Unabashedly, I am an "Arrow" fan. Despite the fact that it's on the CW network and with that comes certain tropes like romantic triangles, over-the-top plot twists, and serialization, I still enjoy watching "Arrow". Because at the end of the day, "Arrow" is still a super hero show with a lead character that kicks ass. Even though I enjoy the show, I wish it was on a certain network- mainly FOX. FOX has a good track record of creating gritty shows that are enjoyable to watch. So to my delight when I found out tonight that FOX is doing their own version of "Arrow". Well, sort of. Watch the trailer below.
At first, I thought doing a Batman show without the titular character was a silly idea. But really, we don't inherently like the Batman stories solely because of Batman. For example, what made Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight so great was mainly because of Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker. In fact, a good villain can make or break a movie. Whiplash, at least the portrayal of him, was terrible in Iron Man 2. Loki, on the other hand, is a charismatic character that can bind together The Avengers. A great bad guy makes good things better throughout all facets of Pop Culture. Part of what made Skyfall so great was Javier Bardem's character. The best season of FX's "Justified" (and just an incredible season of television in its own right) was Season 2 with Margo Martindale's Emmy-winning portrayal of Mags Bennett. So the idea of centering the "Gotham" television show around villains I think is a really smart idea.
The Green Arrow character (although on the show he's just referred to as "The Vigilante" or "The Hood") is basically another version of Batman- a billionaire who tries to rid his dangerous city of crime by creating a superhero alter ego. FOX and DC Comics (who is also responsible for "Arrow") are doing a new take on "Arrow" with "Gotham". Notice it's not called "Batman" and it doesn't have "Dark Knight" in the title because this isn't Batman's story. This is Jim Gordon's story.
Plus, at its core, "Gotham" will be an origin story. And everybody loves an origin story. Outside of The Dark Knight, hands down the best super hero movie of the past ten years is Iron Man. And even though it's not as good as its predecessor, Nolan's Batman Begins is still really good. Matthew Vaughn has created two excellent super hero origin stories- Kick Ass and X-Men: First Class. America just loves a good origin story.
But most of all, "Gotham" will be a cop drama. After all, this is future police commissioner Jim Gordon's (Ben McKenzie) story. The rookie detective is teamed up with grizzled veteran Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue). Both McKenzie and Logue are great actors who knows what it's like to be on a really good cop show (Southland, Terriers, etc). While it obviously won't be your typical one, who doesn't love a good cop show?
So for all those reasons, I'm excited. Plus, the "Gotham" trailer alone just looks so freaking awesome, amirite?
ARE YOU EXCITED TO SEE "GOTHAM"?
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