Showing posts with label james gordon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label james gordon. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
New Post-Covergence Batman Revealed!
Who is in the new robo-batsuit? Well, we were supposed to find out from DC's free book on Free Comic Book Day, but a page from that been has leaked. Click below to find out the new person behind the cowl. Be warned it is a SPOILER!
Monday, December 29, 2014
Analyzing The Batman Franchise (Pt. 5 of 8): Batman Begins (2005)
Batman Begins (2005)
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Batman/Bruce Wayne: Christian Bale
Love Interest: Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes)
Villains: Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy), Ra's Al Ghul (Liam Neeson), Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson)
Score: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard
High Points:
- Christopher Nolan must be thanked for making Batman movies relevant again. When this was released in 2005, it had been 8 years since The Dark Knight had graced the silver screen. Nolan had a vision of returning the character to his darker roots while injecting a sense of realism (which I don't always feel was necessary) to the comic book world. Moviegoers and Bat-fans quickly got the taste of Robin's rubber lips out of their mouths with this new interpretation. So thank you Chris for bringing Bat movies back with a bang.
- Christian Bale was the first Batman to journey across the globe to study and train in order to begin fighting crime. His portrayal of Bruce Wayne's duality as playboy billionaire by day and Batman by night is also very spot on.
- Gotham, in particular the Narrows, was exactly what you expected the worst city in America to look like. It was dank, dingy, and hopeless and all captured beautifully on camera by cinematographer Wally Pfister.
- Bruce Wayne's climb to the top of the mountain and subsequent training from the League of Shadows (or Assassins) was one of my favorite parts of the trilogy.
- Liam Neeson was an excellent Ra's Al Ghul. He captured the villain's comic book motives perfectly while also providing his classic Neeson badass factor. His speeches about injustice and the history of the League were riveting.
- Cillian Murphy thrived in the role of supporting baddie Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow.
- James Gordon and Batman started their long term relationship. (Strictly platonic...)
- Gary Oldman was actually a character and not just a fat cop like Pat Hingle was.
- The film did a great job of setting up how corrupt Gotham was. With asswipe cops like Flass and crime lords like Falcone, the city was in real turmoil.
- I enjoyed Bruce's playboy facade especially when he bought that hotel like a boss.
- Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox helps explain where Batman gets all those wonderful toys.
- Michael Caine is an excellent Alfred. He would never let anyone into the Batcave without permission like that dope Michael Gough. Also his overall relationship with Bruce is much more interesting and caring, while their interactions also serve as a good source for comic relief.
- The dialogue is top notch and the film has a lot of quotable lines. "Swear to me!!"
- Batman's interrogation of Flass was classic Bats.
- Batman's take down of Falcone's gang was intense. He instilled great fear in the hearts of those criminals.
- Batman does a little detective work when he gains evidence against Falcone.
- The Demon's Head vs The Bat is a great fight that happens to take place on the train.
- The in-movie flashbacks to a younger Bruce Wayne were compelling. Showed a intriguing path on how he set out to fight injustice.
- Great use of plot elements and themes from Bat-comics Year One and The Long Halloween.
- That Joker card tease!!!!!
Favorite Line: "You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent."
- Ra's Al Ghul
- Ra's Al Ghul
Favorite Scene: So many great scenes to choose, but I have to pick the interrogation of Flass because that reminds me so much of the Batman from comics.
Low Points:
- Bruce Wayne's parents took him to the opera instead of a Zorro movie. If you take your kid to the opera, you kind of deserve to get shot, right?
- Katie Holmes was fine in her part. She didn't hinder the movie in anyway. I just hate Rachel Dawes. There have been so many Batman love interests in comics that I just don't understand why Nolan decided on this uptight Assistant DA. I mean overall she is better than the average superhero love interest (looking at you Natalie Portman!), yet I just didn't buy into why Bruce cared about her so much.
- Rachel Dawes fucked over the Starks and all of Westros by saving Joffery Bartheon from getting killed by the Scarecrow. Why do you hate Sean Bean so much, Rachel?.
- I have never been a fan of child actors and the parts with little kid Bruce I find to be the weakest parts of the film.
- I don't like the Tumbler. I understand Nolan wanted a realistic tank-like that Batman could drive, but Anton Furst's Batmobile to the best Bat-car to date on screen.
Worst Line: "The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again." - Rachel Dawes
Worst Scene: There isn't many scenes I don't like in this movie. The weakest parts I found were when Bruce was a little kid. Out of those, I'm picking the opera as the worst part of the movie. No one has ever wanted to be at an opera, let only a 10 year old kid.
*Warning* I could only find a clip that had the Wayne's death attached, so make no mistake I enjoy that part, just not that damn opera.
Verdict: Batman Begins is the best "Batman" movie of all time. Now before you get out your pitchforks and attempt to crucify me read that first sentence again. I said best "Batman" movie of all time. I like you probably believe that The Dark Knight is the best film in Batman's filmography. Personally I feel though that Batman Begins is the closet interpretation to Batman from the comics. He intimidates, he interrogates, hell he even does a little detective work in this joint. Yes, The Dark Knight is a great movie, but I almost consider that to be the Joker's film and not Batman's. This movie on the other hand is all about Batman. It's how he became the character we all know and love. And for this story Ra's Al Ghul was the perfect foil to the Caped Crusader to show what the latter believes true justice really is. Then you mix in a fantastic supporting cast riddled with great performances as iconic Bat-characters and you have a recipe for the beginning of an incredible Bat-triliogy. Overall Batman Begins gets a 9.0 out of 10. The most underrated Bat-flick of all time and a must watch for anyone who loves the crusade of Batman.
Thanks for reading! Is Batman Begins the best "Batman" movie? Sound off in the comments. And make sure to check out the site soon for my analysis of The Dark Knight as our look back into Batman's film history continues. Also be sure to follow us on Twitter @Caped_Informers or follow me @cstrand73 for all your comic book news.
Check out the rest of our look back at Batman's film history by clicking the links below.
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Arkham Knight E3 Overview
Arkham Knight E3 Overview
Before I start getting into the coverage from the E3 gameplay trailer, I would like to start off with a little background information about the series and the game for the people that don't know too much of this game series. Arkham Knight is the fourth installment of the latest batman franchise, which also includes Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Origins. These types of games have a sort of Assassin's Creed like game play and combat system going over a wide, explorable map that is riddled with enemies and secrets. The newest installment, Arkham Knight, is the sequel to the Arkham City game and takes place in Gotham City and is voiced by the almighty Kevin Conroy. The original trailer for this game was released in early March and since then, there have been many speculations on the gameplay and the landscape. The best part from that original trailer was the Batmobile and the fact that the player can now officially drive it around Gotham City. Although the game has been pushed back to 2015, it is still one of the most highly anticipated games for the next gen consoles and with the game play footage being released at E3 this year, everyone can now see it in its glory.
With the game play trailer above, lets begin to pick it apart and see what makes this game one of the best games to come out for the next gen consoles.
The Overview
This game takes place one year after the Arkham City game in the City of Gotham. He is helped by James and his daughter Barbara Gordon, as the Oracle, to help rid the city of the criminals that escaped from Arkham Asylum. The main villain, introduced briefly in the first trailer but more so in this one, Scarecrow, enlists the help of many other super-villains to help take out the Batman once and for all. This game also introduces a new villain to the playing field, The Arkham Knight. This villain is like a militarized version of the Batman that wears a coveted 'A' on his chest to symbolize Arkham. The player will have to take down all the super-villains in Gotham to save its citizens and himself from the Scarecrow.
The Suit
One of the first things that is seen in this trailer is Bruce putting on the bat suit. The detail the game designers went into the suit alone makes this game worth while. It's more robotic than the normal cape and cowl, but it makes it more realistic as an armor to protect his body during fights. And the fact that you can see the suit fitting perfectly to his body adds to the game experience to the new and the old fans. If they can get this type of suit into any of the upcoming Batman movies, I think we would all be very happy.
The Landscape
Starting with the Wayne Tower, you can see the amount of details put into the surrounding area. In a small area like the starting place, seeing that much detail can only speculate what Gotham City is going to look like. At first, I thought that if they put that much detail in a small area, the overall map may not be as well done and thank God (or whatever religious deity you thank, if any) I was wrong. The map of Gotham City spans over 5 times the area of Arkham City and every area has so much detail put into it, it probably wouldn't be physically possible for it to work for the previous console systems, such as the 360 and PS3. When Batman first steps out onto the ledge at 0:42, you can see what I mean by a huge landscape. From what is know, everything that is seen from the view is traversable, giving Arkham Knight one of the biggest maps in video game history.
Not to mention how far he drops as well. The closer he gets to the bottom, the more the map expands and you can see the detail put into every little window and door and light etc. Although I still want to keep my old 360, I am glad that this game is a next gen exclusive, just because of the sheer detail put into the design of the game.
The Batmobile
The most anticipated part of this new game, the fully rideable Batmobile. For it being one of the coolest features in the new game, it comes at a cost. The amount of work and detail put into the batmobile made it use up so much data that it would take up an entire 360. How it looks however, it makes a lot of sense in its memory usage. From shown on the game play trailer, the player can summon the batmobile when Batman is nearing the ground and the fabled batmobile appears. The actual driving of the batmobile looks like any other game with cars in it and looks pretty unwieldy. But unlike other games, the batmobile doesn't crash when it hits a lamp post or a blockade, it completely decimates them, not even slowing down. Now the best part of the batmobile starts at 1:52 of the game play trailer; when it gets ready for combat. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the batmobile getting combat ready and I have to say, it is probably the best feature of this game by far. The wheels widening and being put on a pivot point instead of the axle makes the batmobile more mobile and agile, being able to move side-to-side, diagonally, and front-to-back as easy as it is to drive normally. And when the turrets came out of the top, I was ecstatic. The detail put into these guns are just astounding. From the fighting in the batmobile, it looks like you have a rocket, a lock-on missile, and a gatling gun, which I feel is just enough to have, you definitely don't want to go overboard with the amount of weapons, then it would make the game too easy. The last feature that is shown of the batmobile is the ability to rocket yourself out of the batmobile and be able to glide away easily. This, I feel, will be one of the more useful tricks the batmobile can pull off. It makes it easier to dodge enemies while in the batmobile and it makes it so the player can easily start exploring the skies again.
The Combat and Stealth
The combat in this game is just like the other games in the series, where you can gang up on multiple enemies and start combo-ing the crap out of them. One of the newest features added to the combat is called the "Fear Takedown", which is shown at around 2:55 where in the top left corner of the screen, you can see a "Fear Takedown Meter". From what I can understand, the diamonds underneath the Fear Takedown label are the amount of targets acquired. This move can select up to three targets when undetected and slows down the time to be able to take the enemies out quickly and quietly, and all it takes is to look at the target and press one button, easy enough right? This makes the stealth game and combat game a whole lot easier for the player while still making the combat interesting. Like in all the other games, the stealth makes the player essentially invisible to the enemies in the area. We get a good look at the stealth towards the end at around 3:36. I think its cool having the player be able to traverse underneath the enemy in the vent system and then pop out when close enough to the enemy.
The Ending
When I saw the first game play trailer while watching E3, I thought to myself, 'why would they bring in a broken trailer, I feel like they should have checked it out before launching it'. But when Scarecrow was revealed, it took away my sense of shame for the broken trailer and turned it into acting like a giddy little school girl. His reveal as the main enemy for batman, though known from the first trailer, adds a whole new set of questions, like how will his poison be used? or how will he use the Arkham Knight to beat the Batman? All we know for sure is that Scarecrow is enlisting the help of the Penguin, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, and the Riddler to take down the Batman. All in all, I can see this game being one of the best games for the next gen consoles and has a good chance of being "Game of the Year" with all of these added features and superb graphics and game play. All I can say is, I can't wait for this game to come out and be able to see its glory in person.
Before I start getting into the coverage from the E3 gameplay trailer, I would like to start off with a little background information about the series and the game for the people that don't know too much of this game series. Arkham Knight is the fourth installment of the latest batman franchise, which also includes Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Origins. These types of games have a sort of Assassin's Creed like game play and combat system going over a wide, explorable map that is riddled with enemies and secrets. The newest installment, Arkham Knight, is the sequel to the Arkham City game and takes place in Gotham City and is voiced by the almighty Kevin Conroy. The original trailer for this game was released in early March and since then, there have been many speculations on the gameplay and the landscape. The best part from that original trailer was the Batmobile and the fact that the player can now officially drive it around Gotham City. Although the game has been pushed back to 2015, it is still one of the most highly anticipated games for the next gen consoles and with the game play footage being released at E3 this year, everyone can now see it in its glory.
With the game play trailer above, lets begin to pick it apart and see what makes this game one of the best games to come out for the next gen consoles.
The Overview
This game takes place one year after the Arkham City game in the City of Gotham. He is helped by James and his daughter Barbara Gordon, as the Oracle, to help rid the city of the criminals that escaped from Arkham Asylum. The main villain, introduced briefly in the first trailer but more so in this one, Scarecrow, enlists the help of many other super-villains to help take out the Batman once and for all. This game also introduces a new villain to the playing field, The Arkham Knight. This villain is like a militarized version of the Batman that wears a coveted 'A' on his chest to symbolize Arkham. The player will have to take down all the super-villains in Gotham to save its citizens and himself from the Scarecrow.
The Suit
One of the first things that is seen in this trailer is Bruce putting on the bat suit. The detail the game designers went into the suit alone makes this game worth while. It's more robotic than the normal cape and cowl, but it makes it more realistic as an armor to protect his body during fights. And the fact that you can see the suit fitting perfectly to his body adds to the game experience to the new and the old fans. If they can get this type of suit into any of the upcoming Batman movies, I think we would all be very happy.
The Landscape
Starting with the Wayne Tower, you can see the amount of details put into the surrounding area. In a small area like the starting place, seeing that much detail can only speculate what Gotham City is going to look like. At first, I thought that if they put that much detail in a small area, the overall map may not be as well done and thank God (or whatever religious deity you thank, if any) I was wrong. The map of Gotham City spans over 5 times the area of Arkham City and every area has so much detail put into it, it probably wouldn't be physically possible for it to work for the previous console systems, such as the 360 and PS3. When Batman first steps out onto the ledge at 0:42, you can see what I mean by a huge landscape. From what is know, everything that is seen from the view is traversable, giving Arkham Knight one of the biggest maps in video game history.
Not to mention how far he drops as well. The closer he gets to the bottom, the more the map expands and you can see the detail put into every little window and door and light etc. Although I still want to keep my old 360, I am glad that this game is a next gen exclusive, just because of the sheer detail put into the design of the game.
The Batmobile
The most anticipated part of this new game, the fully rideable Batmobile. For it being one of the coolest features in the new game, it comes at a cost. The amount of work and detail put into the batmobile made it use up so much data that it would take up an entire 360. How it looks however, it makes a lot of sense in its memory usage. From shown on the game play trailer, the player can summon the batmobile when Batman is nearing the ground and the fabled batmobile appears. The actual driving of the batmobile looks like any other game with cars in it and looks pretty unwieldy. But unlike other games, the batmobile doesn't crash when it hits a lamp post or a blockade, it completely decimates them, not even slowing down. Now the best part of the batmobile starts at 1:52 of the game play trailer; when it gets ready for combat. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the batmobile getting combat ready and I have to say, it is probably the best feature of this game by far. The wheels widening and being put on a pivot point instead of the axle makes the batmobile more mobile and agile, being able to move side-to-side, diagonally, and front-to-back as easy as it is to drive normally. And when the turrets came out of the top, I was ecstatic. The detail put into these guns are just astounding. From the fighting in the batmobile, it looks like you have a rocket, a lock-on missile, and a gatling gun, which I feel is just enough to have, you definitely don't want to go overboard with the amount of weapons, then it would make the game too easy. The last feature that is shown of the batmobile is the ability to rocket yourself out of the batmobile and be able to glide away easily. This, I feel, will be one of the more useful tricks the batmobile can pull off. It makes it easier to dodge enemies while in the batmobile and it makes it so the player can easily start exploring the skies again.
The Combat and Stealth
The combat in this game is just like the other games in the series, where you can gang up on multiple enemies and start combo-ing the crap out of them. One of the newest features added to the combat is called the "Fear Takedown", which is shown at around 2:55 where in the top left corner of the screen, you can see a "Fear Takedown Meter". From what I can understand, the diamonds underneath the Fear Takedown label are the amount of targets acquired. This move can select up to three targets when undetected and slows down the time to be able to take the enemies out quickly and quietly, and all it takes is to look at the target and press one button, easy enough right? This makes the stealth game and combat game a whole lot easier for the player while still making the combat interesting. Like in all the other games, the stealth makes the player essentially invisible to the enemies in the area. We get a good look at the stealth towards the end at around 3:36. I think its cool having the player be able to traverse underneath the enemy in the vent system and then pop out when close enough to the enemy.
The Ending
When I saw the first game play trailer while watching E3, I thought to myself, 'why would they bring in a broken trailer, I feel like they should have checked it out before launching it'. But when Scarecrow was revealed, it took away my sense of shame for the broken trailer and turned it into acting like a giddy little school girl. His reveal as the main enemy for batman, though known from the first trailer, adds a whole new set of questions, like how will his poison be used? or how will he use the Arkham Knight to beat the Batman? All we know for sure is that Scarecrow is enlisting the help of the Penguin, Harley Quinn, Two-Face, and the Riddler to take down the Batman. All in all, I can see this game being one of the best games for the next gen consoles and has a good chance of being "Game of the Year" with all of these added features and superb graphics and game play. All I can say is, I can't wait for this game to come out and be able to see its glory in person.
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