I haven't seen the new film yet, so --

Christian Bale's turn as Wayne/Batman in the previous film was superb. Back in 1989 I was amazed by Michael Keaton and the look of that film, but "Batman Begins" was better on every level -- even some humor between Wayne and Morgan Freeman's character, as I recall. And using Chicago as the model for Gotham City, rather than the overused Manhattan, was an original touch.

That said, I've yet to see on film the Batman-as-serious-detective I grew up with in the early '60s comics. Batman was supposed to be a worthy successor to Sherlock Holmes, yet we rarely see him doing any detective work or solving puzzles. (The silly Adam West series did on occasion, I'll give it that -- along with Frank Gorshin as the definitive Riddler and Burgess Meredith as the definitive Penguin -- but it was far too campy.) As in most of the Superman films, Batman seems to wait until the bad guys make a move, then he attempts to counter it; bad guys make a move, Batman counters; etc. I want to see a story in which Batman is proactive: He sets up the criminals, super- or not, a la the TV Mission: Impossible, and leads them into a trap.

The other thing I'd love is for Batman to occasionally go undercover, whether to trap a super-villain or just an ordinary gang of jewel thieves, say. In one of the comics, a criminal visits Gotham, selling a service: He claims to be able to change your fingerprints, permanently. So Batman goes undercover as a bank robber on the run, goes through the pipeline of contacts and winds up in the boss's headquarters . . . and finds that the whole thing is a scam on the criminal customers. The altered fingerprints don't last! Exciting stuff, as I recall.

But that might be too intellectual for an audience raised to expect explosions and chases every ten minutes. I'm hoping this new film is a cut above that sort of thing.

ETA: My title was going to be "Batman the Dark Detective," but I hit the Post button too soon.
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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

It maybe cheesy, but it's made over $315,000,000.00 so far.

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Exactly.

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'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Long, hot, boring summer and looking for the escape, no matter how bad the movie is.

Remember, there's alot of teens out there with alot of disposable $ to spend. And they do... on movies! They like cheese.

Sounds like a good make out movie.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I just saw it today (after the earthquake). Except for Batman's voice, I loved every aspect of the movie. I was especially drawn to the themes of good vs. evil and what it takes to defeat evil. As a prosecutor these themes appeal to me.

BTW, who amongst us does not wish to be Bruce Wayne. Who needs superpowers when you have a bottomless trust fund to draw from?

This movie was very good at capturing the essence of the DC character. The movie took its subject seriously and never degenerated into camp like other movie adaptions of comic book heroes.

Ledger's performance was outstanding. How sad that he is no longer with us.

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Current Benzes

1989 300TE "Alice"
1990 300CE "Sam Spade"
1991 300CE "Beowulf" RIP (06.1991 - 10.10.2007)
1998 E320 "Orson"
2002 C320 Wagon "Molly Fox"

Res non semper sunt quae esse videntur

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