Ulrich said:
Brian Earl Spilner said:
People who bash on the Star Wars prequels clearly don't understand and appreciate the intricate storylines and themes that George Lucas carefully interweaved throughout the main saga.
(I'm only half joking.)
We've gotten way off topic but this stuff is interesting to me.
Who is the audience? In this thread we have people who range from not even paying that much attention, to watched it once with normal attention, to a professional who watched it multiple times. If the really intense viewer thinks it makes sense, but the middle-of-the-road viewer who watches it once is confused, did the filmmaker do his or her job? Thinking of the Star Wars example which is a little less controversial. I don't think filmmakers need to craft their movies to the viewer who really just wants to make fun of the movie, but what about the average viewer?
Speaking purely to the Star Wars side of it -- I've always found that the average viewer enjoyed ALL the Star Wars movies. None of them are straight up bad, per se.
BUT, different groups of people feel very differently about certain movies.
Ie.
Hardcore OT fans mostly hate the prequels
Kids mostly loved them at the time
Broad audiences were probably split but maybe leaned positive
The thing that's interesting about the prequels in particular, is that they work on a broad surface level. They're easy to watch, easy to follow, and entertaining to mass audiences. However *adjusts glasses*, the more you watch them and the deeper the look, the more interesting they become. There are layers that are not obvious on the surface, and tie pretty intricately into the OT.
This is not really the case for most blockbusters, if only because most of them are made by committee, with a lot of people to answer to. Lucas didn't have to worry about that.
In some ways, I feel The Batman is that type of blockbuster, where the deeper you look, the more there is to appreciate. BUT, maybe it doesn't have the same broad appeal of a Star Wars or a Marvel movie.
I think this movie will age well.