Batman
Batman was always my favourite superhero when I was a kid.
I saw the original Michael Keaton version in theaters in 1989 and loved it. I saw each of the following in theater too. Though the rest went from alright to fodder for Mystery Science Theatre 3000, they didn't kill my faith in the bat.
Batman captured my imagination in a way that no other superhero could. In fact, I remember being asked by a friend when I was nine or ten what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said Batman. I remember this clear as day now, but had forgotten it for years.
The reason that he was, and still is, my favourite superhero is because he isn't one. He has no super powers. He didn't come from another planet, didn't get bit by a radioactive spider, didn't have a magic ring, didn't have the mixed blessing of mutant genes. He's just a regular man who by sheer force of will made himself into something more than just a man. I understood this even as a nine year old.
So it was with rare excitement that I went to see Batman Begins last week.
This is how Batman should be done. It was dark, scary, and funny. Christian Bale's performances as a young Bruce Wayne, as Batman and as Batman playing Bruce Wayne were excellent. He brought two things to the role that no other actor has: vulnerability and rage.
In fact, I enjoyed it so much that Christa and I will be seeing it in a week or so and I'm looking forward to seeing it the second time even more than I did the first.
I saw the original Michael Keaton version in theaters in 1989 and loved it. I saw each of the following in theater too. Though the rest went from alright to fodder for Mystery Science Theatre 3000, they didn't kill my faith in the bat.
Batman captured my imagination in a way that no other superhero could. In fact, I remember being asked by a friend when I was nine or ten what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said Batman. I remember this clear as day now, but had forgotten it for years.
The reason that he was, and still is, my favourite superhero is because he isn't one. He has no super powers. He didn't come from another planet, didn't get bit by a radioactive spider, didn't have a magic ring, didn't have the mixed blessing of mutant genes. He's just a regular man who by sheer force of will made himself into something more than just a man. I understood this even as a nine year old.
So it was with rare excitement that I went to see Batman Begins last week.
This is how Batman should be done. It was dark, scary, and funny. Christian Bale's performances as a young Bruce Wayne, as Batman and as Batman playing Bruce Wayne were excellent. He brought two things to the role that no other actor has: vulnerability and rage.
In fact, I enjoyed it so much that Christa and I will be seeing it in a week or so and I'm looking forward to seeing it the second time even more than I did the first.
