Batman ashes to ashes

[Ruin]

Okay so I just finished watching the 15 minute short film, im not going to lie that was what the dark knight should really be. for a fan film that was amazing, i hope Nolan can surpass that times a 100 though. If you havent seen it check it out at http://www.ashestoashes-themovie.com/

Its in french but sub in english

[Offender_Mullet]

The look of Sin City & The Spirit + token French dudes + obligatory sex scene = voilà!

[Ruin]

in a nutshell

[the-daryl]

Interesting.

I wouldn't say that's what the Dark Knight should have been by any means.

Fan films can be great, though.

[SlmShdy1]

Originally Posted by Offender_Mullet

The look of Sin City & The Spirit + token French dudes + obligatory sex scene = voilà!

I haven't taken a look at the film yet, but it's funny you mention the sex scene. I remember after Batman Begins came out, Bale said he wanted to have a sex scene in the next Batman to show off Bruce Wayne's playboy side. Maybe even go for a R rating, but we all know that never happened.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by SlmShdy1

I haven't taken a look at the film yet, but it's funny you mention the sex scene. I remember after Batman Begins came out, Bale said he wanted to have a sex scene in the next Batman to show off Bruce Wayne's playboy side. Maybe even go for a R rating, but we all know that never happened.

If they're gonna aim for an R rating, I'd rather them get it for brutal violence or language than an unnecessary graphic sex scene.

As for the topic, I don't think it's good aesthetically. For me, Batman as a film character should be in a more grounded, real world, not a hyper stylized digital composite world. Noir works well for him and I like the image they used of the more demonic bat ears shown almost exclusively in shadow, but the Sin City styling was too much. Frankly, the concept of a film set in that sort of world is interesting, but I don't think it's worthy of its own stylistic design. Traditional noir does what this style intends to do without washing out realism from the appearance.

One thing I'd also like to see at some point that this one did: the grizzled, stubble-bearded Batman. Being the sort of man that Batman is, it seems funny to think that he'd always be so clean shaven and respectable looking. Putting Batman out as a wanted man for the next Nolan film, maybe we'll actually be able to see that side of him for once in a major live action portrayal.

[fatediesel]

Warner would never allow an R-rated Batman movie. They've already said they won't do R-rated comic book movies or summer tentpole movies after the performance of Watchmen.

[blu-mike]

ok that was boring.

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Warner would never allow an R-rated Batman movie. They've already said they won't do R-rated comic book movies or summer tentpole movies after the performance of Watchmen.

When did they say this? That seems an awfully hardlined stance to take when Watchmen, despite not being a huge hit, wasn't a commercial failure. If anything, they just need to be smarter about how they invest. Don't pump so much cash into the production and an R rated comic-based feature can be very commercially viable. It's the same as any R rated film, you just have to know how to play it right. Pump too much money into any R rated film and it's going to be hard to break even, let alone make good money on it. The legal ramifications for Watchmen certainly didn't help either, but legal troubles are not something exclusive to the area of R rated comic adaptations. But anyway, WB was also behind 300, so they should know as good as any that what happened with Watchmen's BO (which was still rather high, technically speaking) was an isolated incident and not necessarily indicative of other potential comic properties that might get an R rating.

I think the real reason they'd never allow an R rated Batman is that they need Batman to appeal to children to sell toys. If Batman is portrayed in the mainstream media as darkly as in the comics, it'd alienate casual fans and completely destroy the current system for selling movie toys. Notice that the studio saw this begining to happen with the Burton films, and that's why Burton ended up only doing two films. He was portraying the character in a way that many parents didn't think was appropriate for their children (which begs the question of why parents think Batman needs to be appropriate for their children).

I'm just hoping that the folks making Batman movies make it as hard as they want, pull it back (if necessary) for a PG-13, then for home video, give an unrated director's cut. To be honest, I was a little surprised we didn't get this sort of treatment for The Dark Knight, but I guess Nolan had shot the film intending to be PG-13 from the beginning.

[fatediesel]

I was wrong to say Warner won't allow R-rated comic book movies, it's that they won't allow big budget R-rated comic book movies. The link below talks about their decision.

I agree with everything you said about toys being a big reason there wouldn't be an R-rated Batman movie. I re-watched Batman last week and it's darker than I remember (I think Schumacher's Batman movies made my mind think the whole series was campy). Still, the studio made hundreds of millions of dollars in merchandising sales by selling toy batmobiles, action figures, and anything else you can think of. I was 7 when Batman came out and I still remember all the action figures and trading cards I got that were based on the movie.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/136...eroes-go-pg-13