JULY 23rd, 2008 WEDNESDAY 1:00AM
GEEKTOPIA -- THE SUMMER OF 2008
by Sebastian O'Brien
There was a lot of expectation for this summer move season. I remember looking at the line-up and thinking to myself. This is too much. There is no way this summer is going to live up to it's promise. There had never been a summer this packed -- a veritable geektopia of films, for seemingly every type of fan. Spielberg/Lucas fan? We've got the return of Indiana Jones and a Clone Wars animated movie. Into Disney/Pixar? We've got a painfully adorable robot named WALL-E. Like Will Smith Fourth of July tentpoles? We've got Hancock. Into comic books? Well, we've got -- EVERYTHING. I just couldn't imagine this feast wouldn't leave me feeling gorged and sick with all the sugary, shiny confections.
But the summer season kicked of with IRON MAN and things looked promising. Really promising. In fact, my cynical mind thought that the bar had been set too high and everything that followed would be a disappointment. (Maybe that’s why I, like the rest of the world, sat out SPEED RACER, despite hearing good things about it from reputable sources.) Next for me was INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL and...well, I most confess to some mild disappointment there. But despite my reservations on the film it still delivered the thrills, gave you the Indy you remembered as a kid and was a generally good time at the movies. The INCREDIBLE HULK followed, a sequel/reboot that I intended to skip but ended up seeing at a matinee anyway. And you know what? While not earth shattering, I liked the movie and was suitably entertained. So far, the summer of ‘08 was shaping up nicely.
I needed a breather from blockbuster spectacle and as a result missed WANTED and HANCOCK. Word on those films was a mixed bag but they definitely had their fans. I dived back into the summer pool with Guillermo del Toro’s HELLBOY II THE GOLDEN ARMY and felt refreshed by the film’s wonderful characters, creatures and even its ideas and themes. Now we’re starting to get into the deep end of the pool because these blockbusters are giving you some thought to go along with your entertainment. WALL-E followed and what could have been just a kids cartoon about a cute robot actually served as a meditation on where we could be headed if we’re not careful -- it was by far and away the best science fiction movie I had seen all year. So now, I’m getting scared. There’s no way the summer of ‘08 can keep this up, and we’re about to hit the movie that I had been most eagerly anticipating, a movie that I was being literally driven to distraction in my desire to see.
Of course I am talking about THE DARK KNIGHT.
| OK, let me give you a little set-up here on my attitude coming into this film. I am a huge, huge Batman fan, have been as long as I can remember. As an adult, I enjoyed the Burton films but never felt like they really got the characters to my satisfaction. I’ll even cop to liking Schumacher’s BATMAN FOREVER for being a flamboyant and ridiculous take on the Batverse. (A take that would go horribly south in…oh, face it, I don’t need to call it by name.) But the batfan in me, like most, was not satisfied until Christopher Nolan’s BATMAN BEGINS. And for all the many, many things that film got right, it could never be the definitive Batman film because it didn’t have the definitive Batman villain, the Joker. But the end of BEGINS teased us with the promise of the clown prince of crime, and for three years, I waited for a film with an intensity not rivaled since I waited for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK as a small child. My expectations -- that this would be the definitive Batman film that would also be the next step in the evolution of the superhero genre -- were impossibly high. There was no way I wasn’t going to be disappointed, right? |
THE DARK KINIGHT took my expectations, laughed at them with Heath Ledger’s already legendary cackle, and blew them to smithereens.
I’m not going to go into a lengthy review of THE DARK KNIGHT because if the record breaking box office results are any indication, you’ve already seen it and have your opinion. Suffice it to say that whatever movie I had in my mind in anticipation of this film was made a mockery. I was unprepared to see characters I had loved for decades finally rendered as three-dimensional people on the screen. I was not prepared for a story that explored the ideas inherent in the Batverse in such a thorough, complex manner. And what I was really unprepared to see was a film that left me so sated, so thoroughly satisfied -- and I can’t believe I’m saying this -- that I don’t know if I ever need another Batman film. Of course there will be another, and if Christopher Nolan has a good story to tell, I trust him to deliver. But for me, this is it. This is the one. Mission accomplished. How often in the lifetime of a geek can you say that? Not too many. So, the point of all this, is that for me, the summer of 2008 managed to deliver on it’s massive potential, and that in itself is a miracle that won’t likely be repeated anytime soon. And there’s still some stuff to look forward to -- Star Wars, X Files, hell I’ve even heard good advanced word on the Mummy. And best of all, we as toy lovers have all sorts of great toys to help us keep the magic of this summer alive for years to come. And you can rest easy with the knowledge that we at Probot will be playing with those toys, as well as toys sprung from our own imaginations, and sharing what we create with you. |
It sure has been a great summer to be a kid again.
The Joker's Goon Masks
SEE DARK KNIGHT GALLERY