Quick "Batman 3 (7?)" Note

We went to see Christopher Nolan's The Dark Night Rises this past Sunday. I can say that I wasn't ever all that excited about seeing this movie. I like Nolan and his movies, and I guess I like Batman, but superhero movies haven't been that high on my must-see list.

I think I saw Batman Begins in the theater, I know I saw the Dark Knight in theaters (but that was the only time I saw it)(there was a bar across the street from the theater and I had to pee before the trailers ended). But this year, neither Spider-Man, nor this, nor the Total Recall remake really excited up my blood.

Things changed, though, and I felt like seeing this one. Maybe it was reading about Nolan's existential issues forming the backbone of the movie.

In any case, it's a pretty good movie. Tom Hardy's Bane's voice cracked me up throughout. It wasn't totally joyless like Green Lantern, but it did take itself pretty seriously.

I liked it; it was moody and dark and presented a reality in which superheroes exist with a dourness that the Watchmen comic nailed while the movie didn't as squarely as this one. Also, the action wasn't blur of shadows where you can't tell what the hell's going on.

The main purpose of this note, I suppose, is this: Both Corrie and I agreed that while this was a pretty good Batman movie, and the Nolan-trilogy might be the most realistic and serious take on a superhero infested world---which would make it the best superhero trilogy yet---the two Tim Burton Batman films were more fun.

I don't mean that they're necessarily more fun movies to watch---it just seems like the actors are having more fun, the director's having a ball, and the crew just had a blast making it all come together.

Those two movies are probably even darker than Nolan's, and the star-power almost coexisted within the frame of the universe. Jack Nicholson, Jack Palance, Christopher Walken, Danny DeVito and Michelle Pfeiffer, all big names in Hollywood, but they all somehow fit in Tim Burton's world.

Maybe they're better, maybe their not, but they are different. I think all fans would agree that Nolan's and Burton's are definitely better than Joel Schumacher's abominations efforts.