People have asked me just when I knew I had fallen in love with the world of Batman. The first time I was posed the question, my response came so quickly that it surprised even me. I recalled watching Batman the Animated Series as a child, and being scared silly by the Clayface Origin episodes, Feat of Clay Parts I and II. Particularly when Matt Hagen was melting into his Clayface form for the first time. But more than the just fear, I was affected profoundly by the incredible sadness and tragedy contained in the cartoon. It was akin to a moment of cinematic puberty, where I was transformed from a mere child watching silly shows to an honest-to-God film buff. It was the moment where I realized just how meaningful my "entertainment" could actually be.
That said, I was more than just excited to watch The Dark Knight. I was jumping out of my skin with anticipation. After purchasing tickets online at Fandango, I went to Universal Citywalk with five of my friends to line up at 5:30pm for the 11:00pm IMAX showing. That's right, we were waiting in line for the better part of five and a half hours. We really were the ultimate line waiting party: first in line, loaded to the gills with cookies, candy, three kinds of spam musubi, and three kinds of card games. The real icing on the cake, was a laptop, two splitters, three pairs of earphones (one ear for each person), and the Batman Begins DVD. We ended up watching most of it before The Dark Knight actually started. And you'd better believe the people behind us were envious of our obvious geek-coolness. Some people even took pictures. It was like fifteen minutes of uber-geek fame.
But, alas, it wasn't to be. Halfway through our showing, the fire alarm was pulled by some punk Joker-wannabe-anarchist. And after fifty minutes of waiting in the theater (in the midst of constant alarms and strobes), we were sent home in the early AM hours with re-admit passes, bleary eyes, and bruised spirits.
Disappointing as that was, the worst part was actually in trying to find another IMAX showing to go to. It's a real credit to how popular this film is (and continues to be), that it took me over a week to find another IMAX showing that wasn't already sold out. I was literally checking theaters every day for an acceptable seat somewhere.
Now, after finally completing the entire film, I can say that it is a masterpiece. And for the record, do yourself an enourmouse favor and watch it in IMAX. The clarity and majesty of the format will drop your jaw, I guarantee it.
In case you're wondering, I won't review the movie myself here, because there are people who are much better at that kind of thing (case in point, you can read my friend Justin Chang's review of TDK for Variety here), but I will say that Batman blew my brains out for sheer lack of awesome-related storage space in my head. I waited far longer to see it than most other people, due to incredibly crap circumstances, but even so, it was completely worth the wait. And I think I know exactly where I'll be using my IMAX re-admit passes... once the lines die down... if they ever die down.
Lastly, I'm incredibly excited for what this means for comic book movie-making in the future. Chris Nolan has proved that a solid comic book film, free of infamous studio tampering, can still be profitable. And, If anything, that it's the best way to handle things. More than any other effort before him, I feel that he has legitimized the genre as both an accepted art form, and as a solid investment. Not an easy task by any means. The comic nerd in my heart is leaping for joy at the thought of other serious adaptations of well known heroes in the future.
2 comments:
:ears perk up:
Spam musubi?! Jealous . . .
haha J, you would be more excited about the spam!
SL, I think you've already more than demonstrated your comic book nerdiness, but thank you for reminding us : ) I'm going to try to get to TDK tonight!
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