by Thoul » Mon Dec 8, '08, 10:48 pm
I can understand what he's getting at, but I think most of those movies have two simple problems that can be easily overcome. The older series - Superman, the older Batmans - both changed directors for the later installments. Those directors completely changed the vision of the series from the previous films. With Batman especially, a lot of fans don't like the third and fourth movies because they were such a departure from the tone of the first two. If Nolan wants to avoid that problem, he should definitely come back for a third movie rather than waiting for the studio to get someone else.
The second problem is story overload - trying to cram too much into a film. Spider-Man 3 was really hurt by this. You've got Sandman, who has a very fleshed out story. There's also Harry, who becomes an enemy and later a friend. That alone is enough for a whole movie. But they also had to tack on the Black Suit and Venom, which could have filled out a fourth film much more easily. Batman and Robin is another great example - it introduced Batgirl, Poison Ivy, Bane, Mr. Freeze, and technically Floronic Man. Of all of them, only Mr. Freeze got a halfway decent treatment in the story. To be honest, I was very afraid Dark Knight would also hit this pitfall when I heard about Joker and Harvey Dent being in it.