Burton Vs Nolan Observation.

[BatDan]

This my first topic here. I am a fan of all the Bat-Films ( well...most of them ), I'm a huge fan of the comics/graphic novels as well (Hush and No Man's Land are my favs), and i wanted to put my two cents in on the Burton/Nolan War that's been going on ever since Begins was released.

Firstly, i have NOTHING against the Nolan films, i think they're good movies, and i can not wait for the new one. but come on, there NOT perfect, as everyone seems to deem them to be. Now as WELL DONE as they are, I really enjoy the in depth story-telling, that Nolan aims for , but the films as a whole just don't seem to "feel" Batman to me.

It also seems the Burton films are being completely shunned nowadays. As if no one liked them to begin with, they're almost becoming under-rated and under appreciated.

I just don't like the sudden bashing, just because its a popular target.

Now theres pros and cons to both. We all know the Burton films live in their own cannon (unless you count the BTAS which is kind of a animated sequel), which is fine, literature is re-interpreted all the time in different media, while the Nolan films are much more loyal to the original source material such as "Batman not killing" and so forth. Nolan goes for a real-world universe to make the character believable, Burton makes his own Gotham City to make the character believable. Looking back though, all the characters in the Nolan films all talk the same (aside from Ledger's quirky voice-work), it's as if each one is giving a monotone speech in every scene ("i was meant to inspire good", "you die a hero" "this city deserves a class of criminal" etc.) Burton actually took time to stop and get to know the characters, it's little scenes like in Batman 89, where Bruce and Vicki enjoy hearing Alfred tell stories about raising him, you don't have that bittersweet character work in the Nolan films, even though it doesnt do much for the story, it really makes the characters feel genuine and real. same with the 'it's supposed to be cold" scene, little things here and there make the characters believable  in this stylistic universe. It seems Nolan spends too much time trying to create these complex and intricate plots to really give us a chance to connect with any of the characters. Even though its a more realistic setting, the dialogue and character work is so straight and direct, the characters seem almost phony.

The best way to say it is that to me, the Burton films are REAL people in a fake setting, and the Nolan films are FAKE people in a real setting.

That's just my two cents, what do you guys think?

[Paul (ral)]

Welcome to the site.

That's an interesting observation Dan....and I think it highlights the most unique thing about the Batman character - he can be adapted into almost any vision while retaining the essence of Batman.

I'm not sure the same could be said of most other comic book characters.

[riddler]

Welcome to the site.

That's an interesting observation Dan....and I think it highlights the most unique thing about the Batman character - he can be adapted into almost any vision while retaining the essence of Batman.

I'm not sure the same could be said of most other comic book characters.

Definitely and you can even expand that to the schumacher films; while they are considered the weakest link of the bat films, if you had to show a bat film to a child aged 5-10, you'd probably pick those; the Burton films are a bit too adult oriented and the Nolan films would be boring for children. Schumachers films are okay to put in, turn your brain off and entertain yourself.