Batmania! Rise and Shine with The Dark Night

It’s six in the morning. What on God’s green earth would get someone like me to wake up so early? The Dark Night, the long anticipated sequel to the wildly successful Batman Begins. Believe it or not, there are showings for the newest Christopher Nolan helmed superhero epic at 6:50 a.m. seriously, that’s insane. Well, not that insane. I, in blissful ignorance, went to see Episode I: The Phantom Menace at a 5:00 a.m. show on opening day. Why would I do that? Why would someone see a 7:00 a.m. showing of Gotham’s favorite son? Because that’s what we do!

We’re fans and we’re passionate. These stories and characters connect to us in ways that, maybe in some cases, even our families and friends don’t. Well, at Mania (it’s not called that for no reason) we decided to go to the Cinerama Dome in beautiful Hollywood California and find out who goes to a 6:50 a.m. showing of a superhero movie.

 

 

I walk up to three twenty-somethings; the first in the bunch that I talk to is Larry. Larry lives in the valley and says that what bringst him out is that he’s definitely a big Batman fan and added that he’s excited to see Heath Ledgers performance. When I ask him why he chose this early morning showing over a more reasonable time, he points to his friend and says “something to do with this guy here, he (his friend) claims that this (the Cinerama Dome) is the greatest theatre in the world (it is). I move on to Chris who tells me he’s from the Inland Empire. Chris goes to school in Los Angeles, and says he’s here because “it’s The Dark Night! And, the Dome is the shit (I quickly concur)”. I then ask him why the 7:00 a.m. show to which he quickly responds that 12:00 a.m. was sold out and that good seats weren’t available for the 3:30 a.m. show (a man after my own heart). He then informs me that he bought his tickets TWO WEEKS AGO.

 

 

I turn to the third one in the group, Tony, and ask him if he’s a big Batman fan. He says yes but that he’s more of a Marvel fan. Tony lives in Hemet (which is about two hours from L.A.) He also credits (blames) Chris for being here. Chris has really hyped the Cinerama Dome to them. I finally ask if the other two have ever seen a movie here and they both say no. I quickly tell them that they’re going to have their fragile little minds blown. As we talk I learn that Tony owns a comic book store called Players in the Moreno Valley. He goes on to say “the comic industry has blown away anything else that’s come out in the last five years with Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man being such a huge success, the new Hulk that just came out so all these things are helping the industry tremendously.” I ask him if his store has seen a significant sales jump since the rise in popularity of comic book films, he responds “absolutely, 100%. Most of the time the people that show up aren’t readers, they come in and say “wow, that was a great movie, I’m gonna start reading Iron Man or The Incredible Hulk” it has definitely grown (business) a hundred fold.”

 

 

I now approach a small group of what definitely appears to be more “maniacle” fans. One of them is sporting an emo-hawk (I made up “emo-hawk” and claim full ownership rights to the term) while another is made up to look like The Joker with surprising accuracy. He is also wearing a Joker t-shirt. The first one I talk to is Ovideo; he’s a video student at the Art Institute. He’s twenty one and from Hollywood. Ovideo tells me that he went to the Midnight showing but there was a fire alarm and the theatre had to be cleared. They were all told that their ticket stub would admit them to the 6:50 a.m. show. These people have been here since before Midnight! “I bought twenty tickets for me and my friends and so (we’re watching the movie) and the fire alarm went off thirty minutes into the movie” He says that they did go to Denny’s to eat and that he napped on a concrete slab outside the theatre for a few minutes.

 

I ask Ovideo about his fan history with Batman, “I’ve been a fan since I was five, since the animated series. I just read Killing Joke (The influential Allan Moore, Brian Bolland one-off comic that showcases and redefined The Joker) Heath Ledger’s Joker is really connected to that; the way he speaks, the way he is, it really (comes from) Killing Joke and The Long Halloween. He totally transformed himself, you can’t tell it’s him.” I then tell Ovideo that I never liked Jack Nicholson’s interpretation of the Joker to which he fully agrees. “Me neither, that’s nothing like what the Joker really is”.

 

I ask him why the fire alarm went off. Apparently there are conflicting reports of what happened “they said there was smoke and some other people said that a big Batman fan couldn’t get in so he set off the fire alarm.”

 

 

I move on to Andrew from Hollywood. Andrew is sporting detailed Joker make up. He looks awesome convincing. He’s also wearing an old school Joker t-shirt. He doesn’t skip a beat when I ask him why he’s here, in an almost joker-esque way he says “I like Spiderman.”

When I ask if he’s always been a Batman fan he says “No, I actually wasn’t into Batman at all but then I saw that Heath Ledger was cast. You know, this is the most anticipated movie ever. On IMDB it’s like 9.8, I mean Pulp Fiction is only like a 9! That’s incredible.” I ask him if he was a Heath Ledger fan before The Dark Knight “Oh yeah, yeah, definitely. A lot of people are saying that Heath Ledger is this generation’s James Dean; he had that versatility, he had that coolness, he had the special-ness that a lot of actors don’t have. When you see this performance, it’s just amazing! I can’t even explain it! Even if you aren’t Batman fan you’re going to love this. Even if you don’t know anything about Batman, I mean, it’s just phenomenal. This is perfection.”

 

I talk to a couple of people who are just coming out of the 3:30 a.m. show, Andrew and Josh. Andrew, a burgeoning filmmaker tells me that he’s a huge Christopher Nolan fan and fan of Batman Begins as well “I would have seen it at Midnight but it was already sold out” they then inform me that they purchased their tickets three weeks ago. Did the movie live up to their expectations? “Way beyond” they both say “yes, it was amazing. It’s not just a super hero film as many people are claiming it to be but it’s a crime drama masterpiece; it’s a tragedy; tt’s just an incredible piece of filmmaking.” Andrew goes on to say that he wasn’t into Batman until Batman Begins. He adds “If Christopher Nolan isn’t nominated for best director than there’s really something wrong with the Academy.” Josh adds “(in regards to being a Batman fan previous to this film) “I kind of feel the same way as my cohort over here. I went to see Batman Begins at face value, it looked like an interesting film and it turned out to be a very complicated and very interesting piece of filmmaking and this, the follow up, just went above and beyond.

 

 

Isaac from Orange County says that at 29 years old he’s been a Batman fan for 25 years. His first experience with Batman was Burton’s version “It came out at a Drive-In and we were sitting on top of our car like everyone else. It was a huge event in hour neighborhood.” I ask him why come to a 3:30 a.m. show; why not go at a more reasonable hour? He responds “I couldn’t wait. I couldn’t wait at all.” His friend Devon states that it was the selling out of all the other showings that motivated his presence here at this ungodly hour and that he wanted to see it as soon as possible. Did it live up to the hype? Isaac says “I’ve been waiting to see this one since I walked out of the theatre for Batman Begins, so I’ve been waiting a few years...this is the best movie I’ve seen in a while. Christopher Nolan knows how to tell a good story and knows how to penetrate people with his storytelling.” I then ask if he thinks Batman has an appeal or attraction that other superheroes don’t. Isaac continues “The movie Batman tackles themes and topics that connect with people at their inner most core. It introduces people to concepts that they don’t even know exist. Such as people deserve more than truth sometimes…and Batman…is more than a superhero.”