Filmsane

And at times Daredevil, but more so the Crow. Let me explain. You’ve probably seen it I presume. The first trailer for the upcoming The Batman movie dropped this past weekend. And it was OK. I didn’t like it all that much, but at the same time I was fascinated. I know… It’s complicated. But the trailer for the most part was OK.

A bit too emo, a bit too dark, but sadly we can’t have nice, happy shiny things anymore. Not even in trailers apparently. The recurring theme for almost 2 decades now is that every comic book-based movie adaptation has to be dark, gloomy, moody and serious. Also steeped in reality, and with lots of social commentary. Hey, even The Joker got that treatment as well.

Which is why I sometimes reminisce of the Joel Schumacher Batman movies. You know the ones. They were pretty much bad, but God damn it they were fun to watch. And campy, and cheerful and they had vibrant colors. Ugh. I blame Christopher Nolan for ruining that vivid happy 90’s memory. But I digress.

However, if you recall, the ’90s were not all about shiny happy colorful things. They weren’t all Clueless and Beverly Hills 902010. Somewhere in the mid-’90s, there was this awesome movie that now sadly has an infamous (yet cult status) mostly because of the death of the leading actor. Brandon Lee. Which sucks, because the movie all on itself was incredible as well. And if you ask me deserves to be recognized as such. For being a bad ass movie, not just a movie in which the lead actor died.

But in recent times I was happy to see the influence of The Crow transferred to other great movies. Whether it’s in copy-cat scenes of movies (The Dark Knight) or just in visual tone and atmosphere. Case in point the new Batman movie. Now, granted I’m yet to see the movie (it’s due to be released in 2021), but just by looking at the trailer, there’s so much Crow influence it’s insane. The look of Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne, the cinematography, the set pieces and art direction as well.

On a side note, I’m happy that they made Batman a bit of detective searching for clues, not just a vigilante. But yeah. The Crow visual style is copied and pasted here and not in an obvious way. Look, I’m not alone in this. Currently half of Twitter is buzzing about the resemblance between these two.

And did you noticed something else? The nostalgic nod to the ’90s in the Batman trailer? I mean come on! It’s not the first time this has happened. Besides, if you recall, The Crow had an insanely good soundtrack as well. From The Cure and Nine Inch Nails to Pantera and Stone Temple Pilots.  But over here in the Batman’s trailer it’s Nirvana.

Nirvana’s Something in the Way was already used in plenty of great movies. From Jerry Maguire to Sam Mendes’s Jarhead. However, this darker rendition of the Nirvana’s classic fits nicely to the tone and atmosphere of the movie, don’t you think? And on the subject of Alex Proyas’s The Crow. It’s nice to go back from time to time. I don’t know about you but for me, the movie is one of those classics that I go back to. It’s a very good movie after all. Some people listen to Adele when they’re sad and miserable, I watch The Crow.

And you know what else I came back to these days? And by these days… I mean days of endless fear and uncertainty thanks to the global pandemic that we’re experiencing. Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel. They’re probably the TV shows that helped me stay sane and pretty much normal in the weeks and months of lockdowns and quarantine. But I feel that’s a topic for a different post.

So, stay tuned for more Buffy/Angel content shortly. A big dose of nostalgia is coming up here at Filmsane. What else am I to do?