Mangos and Peaches

I probably don’t need to mention that there’s a new Batman film on the horizon, but just in case anyone was unaware, The Dark Knight opens in just ten days everywhere. This is the movie I’ve been anticipating since the final scene in Batman Begins. I think everyone will agree with me that Batman Begins started a revolution in the comic book movie genre. It’s dark and compelling story along with a powerful cast was amazing to witness and basically un-did all the wrongs that Batman Forever & Batman & Robin did to the franchise. It took the character back to the dark roots and created a powerful world where not only were these fictional characters believable, but also multi-layered and complex. The struggle Bruce Wayne fights within himself is just as powerful as the struggle with the external forces and villains; which is something that attracted me to the comic books. The Dark Knight is not only following all of the footsteps that made the first great, but it’s going above and beyond to create something unique.

But I didn’t to write about how amazing the first movie was, you can go out and watch it for yourself. Actually, I would encourage you to re-watch (if you’ve already seen it) Batman Begins before watching The Dark Knight. And after you’ve seen that I would strongly recommend watching the recently released Batman: Gotham Knight. It’s an animated movie that does for Batman what The Animatrix did for The Matrix films.

The movie is comprised of six separate animated shorts that tell the story between Batman Begins and the upcoming film. Each story has a different writer & director, but all of them show how Bruce Wayne grows from the inexperienced batman into The Dark Knight and how Gotham City changes after Batman shows up. Each story is unique and the animation is incredibly stylized and beautiful. Needless to say that after watching this movie you will be only more excited to see The Dark Knight.

I also recommend this movie because lately movie studios have been getting into the habit of show waaay too much of the film in trailers and TV spots. This was one of the main reasons Spider-Man 3 was so bad. By the time everyone saw the actual movie the viewer was so over exposed to the action scenes from the movie that there was nothing left to show! Sure there were small bits of the action sequences that were left out, but pretty much everyone knew what to expect from EVERY FIGHT SCENE! part of the movie going experience is the initial viewing where you don’t know what to expect. I personally like to be surprised and try to forget about what I’ve seen in the trailers, but I definitely get to a point where I don’t want to see anymore trailers and save myself for the film.

Now I’m not saying that this is the case with TDK, but avoiding the trailers and TV spots will no doubt enhance the experience when you first see the movie. Most of the trailers for TDK focus on Heath Ledgers interpretation of The Joker and they give the film an even darker feel (which I love) and portray the villain as a terrorist more than a crazy clown. I’m positive that they are not giving away any major parts in the trailers and considering that the film is 2 hours and 40 minutes long I’m sure there will be plenty left to discover even if you watch every last preview.My advice would be to change the channel if a preview for Batman comes up and stay away from internet spoiler sites. I’ve even turned away from the early reviews except for one which didn’t give anything away and built up my anticipation for the film.

I won’t spoil it:
But In the last trailer there is a glimpse of The Joker on the Gotham News during what appears to be a terrorizing broadcast to the city. It’s only on screen for about 3 seconds. There is no dialogue. You only see his face and hear the brilliant musical score in the background, but it was enough to send chills all over my body.

This movie is going to be awesome.