Retro-Comparo: The Dark Knight Trilogy

As the loyal few of you who follow RetroBeliever are aware, there aren't many things I enjoy more than to wax nostalgic about some anachronistic 8-bit or 16-bit video game, lament about the lost simplicity of the past, or tie my somewhat antiquated interests to Christ. However, today's post is different because... well, it's about something currently popular: I'm talking about Batman, specifically the Dark Knight trilogy of films directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as the titular Dark Knight, aka Batman.

What am I writing about? Just to let you know, it's not a review of The Dark Knight Rises, which I happened to see on July 20th. Instead, I shall briefly compare the three movies as I have written my Retro-Comparos, in which I've compared video games. My comparisons between the three movies will be based on several categories I feel capture the various aspects of movies, such as acting, editing, story, special effects, music, and so on. So, here goes:

Acting: 
It is difficult to differentiate between the three movies because there are the same actors playing the same roles, though I would contend that the acting in Batman Begins was a shade better because the actors were fresh in their roles, working to establish the characters as they might develop in future films. Some may argue that The Dark Knight was the most stellar when it came to acting, but I'd take Katie Holmes' youthful vibrance over Maggie Gyllenhaal's school-marm-like demeanor as Rachel Dawes; and, call it controversial and merely personal preference, but I take Liam Neeson's quiet menace as Ra's al-Ghul over Heath Ledger's just-too-psychotic Joker. That said, Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Two-Face/Harvey Dent was emotionally affecting. It's really hard to choose... I'll give a shout out, though, to Tom Hardy for his portrayal as Bane; that was a tough role to play with a mask obscuring most of his face. Verdict: BB (Batman Begins)

Characters:
Batman Begins has the advantage of being the origin story for Bruce Wayne and Batman, so there is much character development, as well as introductions of all the principal supporting characters. However, The Dark Knight does not have to spend time introducing characters except for Harvey Dent and The Joker, who is only developed as a diabolical foil for Batman and as an instigator. Despite this, The Dark Knight is important in leading Batman down the path that would lead to The Dark Knight Rises.

Development aside, The Dark Knight presented strong, clearly-defined characters that guided the story, and not the other way around. The most impressive thing is that the movie seems plot-driven on the surface: after all, The Dark Knight is really about how much Batman would bend his own moral laws in his pursuit of the Joker, who is actively pushing Batman's buttons. It's splitting hairs, but TDK prevails. Verdict: TDK (The Dark Knight)

Direction, Action Sequences:
Many have lambasted Christopher Nolan's direction of the various fight scenes in Batman Begins, noting scattershot editing, too-closely-zoomed fist shots, and almost incomprehensible sequences. Nolan sharpened his direction for The Dark Knight, giving the viewer more time to observe fight scenes and action sequences develop. The Dark Knight Rises continued his superlative work. Verdict: TDK

Direction, Dramatic Sequences:
Action and fighting aside, Nolan coaxed out many more moments of emotion in Batman Begins than any of the three: the sadness of young Bruce Wayne, the anger of post-teen Bruce, the focused intensity and sense of justice of Batman, and the sympathy of the various figures who served as fathers to Bruce all served to make Batman Begins an affecting movie. I must note The Dark Knight Rises, which pulls in some of the emotion from Batman Begins and ends with a heroic crescendo that is evocative in its own right, particularly the last five minutes which provides the greatest payoff of all the three films. Verdict: BB

Editing:
As mentioned previously, the fight scenes in Batman Begins were the lone weak spot to the movie. The Dark Knight Rises didn't suffer from this weakness, but there were a few editing gaffes when it seemed like Nolan was forced to cut dramatic sequences for the sake of brevity; specifically, I refer to a romance between Bruce Wayne and one of the female characters because it seemed either inserted as a last-minute decision, disrupting the continuity of the return of Batman, or severely punctuated to cut down on what some felt was an overly long movie.

Of the three, The Dark Knight had the best balance of action and fight editing, as well as the appropriate length of set pieces and dramatic exchanges to establish and develop characters. Verdict: TDK

Music:
Each of the three movies have very similar musical themes, but with flourishes that distinguish them. Batman Begins is a bit more upbeat, particularly in the final third of the movie. The Dark Knight has themes that are darker, featuring more low strings. The Dark Knight Rises features more drum beats, which mimics the chanting in the movie. It's all good. Verdict: Push

Special Effects:
This one is especially subjective, though I must admit that The Narrows in Batman Begins LOOKS like a miniature set. As technology advanced, Nolan and his crew were able to synthesize more convincing special effects. The Dark Knight Rises attests to this, as the bridges exploding and the stadium field imploding were two of the best effects sequences in the entire series (both of these are viewable in the trailers, so I'm not spoiling anything). Verdict: TDKR

The Batsuit:
I am partial to Batman's Nomex Survival Suit-derived armor and stiff cowl in Batman Begins over the much more modular design of the suits in the subsequent movies, mostly because of the relatively simplicity and story-appropriate clunkiness of the first suit. I just think the armor got weirder and weirder with each passing movie. Verdict: BB

Props:
I find it odd that Batman relied on his trademark utility belt in Batman Begins much more than in the next two movies; the grappling gun, Bat-grenades, Bat-throwing stars, and some nifty hallucinogenic gas capsules all make appearances, while we only see a lame gun-barrel-bending/van-door-cutting hand tool (and the grappling gun) in The Dark Knight. Sure, there was that sonar-based internal mapping technology that proved so pivotal in the finale, but that just wasn't as nifty as anything that can come off Batman's utility belt.

Oh, and as I recall, there were NO Bat weapons in The Dark Knight Rises, but we get Bane's medieval gas mask and Catwoman's eye disguise/visor. Verdict: Tie, BB and TDKR

Vehicles:
Batman Begins was about the Tumbler, The Dark Knight was about the Batpod, and The Dark Knight Rises was about both AND the "Bat," which is simply an inverted helicopter with missiles and a dual cockpit. Verdict: TDKR

Sets:
With each successive movie, the sets became more elaborate, though I enjoyed the eldritch trappings of Wayne Manor over the rebuilt one in The Dark Knight Rises. Also, we can rule out The Dark Knight because Bruce Wayne's penthouse in The Dark Knight is sterile and dull, and, inexplicably, there is NO Wayne Tower; instead, we have the monolithic Wayne Building, which appears again in The Dark Knight Rises. However, I won't rule out The Dark Knight Rises because that Indian prison is grimly exotic and the Batcave returns with a revamped raising platform. Verdict: TDKR

Final Verdict: Batman Begins

Though The Dark Knight Rises had the most toys, most complicated and visually-appealing special effects, and most jarring sets, Batman Begins edges it with acting, origin story, a more simplistic Batsuit, and more utility belt gadgets. Sure, it's highly subjective and many people will attempt to discredit me in my preference of Batman Begins over The Dark Knight, but the most outstanding issue I have had with The Dark Knight is that it is a movie largely detached from any positive emotion; for most of the film, we observe the moral challenges Batman/Bruce Wayne has to face and how the Joker prevails on many fronts, even though he is captured. Some may point at this as the benchmark of an exceptional superhero movie, but I watch superheroes to see them overcome great odds to win the day. I suppose, in that sense, that The Dark Knight is an appropriate middle movie, just as The Empire Strikes Back was an appropriate middle movie of the original Star Wars Trilogy. As Harvey Dent says in The Dark Knight, "The night is darkest before the dawn," right?

Anyway, Batman Begins runs the full gamut of emotion, but emerges with a optimism and a sense of hope that always compels me to watch it again. Bruce Wayne truly comes full circle as a character vis-a-vis his father and the memories he has of him: from love to guilt to rage, and then to a deeper admiration for his father. As for The Dark Knight Rises, the movie is mostly dark and grim, but there is triumph, in a manner of speaking. I'll just say that the emotional payoff is huge in The Dark Knight Rises.

Vibram FiveFingers Speed Review: Retro Modern

Today, I published a review of Vibram FiveFingers Speed footcoverings, which is a wonderful combination of road feel, foot protection, retrospective styling, and laces. That's right: laces! From behind and from the sides, the Speed looks like a pair of Airwalk or Vans skater shoes or even old-school Adidas football boots (which is what the British call soccer cleats), but with the separated toe enclosures indicative of any FiveFingers model. Here is a link to that review:

The Best FiveFingers I've Worn

To summarize, the Speed is my favorite Vibram FiveFingers model and is the best one available for overall running performance balanced with an understated, yet funky look. Most of what Vibram has to offer is either gaudily colored, constructed with space-agey materials and design concepts, or both. The Speed is a throwback with minimal style, but with breathable black mesh fabric and strategically placed pads on a 7mm outsole. Thus, the Speed has truly gone "back to the future."

Advance to Boardwalk: 1HN High-Rise Unit Builder

Whenever I go to a retailer like Target or Wal-Mart, I am surprised at the board games I find and how they've stood the test of time. Some games, in my estimation, are worthy of their longevity: Monopoly (in which the outside-the-game-rules negotiations are more fun than the game itself), Stratego, Clue, and Scrabble come to mind. Conversely, there are some games that shouldn't have lasted this long, particularly Risk, which I loathe immensely; I can't count how many times my massive armies have been defeated by "lucky" defense die rolls. Also, games like Sorry! and Trouble seem to make new fans of children every generation because of their tactile in-game elements (like the dice popper in Trouble) and simple rules.

But, some games have come and gone, much to my chagrin. One of those games was Advance to Boardwalk, which Parker Brothers published in the 1980s. It was spun off from the Monopoly universe with Uncle Moneybags prominently included on the packaging and on the in-game cards. The premise of Advance to Boardwalk was deceptively simple: amass more wealth than your opponents by building up units (which are like floors in a skyscraper) that comprise high-priced hotels along a beachfront boardwalk. In the game, you roll a color-coded die to determine which area of properties on which you can build, and another two dice (I think) to determine the total dollar value of units you can build on that color. As gameplay progresses, you can build units on top of other players' units; if your units outnumber an opponent's units, you gain control of the property, which means you move up the boardwalk (which is marked with dollar amounts) and your opponent moves down the boardwalk. Each property has different inherent values, so some properties are more favorable yet more difficult on which to build because a higher rolled amount is required to be able to build on those properties. Along the way, there are "Fortune" cards that either allow a player to gain an advantage (such as "Windfall" cards that provide an infusion of capital for building) or create obstacles for opponents (such as "Hurricane" cards that can wipe the units off a property). Gameplay ends when one player has used up all of his or her units (you get 15-17 units with which to build at the start of gameplay).

As I write this blog entry, I am not aware of the publishing history of Advance to Boardwalk except of what I know personally, but I can safely say that the game was available in the 1980s, but then faded into obscurity. It was only during a recent clearing of my grandma's rafters that I found this game amidst a treasure trove of my old packed games (which included several Nintendo and Colecovision cartridges). I unearthed it, dusted it off, and played a round with my family, who were sadly unimpressed by the game. I suppose that equating units of building to money value isn't as direct or exciting as acquiring a group of properties and then building houses (a la Monopoly). However, I find Advance to Boardwalk to be more rewarding and less time-consuming than Monopoly. Unlike Monopoly, you can gain (and lose) properties each turn; and you can rise and fall so quickly in Advance to Boardwalk, while you tend to amass wealth slowly in Monopoly and then crush opponents quite suddenly until there are two people who own the entire board. Then, it's only a few turns before one player loses his shirt paying the other player an exorbitant amount of rent. While Monopoly games can seem interminable, Advance to Boardwalk can be played in 30-45 minutes and can result in numerous grudges and vows of vengeance, which may spur another game right after it. Okay, I'm joking about the vows of vengeance, but I can see that it would be hard to NOT have a grudge after you watch your opponent build two or three units on your property and usurp the $7 million of value, putting him or her seven spaces up and you seven spaces down -- a 14-space swing!

Anyway, Advance to Boardwalk should've gotten more of a chance at becoming a classic because it really is a fun, addictive game with a deeper layer of strategy than Monopoly, which relies much on dice rolls. In Advance to Boardwark, you do roll to determine how much "money" you have to build, as well as the color of properties on which you build, but you also have to decide (assuming you roll a "10," for instance) if you want to build two units on the $5-million-dollar property (which would move you up five spaces on the board) or two units on the $3-million-dollar one and one unit on the $4-million-dollar one (which would move you up seven spaces). There are many lead changes in the game and, often, it can take one play to reverse your fortunes and win the game, even if you spent most of the game in the back of the pack. If you can find it, I recommend Advance to Boardwalk; challenge even your hard-core gamer friends and let me know how much fun you have from a once-mainstream game.