly made me laugh. I was able to remember certain lines while re-watching it (“It’s never gonna heal if you don’t stop picking”). I’m also certain I bought the soundtrack to it. Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” was the breakout hit (sampled into excellence recently by Ras Kass on “Heidi Klum” http://youtu.be/myCIhPKAlmg), but can distinctly remember The Flaming Lips’ “Bad Days” as my favorite track on the album. It certainly had some things going for it, but the changes from Tim Burton’s films to this one were made even more glaring by the time Joel Schumacher released Batman & Robin. But that’s coming next week.

What I’d never noticed, or at least had never paid much attention to before, is Tim Burton’s name is on Batman Forever. He’s listed as a producer. Apparently, Warner Bros brass felt Batman Returns was too dark, thus leaving a lot of box office receipts on the table (a tune they’d reverse again ten years later). They then replaced him with Schumacher, but were in enough debt to Burton to let him retain the title of Executive Producer. Comparing Burton’s films to Schumacher’s makes it easy to see the man that kick-started the franchise was given little more than a name-check opening credit.

"I said the name is The Riddler, not Bette Middler."

Schumacher’s films will obviously prove to be the outliers in this series of articles and it doesn’t take Malcolm Gladwell to determine why. They’re lighter. That’s the simple answer. Lighter in tone and even in production design. For Batman Forever, Schumacher wanted Gotham to feel like the city depicted in the ‘30s and ‘40s comic books, with a splash of Tokyo thrown in for good measure. Neon lights shine down upon the city. Things glow. Blacklights are abundant. It’s as if the detested rave scene from The Matrix Reloaded spilled out into Gotham City for the duration of the movie.

As unwelcome as the change to the visual palette of Batman’s world may be, it’s inarguable that it meshes completely with the villains on board for this installment. Since he was supposed to have originally been the only villain in the movie before writer Akiva Goldsman came on board, as well as Two-Face being involved in the Christopher Nolan trilogy, I’d like to look at The Riddler first.

It seems bizarre to me that a franchise with a character named The Joker would choose one named The Riddler to be the one whose primary instinct is to rattle off jokes. Alas, this is the direction in which the film wanted to take him. I wonder how the pre-Akiva Goldsman, pre-Two-Face script depicted him. Would the studio still have sprung for a comedian to inhabit the role? We’ll never know. Either way, it certainly appears the filmmakers set out to make this version of Batman into a comedy and The Riddler was their centerpiece.

As much as I may dislike the tonal road the film chose to take, Jim Carrey is fantastic playing the role he is given. Edward Nygma is a high-IQ egocentric, hell-bent in his pursuit of manipulating brainwaves with an invention he develops under Wayne Enterprises, called The Box. When Bruce denies him in a hurry and Nygma has his project shut down, he cranks up his already over-the-top personality to 11 (“one louder”). He discovers The Box does more than for what it was intended, namely absorbing the IQ of anyone near it. Nygma’s brain plays the role of the sponge and soon his artificially enhanced brainpower decides it’d be a good idea to show his former boss, just who’s the smartest of them all.

Carrey plays Nygma like Ace Ventura with intelligence. He’s already maniacal before he ever encounters Wayne to have his heart broken and his sense of vengeance seethes within him, boiling to the surface. He rattles off one-liners with ease, calming down Two-Face with a quick, “Patience, o bifurcated one.” His mannerisms are all elongated and theatrical. It’s very easy to see how the movie could be sold on his shoulders alone and how the character couldn’t possibly exist, at least in this incarnation, in Nolan’s world. He’s completely developed in the hyper-real world of the movie. Two-Face is another story.

Schumacher directs: "Now, seductively flirt with the camera. Flirt with the camera."

How do you turn a district attorney into a pimp? Throw a little acid into his face. At least that was apparently the thinking behind the journey for Harvey Dent to go from city defender to creature of chaos. Unlike Nygma, his backstory is glossed over in a five-second news clip flashback. He was in a courtroom. Some mobster throws acid in his face. He covers half his face with a manila envelope. Batman swings into action a hair too late. Who does Dent blame? Batman. Sounds reasonable.

It’s no wonder Chris Nolan chose to resurrect Two-Face for his series. It was impossible to screw up. No logical backstory had ever been established in the movie world and he’s given no distinct personality. Tommy Lee Jones plays Two-Face with the same mania Carrey gives to Riddler. The only difference between them is Two-Face has a partly pink face and half a suit made by Zubaz. Jones supposedly only took the role because his son’s favorite character was Two-Face. After the film came out, his son no doubt chose a different character and/or father.

There may be no better juxtaposition between pre-Nolan and post-Nolan franchise takeover to help one understand the difference in quality between the two than in the treatment of Harvey Dent. Burton had actually cast Dent in Batman. He was played by Billy Dee Williams in hopes that he’d get to portray the villainous version in the future. Instead, Jones was saddled with that role. Though it appears I am, I don’t blame Jones for his version of Two-Face. That fault belongs to higher ups. He just now has to live with embodying a particularly ineffectual version of a character that Aaron Eckhart would later own.

The film no doubt took a large step down from Batman Returns and pales in comparison to either of Nolan’s tries. However, there’s one aspect it’s able to dangle above Nolan’s head – the love interest. Nicole Kidman plays the part of Chase Meridian, attention-getter to both Bruce Wayne and Batman this trip to the plate and she’s far superior to Katie Holmes or Maggie Gyllenhaal. Certainly not in character development, and not necessarily in acting talent. I’m speaking superficially. Even with Anne Hathaway, a woman who once sat atop My Top Three, stepping up in The Dark Knight Rises, Kidman dominates all competition like a Bat-punch to the temple. Outside of perhaps Eyes Wide Shut (come on, look at this photo) or To Die For, both of which were released later, Kidman has never looked better. After all, in Schumacher’s world, looks are all that matter. Might as well let him win something.

Next Week: Someone involved with Batman & Robin kills Batman on film and it’s not shown in the movie.