OF BATS AND BADDIES

Just watched the latest Batman which is the best of the series. It was as riddled with messages as BM's car was riddled with bullets.     Ludicrous in parts (a nuclear bomb is swung around like a bouncing ball into buildings and bridges, and still doesn't explode but I don't know anything about nuclear fusion so perhaps it can be done (just checked with engineer I met and he said it can be done, so there you are) - although come to think of it, it's in a film with a flying batman so why am I looking for what is 'realistic'. 


 A lot of what the film had to 'say' however was extremely pertinent and not lost on an audience who were quiet not only because they were fascinated by the action but realized how it mirrored our own society.  Which is of course, why it works.  That and the million dollar special effects.    They know when and how to push buttons these Hollywood types, and which buttons.

For example, in the film there are the under classes - literally - getting ready to up the revolution and bring the city back to the people, although led by a man who didn't believe the people deserved it in the first place.  The dispossessed lived in the sewers and they all had, without exception, an Eastern European accent and look Eastern European.   And the monied were portrayed as philandering wasters who do stuff for charity but only if it's tax efficient. 

There's a stunning female thief with incredibly high heels, high kicks and no morals or values, who wants to 'start again', (because she's been labelled as a thief - which of course, she is, but she doesn't want that label).    She is saved because someone else continues to believe in her goodness even when she doesn't and that's what allows her to save herself and others.    She's cool, until the end of course, when she wastes five seconds of a one minute count down to the end of everything (aforementioned nuclear bomb) by snogging Batman. Until then she was the go for it girl who kicks arse, arm pit, face, anything really.  But as soon as she snogs Batman, she just becomes the It girl.

And all the main male characters, all in their own way tortured lone individuals, have one weakness.   The love of a bad woman. Well not exactly 'bad', because I'm not sure one says 'bad' any more.  How about 'damaged'?   Doing the impossible they can deal with. Saving the world or destroying it - fine.  But falling for and trusting a damaged woman, nope, putty.   Bless.   Mind you I knew one of the women was damaged from the start because she a) has a french accent and the Americans don't like or trust the French and b) she always plays damaged women in all the films I've seen her in.  The actress was in Inception, as were three of the other lead actors. I wonder if the director directed that film as well?   

The damaged males all looked like smug worthless, slimy short types.  Yes they did all look like bankers. In fact one looked a dead ringer for Bob Diamond.      A part from the most damaged male who looks like a pumped up Hannibal Lechter and spoke through a mask.

The protagonists all needed to dig themselves out of a hole of their own making (anger, self pity, self doubt etc..) - literally in several cases, and everyone wears very tight black, drive very fast, very dangerously and just how I desperately want to drive around London at the moment.


There's a scene where 'Bain' (Hannibal Lechter lookalikee)  breaks into the stock exchange and starts shooting all the traders.   One trader says to him 'why have you broken in here, there's no money to steal', to which lead baddie replies - speaking for the masses 'what you doing here then?"  See what I mean by pressing the right buttons.   The cinema audience clapped spontaneously.

It sometimes became very difficult to see who the good guys were and who the bad guys were mainly because they were all damanged.  A bit like in life really, but everyone agreed the establishment were utterly clueless and not even well intentioned.

You could see why the bad guys were frustrated and wanted to blow everyone up, because the masses were such an apathetic lemming like bunch. Loudest message I suppose was 'don't live in fear, because fear kills. And if you have hope you should cross that bridge from fear to hope.  (they literally did have to try to cross a bridge but the good guys blew it up - but only because they thought it would save more of the group, confusing huh?).   And if you do cross that metaphorical bridge, it will set you free. Ironically at one point when they tried to cross a bridge, the police blew it up (see what I mean about the establishment, bloody useless).   And oh yes, to get yourself out of a hole you need to have internal strength as well as external strength.    And you have to fight to deserve your freedom and understand your worth.      Or perhaps I'm looking deeper into it and the film doesn't have any messages and isn't actually that deep.   It was, after all, about Batman.