Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Trilogy is a masterpiece (I include part 3 in that assessment) but my goodness it’s darker than the inside of a black hole.
I confess I do miss some of the more silly elements of the 60s TV show/movie and the Keaton (not Kilmer/Clooney) films.
Batman casually teaching Robin Spanish as they pursue dastardly criminals (you should always take the opportunity to improve international relations) still makes me chuckle to this day.
Another classic scene see Bats trying to dispose of a bomb only to encounter all manner obstacles such as: a no smoking area, some ducks, nuns and general passers by, all culminating in utter the genius line “some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb”.
Skip forward to the Tim Burton era and no doubt things got darker, but they were still quite tongue in cheek.
Bruce Wayne meeting the joker and offering him a square go outside is dynamite, even more hilarious is the Joker shooting him as his response.
Or Catwoman being brought by back to life by cats gnawing on her fingers (wtf?) and donning a very pleasing skin tight outfit to fight and cause mischief.
Also, how did she suddenly learn martial arts?
The penguin with his wee duck boat too! If you’re gonna live in the sewers, get a boat like a duck I say!
Plus Christopher Walken stealing the show and being a right bad b*astard. He truly is brilliant in everything.
Christopher Nolan got so much right, but the charm of the earlier efforts should never be forgotten.
I’ve focused a lot on the humorous elements, but the two Keaton films were genuinely fantastic pieces of cinema, so if for some reason you didn’t see them, do it now.
You will not regret it.
fireupthedeathstar 