Batman: Arkham Knight - 10 Things It Must Learn From Origins
10. Character-Driven Tales Work
If there's anything Rocksteady really need to improve upon, it's the way they tell a story. The few snippets we've seen of Knight's story haven't been particularly impressive, and whilst it's understandable that RS wish to remain tight-lipped when it comes to key plot details, dialogue so far has inspired anything but confidence. The script in Arkham Origins was penned by veteran writers Corey May, Dooma Wendshuch and Ryan Galletta, and it was undeniably the best the Arkham franchise has seen yet. Dialogue felt smooth, the narrative was coherent, and emotion ebbed from every line delivery. More importantly however, it really captured the early days of Bruce Wayne's vigilantism perfectly. In contrast, Arkham Knight's dialogue has gifted us with such gems as "Be careful," and "Do you really think Scarecrow's crazy enough to detonate a chemical weapon in Gotham?" On top of a plethora of already shakey lines being released accompanying screenshots, the recent 'Officer Down' demo only cemented the existence of such stinkers being present - Paul Dini's absence is certainly noticeable. Obviously it's too late to call for a script change, but Rocksteady really have a lot to do to make their narrative feel much more 'Long Halloween' than 'Dark Knight Strikes Again'. It'd be a pretty spectacular feat to ruin the threads left open by City's ending.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
