It’s interesting to go from a week where everyone is watching Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” on its 10 year anniversary and considering the long shadow of its legacy while DC Films and DC Entertainment are still pumping out new products, “Aquaman,” the upcoming “Teen Titans Go,” etc. etc.
But one of the most glaring takeaways from watching “The Dark Knight” and the full ‘Dark Knight,’ trilogy is despite the films being a huge influence on movies and culture, nearly every movie that came in its wake missed the point and only borrowed, begged and stole just the superficial elements of “dark and gritty,” often creating quote-unquote “grounded” films with zero substance and free of the moral muddiness and ethical dilemmas of “The Dark Knight.”
Case in point and perhaps no better example: the new trailer from DC’s upcoming new streaming service “Titans,” an adaptation of the long-running young superhero team comic book “Teen Titans,” that featured many sidekicks like Dick Grayson (aka Robin), leaving their mentors and going at it alone with new younger superheroes.
The first line that comes out of Robin’s (Brenton Thwaites) mouth, the leader of the Titans, after he brutalizes and stomps out a bunch of criminals is “F*ck Batman.”
“Time for inner demons,” the show’s tagline says in a, yep, you guessed it, dark and gritty tone, but rather silly and shallow that highlights members of the team like Starfire, Beast Boy (sometimes known as Changeling), Hawk and Dove and Raven.
It’s rather bloody and bruising, but crude and dumb, trying to rather desperately demonstrate how badass all the characters are, but it simply looks like R-Rated CW fare with similar corny lines like, “My mom says there are no such things as monsters.” The response, “I used to think that, I was wrong.”
Normally, we try and steer clear of superhero TV coverage because it’s really, really bad, but this is something you need to see for yourself. “Titans” debuts this fall on DC’s new streaming service, but if this is supposed to be some kind of enticing calling card, you can keep it.