My Take on "The Batman" Trailer

WARNING: This is not a shot by shot breakdown. This is my feelings and opinions and impressions based on what I saw.

Here we go again, a new reboot, a new actor and still no campy-ness. I will be the first person to admit I loved the old campy Batman films! Tim Burton started it all with 1984's Batman and whoo boy! After I had watched Batman: The Animated Series based on this campy telling of the Batman comic books I was in love. I loved the aesthetic the art deco style really captured my imagination and made is a bit spooky for me as a kid. I loved the music it could get me excited like the main theme, could make me scared. The music that plays over the scene of Joker's henchmen driving the trash barges in the episode The Last Laugh is a great example. I then watched the movies, and I loved them. Whether it was Michael Keaton, George Clooney or Val Kilmer, who played Batman I loved the comic book feeling of those films. I loved Batman up until the Nolan films. I could go on and on about the animated series and the pre-Nolan Batman films. That could be another article all on its own. This article is to talk about the trailer for the new film, The Batman.

I confess that I was hoping for a return to the campy. I love it, like I said in the last paragraph. When I saw a still from the trailer of a riddle from The Riddler, I was kind of hoping for a return to the campy. I love The Riddler, so for that reason alone I will be watching the movie. The Riddler became my favorite Villan after watching Jim Carrey's portrayal of both Edward Nigma (E. Nigma! How clever!) and The Riddler in Batman Forever. I loved how much of a dweeby nerd he was before he donned the green costume covered in question marks, and how he was a confident villain afterword! I loved that he left riddles! I love riddles. They are some of my favorite things! I loved the level of campy-ness Jim brought to the character. This was my second introduction to him after watching the animated series.

Watching the trailer though, it was clear this was another movie, like the others that was in the vein of "realism" and "gritty" and "visceral." I hate it. If I want real and gritty I'll turn on the news and watch the stories about people being killed for no reason. I mean I liked Wonder Woman I really did, but it had a whimsey and innocence to it because Diana was so new to the outside world. It had that bit of childhood campy-ness to it that I enjoyed. It depresses me to see these movies. I watch movies, read comic books, watch TV, play video games and read to escape. I don't want to watch something that is just going to reflect my reality. When I go to escape, I want to truly escape.

The start of the trailer and how dark everything is automatically making me think of a horror film. Especially with the sound of ripping duct tape. I don't want a horror film. I want a superhero film. Outright horror is not superhero material to this woman. Though I have to say that I am amused at seeing Robert Pattinson, yet again saving a woman from a crashing car. It took me back to watching Twilight for half a second. The way Bruce Wayne looks in this movie, there seems to be more of a ragged haggard almost emo aesthetic. That emo aesthetic echos back to the beginning for me, echos back to the Tim Burton roots of the movies. That I do appreciate, I love Tim Burton's movies.

My biggest complaint while watching this trailer is that I can't see anything! I can see things if there is a spotlight put on them, but otherwise it's as black as night. The campier versions of Batman did have their dark moments, but they had lighting that let you see what you were looking at. Dark colors in the sets or costumes were used to make it seem darker. Yes, there were places that had shadows and lacked lights. They used neon colors and black lights to interject more color and light into the scene. These scenes, that are used in the trailer are so dark I can't tell where one villain ends and where Batman begins! It will probably be different watching it at night, or in complete darkness instead of in the bright (I was watching it at about 1 P.M. EST.) afternoon light streaming behind me from the window, but still. Your movie should be viewable in any light. That was the problem people had with Game of Thrones season 8, episode 3 The Long Night. The episode was shot in such a way that you could only see more details if you watched it in a completely dark room. Their plan failed since most people watch TV in a well lit living room.

I'm not pleased with the same "real" and "gritty" tone, but I am pleased about a reboot actually using The Riddler as one of the villains again! I am excited to see how they make him more "real." The Joker Christopher Nolan took his insanity and made it into indifference, destruction and violence. The Riddler it has seemed so far, they are making into a full-blown murderer who happens to like leaving riddles behind for Batman to figure out. That I can see, but maybe its only The Penguin who I was seeing in the trailer. I couldn't make out a darn thing, so I could be very wrong. Anyway, back to The Riddler, it looks like his alter ego is not going to be Edward Nigma its going to be Edward Nashton. I don't like that at all. His name being Edward Nigma is for a purpose! E. Nigma! He's an enigma! Meaning mystery! A riddle is a mystery! Ugh! If this were a video, you'd be seeing me throwing my hands up in the air and pacing out of frustration. One of the things I loved about this character is how everything pieced together from his name to his modus operandi. He had an overall theme.

I guess we will see what else they do to Batman, The Penguin and The Riddler as time goes by. I guess I'm going to have just to stick with the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher films if I want my campy Batman. Perhaps some day when I'm old and in my 70's film makers will return to the campier superhero films. I miss those more fun and innocent days, even with the bat nipples in Batman and Robin.