Posts Tagged ‘Batman’

Pfeiffer, in possibly her most popular role as Catwoman in "Batman Returns"

A recent article on RottenTomatoes.com suggested Rachel McAdams might play Black Cat, a burglar/love interest for Peter Parker, in Spiderman 4.  The article got me thinking about the original sexy cat burglar of the Batman comic books, Catwoman.  The question of who would play the sultry seductress has plagued me for years.  Who could beat Eartha Kitt’s sultry purr from the original television series?  Who could look sexier than Michelle Pfeiffer in a leather body suit in Batman Returns?  And most importantly, who could erase the lingering sting Halle Berry’s portrayal left on Batman fans?

The role isn’t easy to fill.  The actress who plays Catwoman needs to have an obvious sexuality that a lecher like Bruce Wayne can barely resist.  But she also has to have a hint of class so she will not seem out of place in his high-powered world.  Finally, she needs to convincingly straddle the line between good guy and bad guy.  Sure she’s ultimately a self-serving burglar who uses her sexuality to stun the guards, but she’s got to be just moral enough for Batman to believe she could be on his side one day.

While McAdams certainly seems capable of delivering the character’s class and questionable morality, she, no offense, just doesn’t have that mildly trashy sex appeal.  Sex is really what Catwoman is about.  Which brings me to the question posed in the title of this piece: how about Megan Fox?  There is no question that she has the sex appeal, as Cliff said in his “What If…” on Fox, she has made her career out of it.  It’s the character’s other components that could be the issue.

Fox’s previous roles haven’t given her much room to show off her acting chops, but what better time than in a role where she can rely on her appearance to do most of the work?  Most comic book films are not noted for their acting, though director Christopher Nolan’s recent interpretations of Batman have certainly changed that, but Fox’s sexuality should at least make her somewhat capable of embodying the character.  The real challenge for her will be playing the normal, Selina Kyle part of the role.

Perhaps Fox’s biggest obstacle would be her age.  She is eight years younger than Christian Bale and still looks more like a juicy piece of jailbait than a mature, professional woman.  A few years ago, Angelina Jolie might have been a shoe-in for the role, but now that she seems determined to be a serious actress, that’s out of the question.  Still, with make-up and the right costuming, Fox could look like a woman in her late twenties.  After the crushing disappointment of loosing Rachel Dawes in the last film, Megan Fox as Selina Kyle may be just the hot young thing to bring Bruce out of his depression.

Jason Isaacs

This idea was concocted by a few friends of mine, and I jumped up and down with excitement when they first told it to me. Most of you might recognize Jason Isaacs from his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, or the evil Colonel William Tavington in The Patriot (2000). And those who are more aware of his body of work might agree stronger with the notion that Isaacs is terrific at playing a smarmy bad guy.

The script for the next Batman movie is still in the works, but like everyone else we keep a close eye on all of the rumors that float around, one of which has been that director Chris Nolan is toying with the idea of including The Riddler as one of the next villains. Jim Carrey played The Riddler (aka Edward Nigma) in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 box office sensation Batman Forever, and it is pretty safe to say that Carrey is warmly remembered for his performance in that role. His cartoonish brand of comedy fit well with Schumacher’s vision, which attempted to capture the serial-comic flavor of the 1960s. However, being that Nolan sees the world of Gotham as a much darker, more mature place, goofy doesn’t seem likely to be the direction he’ll go if The Riddler is indeed destined to return to the screen. Enter Jason Isaacs. Read the rest of this entry »

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight: Batman Becomes a Westerner

The character of Batman as presented in director Christopher Nolan’s 2008 film The Dark Knight represents many of the iconographic elements that comprise what is known as the Westerner. The caped crusader can more accurately be distinguished as being more medieval (that is, consisting of character traits more attuned to medieval literature) in most of his filmic representations, such as Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), and such a connection does not completely stop with Nolan’s most recent feature as even the film’s title outright labels its hero a “knight.” But despite this, Nolan has introduced the character of Batman to the world of cinema in a new way that displays him more as a western idol reminiscent of the days of John Wayne. American audiences gorged themselves on this newest version of the classic superhero, amassing a domestic box office revenue of over $530 million (second only to Titanic’s $600 million+), and the reason for this may be found in the social structure of its viewers. Read the rest of this entry »