The New Yorker’s David Denby is confused and couldn’t bother to spare 30 seconds for research. He seems to think Tim Burton created Batman:
Warner Bros. has continued to drain the poetry, fantasy, and comedy out of Tim Burton’s original conception for “Batman,” (1989), completing the job of coarsening the material into hyperviolent summer action spectacle.
Now, Denby might not necessarily think Tim Burton created Batman, he could very well be referring to the original cinematic conception. If so, that makes it even more unacceptable. A film critic should understand the art of film and, more importantly, the unique vision of each individual auteur. Perhaps Denby thinks every director should aspire to imitate Tim Burton’s fantastic style of filmmaking.
Denby is the first major film critic to give The Dark Knight a negative review. (Apparently, it’s not as good as Hancock.) I won’t see the film until Thursday night, so I can’t say whether I agree with him or not, but calling the film a “hyperviolent summer action spectacle” seems to contradict nearly every other review. In fact, many critics have stated that The Dark Knight isn’t typical summer fare. One might wonder if David Denby wrote a negative review just for the sake of being the sole voice of dissent.
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