An interesting Bat-read at /film:
“It’s very much a point of view-driven, noir Batman tale,” Reeves says. “It’s told very squarely on his shoulders, and I hope it’s going to be a story that will be thrilling but also emotional. It’s more Batman in his detective mode than we’ve seen in the films. The comics have a history of that. He’s supposed to be the world’s greatest detective, and that’s not necessarily been a part of what the movies have been.”
Batman’s detective skills have mostly been overlooked in the movies, although Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy had few scenes here and there of Batman engaging in some minor detective work. The Batman will apparently take things even further. In regards to the detective aspect, Reeves adds: “I’d love this to be one where when we go on that journey of tracking down the criminals and trying to solve a crime, it’s going to allow his character to have an arc so that he can go through a transformation.”
The article also talks a lot about the variety of villains that will be in the story - not just one-at-a-time, a la the movies that we have seen thus far.
BUT, the most interesting thing for me is this tid-bit:
Beyond that, Reeves confirms that Warner Bros. is moving away from the shared universe idea, and is going to focus on one movie at a time. “Aquaman is going to be very different from the Todd Phillips Joker movie, and that’s going to be different from Shazam and Harley Quinn,” Reeves says. “Warners believes they don’t have to try to develop a giant slate that has to have all the plans for how it’s going to connect. What they need to try and do is make good movies with these characters.”
This all sounds promising, and I’d love to see Reeves knock this out of the park. When done right, Batman can be compelling as hell. When done wrong, well, then we end up with Justice League.
My emphasis. I have to say that I'm stoked for the Shazam flick (trailer here). Love me some Zachary Levi.
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| Aw geez guys, it wasn't that bad. |
Back in the days of the original X-Men movies (over at 20th Century Fox), I was just overjoyed that Marvel characters were getting the big screen treatment. The idea of a larger universe for these characters - where everyone is aware of other characters - is what has become so appealing to me. Once Marvel got to the Avengers: Infinity War, and all of these epic comic book characters were sharing the screen together, it was simply thrilling.
SO, why is it that DC Comics/Warner Bros. cannot catch the same rainbow magic that Marvel has with the "cinematic universe" concept? According to Screenrant, it started with meddling from the Warner Bros. studio:
Concept artist Jay Oliva has confirmed that Snyder's original plan for the DCEU was for a five film arc. This story would be told in Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Justice League, Justice League 2, and likely Justice League 3 - with Superman, the rise of the Justice League, and Darkseid at the core. We've laid out his entire plan in the past, but Snyder only truly got to see his vision through on Man of Steel. Although the story and tonal decisions of Batman v Superman remained true to Snyder's original take, Warner Bros. still stepped in to cut down the 3 hour runtime that would eventually be released as the Ultimate Cut. Snyder's grander plans for the DCEU went off the rails after Batman v Superman received an even harsher reaction than his previous DC film and saw the studio get cold feet. They heavily reshot Suicide Squad to change the tone, and that was just the beginning of the studio meddling.
As a result of Batman v Superman's reception, Geoff Johns - then the freshly appointed head of DC Films - became more involved with Justice League. Reports surfaced that changes were being made to Snyder's original plan during production. After completing filming, Joss Whedon was hired to write scenes for the film's upcoming reshoots. His role became much larger after Snyder stepped away from the project in early 2017 due to the death of his daughter. With Snyder out of the picture, Warner Bros. and Whedon continued to change Justice League to better fit the vision of the studio, going as far as changing the ending as plans for Justice League 2 were distanced. Justice League still saw a tepid response upon its release and disappointed at the box office. It is the lowest grossing DCEU film to date worldwide, despite housing all of its stars.
I liked both "Batman Vs. Superman" and "Justice League" - though not as much as any of the Marvel universe movies.
Back to the original reason for this post: Batman.
Bruce Wayne has been one of my favorite DC characters for a long time. Ever since the Michael Keaton donned the black cowl back in the late 80s - my first real exposure to a good superhero film - I have been a fan. But, putting a different twist on the character is a good thing. We've all seen the Batman-as-a-vigilante superhero guy. What about a less superhero-y type of adventure for the caped crusader? Something more akin to Sherlock Holmes would be pretty sweet.
