Post by achilles on Apr 26, 2019 4:41:12 GMT
So..the series that was everything about Gotham but...Batman somehow turned into the best live action adaptation of Batman overall I've seen in the final episode. Yes, there were some issues with things like FX, but the real main problem with this finale was that it was too short. It needed another hour at least to do proper service to setting up the Gotham of Batman, but overall it was just good. Close in tone to Batman: Year One, (no, not a straight up adaptation of that story, that would be a bit on the nose considering that the show's star voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in the actual animated adaptation), with lots of callbacks to Batman Begins, including using leitmotifs from that movie, and the opening establishing shot meant to mimic the location of the palace of Ras Al Ghul. The filming of the Batman sequences also went the Batman Begins route, only taken to a greater extreme, showing Batman sparingly, never giving you a clear view of him until the very final scene. Yes, we do get to see a ten year old Barbara Gordon, though she does nothing of note save to be rescued by Jim and Batman. We do get to see the (very one-sided) confrontation between Batman and the Joker, who never does give himself that name, though he comes close. We get to see him take out Penguin and Riddler both at once in a scene again mimicking the limo scene from Batman Begins.
It's badass by not showing much of the actual fighting, but instead concentrating on reaction shots, like the end one of Penguin and Riddler who are incensed by being captured by "a man dressed as a bat", then reconsidering their plan to challenge him when they see him swinging from rooftops illuminated by the nascent Bat-signal. Yes, the two best actors on the show, (well, Pertwee and Logue are great too, but they didn't get the material RLT and CMS got), delivered a great reaction shot there, and earlier when they scream upon seeing Batman for the first time, (again the viewer doesn't get to see what they do, much as in a first person shooter with the viewer being Batman).
It in a sense WAS Batman Begins, (though apart from the things mentioned the story was unlike that movie), but done both better and worse. The worse part comes from it being TV, with a TV budget and time. That scene I referenced with Penguin and Riddler reconsidering would have been much more effective had Batman looked better. But that's a minor and understandable lapse. The better part comes from a better sense of what Batman must be like to the bad guys of Gotham. By not really having the budget or time to show Batman full on properly, they went in a different direction more than BB, choosing to show only parts of him at a time, adhering to the horror movie dictum of showing the monster less. Same principle at work here. Arrow for example shows the fight scenes, here they show the aftermath, or very small parts like the batarangs being thrown. Both work for the characters. Though I admit that if more of the show had been devoted to Batman, they would have to worked in SOME showing of Batman doing Batman things. Speaking of which, THIS is the Batman we all know, the Bat who is supremely competent and awe-inspiring, both as a fighter and ninja type, and as a detective...though again you get to see just enough of that to know he does things that way, but no more.
Catwoman...is there, well the character is. But the show was about Batman for at least this one episode, and THAT was the part they did very well. It was a fine send-off to the series, but again, I would have liked two hours, or better, three.
As for Harley Quinn fans,
It's badass by not showing much of the actual fighting, but instead concentrating on reaction shots, like the end one of Penguin and Riddler who are incensed by being captured by "a man dressed as a bat", then reconsidering their plan to challenge him when they see him swinging from rooftops illuminated by the nascent Bat-signal. Yes, the two best actors on the show, (well, Pertwee and Logue are great too, but they didn't get the material RLT and CMS got), delivered a great reaction shot there, and earlier when they scream upon seeing Batman for the first time, (again the viewer doesn't get to see what they do, much as in a first person shooter with the viewer being Batman).
It in a sense WAS Batman Begins, (though apart from the things mentioned the story was unlike that movie), but done both better and worse. The worse part comes from it being TV, with a TV budget and time. That scene I referenced with Penguin and Riddler reconsidering would have been much more effective had Batman looked better. But that's a minor and understandable lapse. The better part comes from a better sense of what Batman must be like to the bad guys of Gotham. By not really having the budget or time to show Batman full on properly, they went in a different direction more than BB, choosing to show only parts of him at a time, adhering to the horror movie dictum of showing the monster less. Same principle at work here. Arrow for example shows the fight scenes, here they show the aftermath, or very small parts like the batarangs being thrown. Both work for the characters. Though I admit that if more of the show had been devoted to Batman, they would have to worked in SOME showing of Batman doing Batman things. Speaking of which, THIS is the Batman we all know, the Bat who is supremely competent and awe-inspiring, both as a fighter and ninja type, and as a detective...though again you get to see just enough of that to know he does things that way, but no more.
Catwoman...is there, well the character is. But the show was about Batman for at least this one episode, and THAT was the part they did very well. It was a fine send-off to the series, but again, I would have liked two hours, or better, three.
As for Harley Quinn fans,
{Spoiler}
well sorry, either that wasn't her, or she had a very short career after being stabbed by Keane and shot by the Joker, she's dead Jim.
well sorry, either that wasn't her, or she had a very short career after being stabbed by Keane and shot by the Joker, she's dead Jim.
