When Star Wars came out in 1977, it shattered everyone’s expectations and preconceptions about what a blockbuster is. It also undid much of the work George Lucas’ contemporaries like Martin Scorsese (who said that Star Wars meant that he was “finished” in the business) and William Friedkin (who said that Star Wars was responsible for reverting Hollywood into a “giant sucking hole”) had been doing to accustom audiences to sophisticated New Hollywood films, and hurled them back to Hollywood’s golden age of spectacle, good guys & bad guys, happy endings and straight line narratives from about 30 years prior. In the face of Francis Ford Coppola’s advice to make use of darker Shakespearian themes in his writing, Lucas chose a Disney-like path and was so successful that for decades studios were convinced it was the only way a summer blockbuster could be. Superman? Epic, but campy as hell. Harry Potter? Close, but no cigar. Independence Day? Ugh. Clash of the Titans? Barf.
But in 2005, a man emerged, a Batman, shepherded by a man who seemed to be more apt to taking Coppola’s advice. Christopher Nolan took what Tim Burton had tried to do in 1989 and went all the way with it. Batman Begins also shattered everyone’s expectations, again in more ways than just at the box office. Nolan’s introduction of realism and ambiguous shades of grey morality turned the wheel again. Suddenly dark and serious was the only way to be. Bruce Wayne was a gun-toting malcontent, Alfred was being played by freakin’ Jack Carter himself, Michael Caine, and the bad guys were honest to blog terrorists in the most literal sense of the word. It had a densely plotted storyline and even a psychedelic experience or two, perhaps as a way of picking up where things left off before Lucas pulled his game changer. It’s the blockbuster Coppola would have made – a veritable Heart of Dark Knight.
Suddenly everything was too cornball. Stories needed to be layered, characters conflicted, and a straight line was no longer the shortest distance between opening & closing credits. The venomous reception to Spielberg & Lucas’ attempt to revive the Indiana Jones franchise is indication enough of the turn of the tide, as the Star Wars prequels might have been an early harbinger of this shift. And not only did the new crop of more thoughtful films drawing on the literary tradition start emerging on the scene, all kinds of goofy would-be moneymakers had to be remade or rebooted. Fantastic 4? What were we thinking? Spider-Man? Sure, it is one of the most successful franchises of all time, but we can start it all over again, sans Raimi corniness. Even Spawn might get another bite at the apple at a time when it actually should have been made to begin with.
I suppose this would be where I’d inject some kind of cute line about Star Wars and the Dark Side, but I think that would be counter to my point of cornball being on the way out. However, I’d like to be clear that this is not about assigning blame or charting mistakes or failures. I love Star Wars, love it. This is more of an observation about cycles – about measuring the past to anticipate the future. The way I figure it, we’ve got another 30 years until the dark turns to light again. Should be a helluva ride.
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No complaints on this end. The eighties only sufficed enough corn and camp for twenty years. With all the talk of Batman3 or whatever it’s name will be, the world is waiting, very impatiently.
That Nolan was able to improve in almost every way from the 1st to the 2nd (other than Christian Bale’s performance) was nothing short of a miracle, and I don’t think it would be realistic to expect him to be able to take it to yet another level with the third installment. I mean, you’ll never be able to find a supporting character of the calibre of Ledger’s Joker again… or will he? Even if he did, I’m saying there’s no way he could get the studios to change their tactics again… unless he goes too dark and sours the public’s appetite for that kind of thing prematurely.
I don’t know. I assumed The Dark Knight would be one of the biggest flops of the year based on it’s hype. I was certain it would let us down. I actually still prefer Batman Begins to it, save Ledgers performance. It makes The Dark Knight another movie entirely. Hopefully Bale will settle down a bit in this one, because not only is he a damn fine actor, he was perfect in the first installment.
Yeah, Bale needs to go back to the source of where he put together the character of Bruce Wayne and Batman from the first outing. It really felt muddled in the second film, unfocused. And the voice? Terrible! The Dark Knight is superior in a lot of ways, especially in structure and character development, but Batman Begins just did such a great job charting a new course for the franchise, Warner’s DC properties and superhero movies in general. Iron Man may not be all dark and brooding (on the surface) but it totally owes it’s tone to its competition.
Some folks said the same thing about Matrix when that came out the same year as Phanotm Menace. And in many ways they were right — but then the Matrix sequels didn’t live up to what that first brilliant film presented. I’m wondering if Nolan can live up to the expectations he’s set or if he’ll eventually go down that same familiar path.
Welcome Nik!
I’d be totally willing to attribute a shift in aethetics and storytelling to The Matrix, but they didn’t quite succeed in changing movie studios’ approach to how a blockbuster should be. You know, even though the first film is obviously the groundbreaking one of the bunch, I still say Matrix Reloaded is my favourite – it’s a lot of the same elements as the first with the volume turned up.
I figure so long as Nolan only agrees to make these Batman movies of his own accord, and not bribed or coerced into doing it by Warner, it will turn out well. The guy’s basically an arthouse filmmaker with a ridiculous amount of success under his belt. I figure if Inception does as well as I’m expecting it will, he’s never gonna make a movie he doesn’t want to ever again.
As much as I love the Dark Knight, I wished for Batman Begins at points especially with the setting. The second movie did away with the Narrows and other settings that gave Gotham its unique look, and instead threw Chicago in there. Not even cleverly disguised Chicago; legitimate Chicago (I was born there, and I remember it). THAT always got on my nerves.
Nolan’s ruined the chance for cheesy superhero movies to ever exist again and that’s good in a way, since more “legit” people will take them seriously, but it loses its comic feel and that’s sad in its own right.
Welcome to The Film Cynics, Jon!
I hear exactly what you’re saying with dropping the pretense of having Gotham as a distinct city apart from Chicago… even if I’ve always thought of Gotham city as a kind of Chicago/Detroit hybrid. I suppose they figured if they were going with a legitimate Hong Kong they were off the hook.
Yeah, the demise of the corny superhero fillm is kind of pleasantly tragic… like when a clown dies? Because of the corniness, I can never go back and watch Superman with a straight face, but I guess it also means that my kids will have to graduate from High School before they can really appreciate the latest Black Panther or Hawkman movies. I dunno, I’m not sure I ever really associated comic books with any kind of latent goofiness, but I might have been reading the wrong stuff. I always felt that too many people confused comic books with comic strips, the twain shall only meet in rare circumstances.
Hey thanks haha, I got into it thanks to you having my boss Heather on the show! Good stuff, I totally enjoy it.
I didn’t mean like total Batman and Robin corniness, but if you really look at superhero comics, they are so out there that it becomes cheesy by default, no matter how serious the material takes itself; no matter how many times Zoom causes The Flash’s kids to die, he did it because he was crippled by a giant talking gorilla and The Flash wouldn’t use a treadmill that can travel through time to help him.
Gah! My precious idealised definitions of drama and conflict! Yeah, I guess no matter how serious things get, it’s still Brainiac extracting Aquaman’s brain cells to control the minds of everyone on Earth, unless you’re wrapped in Wonder Woman’s lasso which would render you immune. I guess I’d be deluding myself if I thought comic books could be boiled down to only serious elements… maybe The Crow? Maybe?
Haha MAYBE. Comics are just generally ridiculous though, but if the writer is smart enough to either to embrace it or to give it enough of a serious edge to where it works rather than hinders, it’s okay. I’m mostly just mad because I want a Flash movie with the stuff I just mentioned and with The Dark Knight making infinity dollars, I’m gonna get a brooding guy in a red suit.
I think it’s a safe bet that they’ll have the sense to give The Flash the Iron Man treatment rather than have him as a stand-in for grumpy ol’ man Wayne. They’ll make it thoughtful, but make sure to include the fun. I suppose the acid-test will be Green Lantern. That’ll be silly and clever… at least I hope it’ll be.
Hey Steve,
I loved that editorial and I have to ask if you’ve been following Smallville at all? Television isn’t always Hollywood, but I after that JSA spectacle, if it can be called that, I just had to grit my teeth and struggle through it. Michael Shanks is a fine actor, but when donned that Hawkman costume, I was cringing all the way through the rest of the episode. I’m not sure who’s to blame, but alas, the series has not been the same since Millar and Gough left the production.
At least I wholeheartedly approve of seeing Clark don the black leather trench coat when he’s trying to be superheroish.
I also have to ask if you follow the international movie scene too? I want to make comparisons to Akira Kurosawa and Tsui Hark’s works. They’ve left an impression in my cinema experience (even though I watch them on DVD). Lucas has admitted he’s borrowed from Kurosawa. And fmy favourite Hong Kong cinematic artist, Hark’s style has always been unique if not a bit goofy in a fun way. But I think he’s past his prime; he’s best remembered for Chinese Ghost Story and Once Upon a Time in China.
Thanks Ed. Hmmm, what can I say about Smallville? I was once probably the biggest Smallville fan living in Ottawa – that was a looong time ago. Since that time, I’ve lived in 2 other cities and watched that show go from great to good to not watchable anymore. Smallville was originally intended to go for 5 years, and that’s how many years I gave it. In fact, these days I often consider unloading my collection of Smallville season 1 through 5 on someone else – maybe trade it up for Venture Bros. or something.
I’m actually not a big follower of either Kurosawa or Tsui Hark, although I do have a little of Hark’s work in my collection. I really enjoyed Chinese Ghost Story, although its really not my usual type of flick. My old roommate had a copy of The Hidden Fortress on DVD – that was apparently the main source Lucas drew upon for Star Wars, and definitely the inspiration for C3PO and R2D2.
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