Written by: Kathy Nguyen

Batman: a masked vigilante who takes the law into his hands, striking fear into the hearts of his enemies, saving his city from the hands of psychopaths…he is the dark knight of Gotham City. Warner Bros. has announced that on July 20, 2012, the third Batman movie will take us to new heights as he crashes onto the big screen.

Let us take a look back at the first two Batman films, which were both directed by the talented Christopher Nolan who brought back Batman’s real image as he was supposed to be in the comics. Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as the billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne, gave us a rundown of how he came to be the legendary Batman. The film kicks off with the death of his parents, the training he goes through with his mentor Henri Ducard, who is later revealed as Ra’s Al Ghul, and him coming back to his home, conjuring up the idea of becoming a symbol of fear. With the help of his trustworthy butler, Alfred (Michael Caine), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Lieutenant Jim Gordan (Gary Oldman), Batman takes down Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) and his mentor, Ra’s Al Ghul, in order to save the people of Gotham from tearing each other to pieces.

The second installment was The Dark Knight where Batman takes on all-time favourite villain, The Joker. Heath Ledger took on the role as The Joker and raised it to new heights. As The Joker terrorizes Gotham, Batman (Christian Bale) has to take him down, but how “does an unstoppable force move an immovable object?” Not only does Batman have to go up against Joker, but also against his long time friend, Harvey Dent (turned Two-Faced after an accident). Again, Christopher Nolan made a Batman movie that puts the "dark" back in The Dark Knight. It was put together cleverly and stays true to the comics to a certain point, unlike the older Batman movies directed by Joel Schumaucher.

Now that you’ve been filled in on the last two Batman movies, assuming you missed them, let’s see what has been said about the third Batman movie.

Will Batman be filmed on IMAX or will it take the 3D route like every other movie? According to the Wall Street Journal, it will be filmed on IMAX along with 20 other films by Warner Bros. after finalizing an agreement. The entire film will be in IMAX, unlike The Dark Knight which only had selected scenes that were filmed in IMAX. Just imagine, Batman being filmed entirely in IMAX (and not just a regular movie that is put onto an IMAX screen) - this is going to be awesome! So why is Batman 3 not in 3D, one might ask - it’s the biggest fad right now isn’t it? According to an interview on Cinematical.com, Nolan showed disinterest in making the movie 3D and ruled out the possibility of shooting it using the format. This was quoted by the interviewer during the interview, "What Chris and I have talked about is doing something cool and something interesting," Pfister said. "[Director] Brad Bird was [saying,] 'You've got to shoot the whole thing in IMAX!' I was like, yeah, I've talked to Chris about that."

With the IMAX technology, the audience will feel like they are going through the screen with the characters, as opposed to in 3D where the image pops out at you; IMAX brings you into the screen, almost like a first-person experience. To have the entire movie filmed in IMAX, I sure cannot wait to fly through the streets of Gotham City alongside my favourite superhero of all time!

So what other rumours have we heard that might or might not be true?

How “riddle-some”…according to MTV’s splash page, composer Hans Zimmer says that he wants the Riddler to be in B3. Quoted from the site, Hans said, "He’s a character that gives you ideas. Maybe I should talk to Chris about that." I'm still of the belief that The Riddler won't even be in B3, but you never know. After the release of The Dark Knight, sources indicated that Johnny Depp would play The Riddler (that would be absolutely amazing), but in the end, it was just a rumour that caught on. According to IMDb, there is no one cast as The Riddler, nor has Nolan decided whether to include him to the cast of villains. It would make sense to introduce The Riddler, Christopher Nolan style though; after all, he’s one of Batman’s long time enemies who likes to mess with the dark knight’s mind.

Telegraph.co.uk also picked up on the rumour about Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the penguin, and Angelina Jolie as the tough, seductive, sexy Catwoman. Another popular choice from fans on who to play Catwoman, would be Marion Cotillard - of course, these are fan suggestions and not facts. None of these actors has been confirmed, and we don’t even know who the villains in B3 will be! Christopher Nolan is always secretive when it comes to a new project. Unless something is said and comes from his own mouth, we shouldn’t believe it.

According to IMDb, the following actors will be reprising their roles: Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne, aka Batman, Gary Oldman as Commissioner Jim Gordan, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and of course Michael Caine as the loving, kickbutt butler. Though nothing has been said on the Warner Bros. website, it is still unclear who will be in the movie; all we know now is the release date of B3.

The following is a list of villains who I would like to see in the third Batman.  I wonder who I will guess correctly; it’s like the jackpot, though the odds are higher of hitting the right villain, and no money is involved (unfortunately). Being a long time Batman fan, seeing Hush being brought onto the big screen would be awesome for lack of a better word. He is the one villain that knows Batman inside out, and knows how to strike at the heart of the dark knight. Introducing the Black Mask onto the big screen would be another wise choice too, though the only problem with these two villains is that they’re not well known to the general public. When you say, "List a Batman villain," the majority of the people will end up listing The Joker, The Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, or the Penguin. They’re the more common ones; you won’t hear Clayface, Mothman, Man-bat, Ra’s Al Ghul, Harley Quinn, Hush, Black Mask, Plain Jane, Falcone or even Scarecrow. I’m glad Nolan introduced Falcone, Scarecrow and Ra’s since the past Batman movies never had him in them. So who will we see in B3?

The task of trying to find out who will be in the movie is like being Batman: always playing the detective and trying to figure things out...now we know what he feels like, eh? (Minus the fact we don’t have to fight bad guys.)

Now that we know who will be directing the movie and when the release date is, what can we expect from B3? Well, another mystery waiting to be solved is what the title of the movie is going to be. From the past Batman films that we saw directed by Christopher Nolan, we know that they are dark, action packed, clever, and well put together. The humour is witty and not cheesy like Schumaucher’s Batman. Also, if Christian Bale, assuming IMDb is telling the truth, is Batman again, we can for sure expect his over the top voice as well. Nolan also does his best to stay true to the comics, compared to the past Batman movies; he combines some of the best comics together and adds his own magic to make it the franchise breathtaking and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

So all we can do right now is sit back and wait or play the detective and put on the cowl, go gather some information and see what is said, what is confirmed about movie, otherwise, all we have to work with right now is the release date and the fact that it will be on IMAX. Batman may be a patient man, but I sure can’t bloody wait for the third installment!

Written by :

Katwoman88

 

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed