New Batman News...WTF?

Let me get this out of the way; I'm a huge, HUGE fan of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies. Don't get me wrong, I like the Burton movies too (Schumacher's can suck on a Bat-Nipple), but on a different level. BATMAN and BATMAN RETURNS are movies that I enjoy simply on an entertainment value (and Micheal Keaton as Batman is always great to watch), but they just aren't....well, Batman (as for the Schumacher movies, those REALLY weren't Batman). BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT, however, are real Batman movies. They're well-written, well-directed, insanely well-acted, and most importantly, they accomplish something that the movies before them (excluding the excellent MASK OF THE PHANTASM) never did; they actually got the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne right. I personally have enjoyed every actor who has played Batman (except George Clooney, but can we really call that abomination "Batman"?), but I consider Christian Bale to be the only actor in the live action movies who has gotten the character perfectly. I honestly don't give a flying fuck about the voice, he's Batman.

But the true genius behind these movies are the director/co-writer, Chrisopher Nolan. If I were to make a list of the greatest directors of the past 10 years, he would be on the very top, no doubt about it. Nolan adds the perfect amout of suspense, emotion, and dynamics to the movies that makes him rise above a pretentious prick like Tim Burton, or a hack like Joel Schumacher.

This brings me to what's been annoying me this past...um, day. About a fortnight ago (I'm sorry, Ernest Hemingway likes to possess me from time to time), I read SEVERAL articles online about certain news regarding the Batman franchise. Apperently, after Nolan finishes the third movie, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (which will be his last installment in the franchise), Warner Brothers is going to reboot the franchise....AGAIN.

What?? Look, this is just ridiculous. The whole reason they rebooted the franchise in the first place was because, thanks to Schumacher, the series was on a steady downhill spiral that eventually ended with the abomination known as BATMAN & ROBIN. The difference here is that the current Batman movies have been enormous critical and commercial successes. Hell, THE DARK KNIGHT was nominated for, AND WON, a good amount of Academy Awards, and is considered to be the greatest comic book movie of all time. So what's the point in rebooting?

What really urks me is that there are SO much that they can do with the storyline, thanks to Nolan. These movies are all about a very young Batman, and take place during his first year or two crimefighting. If they plan on making new Batman movies, why don't they simply make a new trilogy about when he's been fighting crime for a few years. They could bring in more villians (we could finally see the Riddler...done right!), and maybe even bring in Robin (as long as they take the character seriously). And after that, they could make a final movie about Batman at the end of his life, in his old age, and his last days fighting crime (perhaps the adaptation of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS that Zack Snyder's been hinting at?). Honestly, I don't see any point in rebooting, when there's so much damn potential to be had with the series. To me, this would be a crime. A creative crime, anyway.