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The relationship between the Joker and Batman is a symbiotic one. Where Batman is about structure, order, and justice the Joker is all about anarchy, chaos, and randomness. This is where The Dark Knight succeeds on all the levels where previous installments have failed. Looking at 1989's version, Tim Burton fails miserably for the simple fact that he reverses their roles within the story. The entire film sets up Jack Nicholson's Joker by giving him a back story and going into great detail about his character while Michael Keatons' Dark Knight is given no background whatsoever. He skirts the edge of the story only showing up periodically to foil the Joker's plans. In fact after four films we were still left asking "who is that masked man?" In every film in the Burton/Schumacher franchise the villains are given origins and motivations while the supposed title character has nothing to do within the story. He is relegated to being second banana to the actual stars of the film(the villains) much like the camp television series of the '60's.
And even then, the previous franchise stumbles over itself. In 1989's Batman we have a man who is scarred after a betrayal by a mob boss and seeks revenge against the entire city of Gotham. I tend to wonder if the script wasn't initially written with Harvey Dent as the villain and changed to work the Joker into story. Jack Napier even carries his "lucky deck" in place of Harvey Dent's ubiqitous coin. And how coincidental is it that the story takes place during Gotham's Bicentenial celebration, accentuating Harvey's obsession with the number two?
We are next given a deformed freak who lives in the sewers and leads a circus themed gang of criminals. Killer Croc, right? Wrong. As before they choose to take one villains origin and shoehorn a more recognizable character such as the Penguin into it. At least they got Catwoman right, right? Well...a meek office worker who is pushed around by her boss undergoes a transformation and comes back to seek vengeance. Sounds a bit more like Poison Ivy. Michelle Pfeiffer was wonderful playing the part and played it to the hilt, but it was written with little regard to what was established in the comics.
How about Batman Forever? With the plot of a scientific genius using a device to control people's minds and steal their mental faculties. Wow! The Mad Hatter made it into a movie! Or have we re-written the Riddler's modus operandi to work in this context? Again dropping the character who actually fit in order to cast our "guest villain of the weak,"...er, I mean week.
Bringing us to Tommy Lee Jones as the Joker, err...I mean Two-Face. How ironic that the Bat-villain with possibly the most complex characterization is relegated to a clip on Gotham News Network showing us how eggplant exploded onto the left side of his face. They desperately needed a villain who was going to show up unexplainedly and simply create havoc and chaos. And once again they shoehorn the wrong villain into the needed modus operandi, even going so far as giving him a Joker-esque trademark of showing up in a ringleaders costume at the circus.
And now the 1997 winner for best achievement in gay cinema; Batman and Robin. What a mess. First freeze the world, then resurrect my wife. Ra's Al Ghul would have worked about a billion times more efficiently with this agenda than Victor Freeze who was again jammed into the plot due to his poplularity in the animated series. Ra's also would have made more sense teaming with "eco-terrorist" Poison Ivy, who actually fit pretty well into her story as written(A FIRST!). However there is the problem with Bane. Oh, the humanity! To take the man who broke the Bat and relegate him to a growling henchman is absolutely criminal. Joel Schumacher really needs to be bought up on criminal charges for this travesty.
Sadly, this is just a list of badly written villains. I haven't even scratched the surface of how the man investigating the Bat-Man in 89 should have been Lt. Jim Gordon and not "Alexander Knox", how Commisioner Gordon looked like corrupt Commisioner Gillian Loeb from Year One, Vicki Vale was actually Silver St Cloud in both appearance and in how she showed up for Gotham's Bicentinial Celebration(Silver was an event organizer),how Chase Meridian acted more like Vicki Vale than Vicki Vale did, or the fact that in four films nothing actually happened.
And Warner Brothers was clueless as to why batfans hated this franchise.
This is just a partial list of what was wrong with the Batman film franchise B.C. aka Before Christopher(Nolan). Now where does the Nolan-verse go so right?
...to be continued...
And even then, the previous franchise stumbles over itself. In 1989's Batman we have a man who is scarred after a betrayal by a mob boss and seeks revenge against the entire city of Gotham. I tend to wonder if the script wasn't initially written with Harvey Dent as the villain and changed to work the Joker into story. Jack Napier even carries his "lucky deck" in place of Harvey Dent's ubiqitous coin. And how coincidental is it that the story takes place during Gotham's Bicentenial celebration, accentuating Harvey's obsession with the number two?
We are next given a deformed freak who lives in the sewers and leads a circus themed gang of criminals. Killer Croc, right? Wrong. As before they choose to take one villains origin and shoehorn a more recognizable character such as the Penguin into it. At least they got Catwoman right, right? Well...a meek office worker who is pushed around by her boss undergoes a transformation and comes back to seek vengeance. Sounds a bit more like Poison Ivy. Michelle Pfeiffer was wonderful playing the part and played it to the hilt, but it was written with little regard to what was established in the comics.
How about Batman Forever? With the plot of a scientific genius using a device to control people's minds and steal their mental faculties. Wow! The Mad Hatter made it into a movie! Or have we re-written the Riddler's modus operandi to work in this context? Again dropping the character who actually fit in order to cast our "guest villain of the weak,"...er, I mean week.
Bringing us to Tommy Lee Jones as the Joker, err...I mean Two-Face. How ironic that the Bat-villain with possibly the most complex characterization is relegated to a clip on Gotham News Network showing us how eggplant exploded onto the left side of his face. They desperately needed a villain who was going to show up unexplainedly and simply create havoc and chaos. And once again they shoehorn the wrong villain into the needed modus operandi, even going so far as giving him a Joker-esque trademark of showing up in a ringleaders costume at the circus.
And now the 1997 winner for best achievement in gay cinema; Batman and Robin. What a mess. First freeze the world, then resurrect my wife. Ra's Al Ghul would have worked about a billion times more efficiently with this agenda than Victor Freeze who was again jammed into the plot due to his poplularity in the animated series. Ra's also would have made more sense teaming with "eco-terrorist" Poison Ivy, who actually fit pretty well into her story as written(A FIRST!). However there is the problem with Bane. Oh, the humanity! To take the man who broke the Bat and relegate him to a growling henchman is absolutely criminal. Joel Schumacher really needs to be bought up on criminal charges for this travesty.
Sadly, this is just a list of badly written villains. I haven't even scratched the surface of how the man investigating the Bat-Man in 89 should have been Lt. Jim Gordon and not "Alexander Knox", how Commisioner Gordon looked like corrupt Commisioner Gillian Loeb from Year One, Vicki Vale was actually Silver St Cloud in both appearance and in how she showed up for Gotham's Bicentinial Celebration(Silver was an event organizer),how Chase Meridian acted more like Vicki Vale than Vicki Vale did, or the fact that in four films nothing actually happened.
And Warner Brothers was clueless as to why batfans hated this franchise.
This is just a partial list of what was wrong with the Batman film franchise B.C. aka Before Christopher(Nolan). Now where does the Nolan-verse go so right?
...to be continued...
Hahahaha Compadre I'm so with you on this!
At least they got inside their heads a bit or at least they think they did.
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