mondojohnson

Up from a long and REM-rich slumber. I only seem to dream on weekend evenings, which makes me think that my weekday sleep is jittery and unrecuperative (as the Bionic Woman would say on all those “Sleep Number” commercials).

Last night I watched my newly-purchased DVD of Batman Begins. I had been waiting for it to hit the bargain bins, which never takes long these days.

About the movie: I’m with Roger Ebert on this one. This is the Batman movie that finally gets it right: the birth of the “Dark Knight” is richly and plausibly explained. We catch a glimpse of the madness in Bruce Wayne’s eyes, but we also clearly see the virtue of his motivations. Thus the “superhero” is reclaimed from the increasingly predictable “saint-or-sinner?”, antihero concept in which he’s been wallowing for the past couple decades. The Sam Raimi Spiderman flicks do the same thing.

I also like the “League of Shadows” idea: that there is a centuries-old cabal that operates in the darkness, occasionally engineering catastrophes (e.g. the Fire of London, the Great Depression) to cleanse society of its injustice. They are the antiheros in this saga, and BatBruce vows to stand in their way.

We’re back to a more classic, adult comic-book morality tale in Batman Begins .

I must say here that I have nothing against the Tim Burton films. In fact, I think Batman Returns is on par with Batman Begins — though the real centerpiece of that flick is Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, not Batman.

Batman was more interesting as a freaky cultural moment than as a film. There was a hysteria in the zeitgeist that 1989 summer of its release, going way beyond the usual pre-film marketing mania. Can I get a witness?  EVERYONE was wearing the “bat logo,” and the opening night had lines around the block. What it all meant is anyone’s guess, but give me a nickel and I’ll give you my endless sociological opinion.