Post by Argonaut on Jul 21, 2008 11:33:44 GMT -8
The Dark Knight (2008)
www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/
Taken from my post at the Stallonezone forums.
OK. I've finally seen the movie. Sorry I didn't review it last night. We left the car lights on during the movie and got trapped in Spokane for a while. Didn't get home until really late, so I just went to bed.
I'll get to the movie in a minute, but first I'd like to talk about the IMAX theater. This was Sunday, but the place was packed. I ended up getting pretty crappy seats down lower to the left, so the image looked kind of skewed. I've decided that there is such a thing as too big and too loud, and IMAX was this. I think it detracted from my enjoyment of the film. The bass was too loud. The crowd was too noisy. I hated being in Spokane. I already hate theaters. I'd have preferred to watch the movie on DVD at home really. I'm only just now beginning to get used to watching movies at my own theater, so to go see it this far away was an uncomfortable experience. I really can't fully enjoy movies at the theater.
Now to the movie itself. There will be spoilers below, so scroll down at your own risk. The spoilers will not be blacked out. Surprisingly, I was a bit disappointed in the film. Let's start off with the things I liked.
The Joker: Amazing. I'll always like Jack Nicholson's Joker, but Heath Ledger is the best Joker ever. I'd be angry if he didn't win the oscar for this.
The Action: Incredible. Chris Nolan once again earns my respect by refusing to use cg so much of the time. Action that's real is that much more spectacular and believable.
That's not all I liked about the movie, but now I'm going to talk about some of my problems with the movie.
The Joker: I'm really glad he survived, because he's one of my favorite characters ever, but I think his character deserved a better resolution. Batman just left him hanging there and I felt like he deserved something better for his last scene.
Two-Face/Harvey: Harvey Dent was a great character. Aaron Eckhart played the part really well. But I felt like the Two-Face character was seriously mishandled near the end. He was supposed to be sort of schizophrenic. A side of good and a side of evil. But he just went totally insane. They turned him into a villain. In the animated series he was more of a vigilante. Two-Face is another favorite character of mine, so I felt like his final scene was very unsatisfying.
Rachel Dawes/Maggie Gyllenhaal: I hated this woman. Say what you want about Katie Holmes, but at least she wasn't ugly. Gyllenhaal's Rachel is both ugly and annoying. Her death wasn't nearly as sad as it should have been.
There were a lot of things to like about Dark Knight. I just had more problems than I wanted to have with it. The movie is just too big. It is nearly collapsing under its own weight. What I mean by that is that the movie tries to accomplish way too much in one film, and it fails. The movie is sort of a mess. Some of it is absolute genius, and some of it is not-so-genius. The small moments of comic relief, like the kids finger-shooting the cars, just didn't fit in what was otherwise trying to be a serious film.
The movie tries to pack way too much into one film, and it ends up being overly complicated. Character is sacrificed in favor of more action. They should have just left Two-Face out if he was to be so under-used and then discarded.
Batman Begins took a much simpler approach to the story, and it ended up having a much more rewarding character arc and conclusion. Dark Knight sort of had a character arc with Harvey Dent, but the conclusion was very unsatisfying.
One fear I'd always had was that the Joker would be so awesome, that he would overshadow Batman. My prediction was confirmed as Joker completely stole the show. Joker is just too awesome. Batman comes off as a much weaker presence. The movie doesn't try very hard to make you believe in his quest. At least not until the very end, at which point it's really too late. By then I believed that Joker was right all along and that he'd won. The scene with the ferries attempted to show that there was good in humanity, but it felt like an extremely small victory. I still agree with Joker.
And as cool as it is to have Joker stealing the show and basically winning, it shouldn't happen quite like that in a Batman movie. You need to work hard to show the audience why Batman's way is still the right way. In this world, it's easy to believe Joker. Deep questions of morality and human nature were raised in this movie, so there was no way we could get a satisfying conclusion.
I think I would have liked the movie a lot more if, for one thing, Rachel Dawes wasn't in it. And mostly I just think they should have taken a simpler approach to the story and focused on the relationship between Batman and Joker. They need to make it more like The Killing Joke. Heath Ledger studied that comic book while preparing for the role, and it shows. He understands the Joker better than anyone before him. But you really only glimpse at the relationship. Batman was more of an angry man in a suit, and it only made Joker seem more on top of things. The movie needed to show a Batman that was above us all when it came to right and wrong. They needed to show why Batman was different than the Joker. But instead they try to push that notion that Batman and Joker really aren't that different. Gordon's speech briefly touched upon what Batman really is. He's the Dark Knight. He is a symbol of justice and all that is good. But like I said. By then it is too little, too late.
I also didn't expect Batman's voice to bother me as much as it did.
I'd give the movie a 7/10. There are a lot of good things about the movie, but overall it's just not as good as I'd hoped it would be.
EDIT: Upon reflection, I feel like I have to give this movie a higher rating. There were some disappointing things about it. Things I didn't like. But it's still one of the best movies of this century. It deserves at least an 8/10.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/
Taken from my post at the Stallonezone forums.
OK. I've finally seen the movie. Sorry I didn't review it last night. We left the car lights on during the movie and got trapped in Spokane for a while. Didn't get home until really late, so I just went to bed.
I'll get to the movie in a minute, but first I'd like to talk about the IMAX theater. This was Sunday, but the place was packed. I ended up getting pretty crappy seats down lower to the left, so the image looked kind of skewed. I've decided that there is such a thing as too big and too loud, and IMAX was this. I think it detracted from my enjoyment of the film. The bass was too loud. The crowd was too noisy. I hated being in Spokane. I already hate theaters. I'd have preferred to watch the movie on DVD at home really. I'm only just now beginning to get used to watching movies at my own theater, so to go see it this far away was an uncomfortable experience. I really can't fully enjoy movies at the theater.
Now to the movie itself. There will be spoilers below, so scroll down at your own risk. The spoilers will not be blacked out. Surprisingly, I was a bit disappointed in the film. Let's start off with the things I liked.
The Joker: Amazing. I'll always like Jack Nicholson's Joker, but Heath Ledger is the best Joker ever. I'd be angry if he didn't win the oscar for this.
The Action: Incredible. Chris Nolan once again earns my respect by refusing to use cg so much of the time. Action that's real is that much more spectacular and believable.
That's not all I liked about the movie, but now I'm going to talk about some of my problems with the movie.
The Joker: I'm really glad he survived, because he's one of my favorite characters ever, but I think his character deserved a better resolution. Batman just left him hanging there and I felt like he deserved something better for his last scene.
Two-Face/Harvey: Harvey Dent was a great character. Aaron Eckhart played the part really well. But I felt like the Two-Face character was seriously mishandled near the end. He was supposed to be sort of schizophrenic. A side of good and a side of evil. But he just went totally insane. They turned him into a villain. In the animated series he was more of a vigilante. Two-Face is another favorite character of mine, so I felt like his final scene was very unsatisfying.
Rachel Dawes/Maggie Gyllenhaal: I hated this woman. Say what you want about Katie Holmes, but at least she wasn't ugly. Gyllenhaal's Rachel is both ugly and annoying. Her death wasn't nearly as sad as it should have been.
There were a lot of things to like about Dark Knight. I just had more problems than I wanted to have with it. The movie is just too big. It is nearly collapsing under its own weight. What I mean by that is that the movie tries to accomplish way too much in one film, and it fails. The movie is sort of a mess. Some of it is absolute genius, and some of it is not-so-genius. The small moments of comic relief, like the kids finger-shooting the cars, just didn't fit in what was otherwise trying to be a serious film.
The movie tries to pack way too much into one film, and it ends up being overly complicated. Character is sacrificed in favor of more action. They should have just left Two-Face out if he was to be so under-used and then discarded.
Batman Begins took a much simpler approach to the story, and it ended up having a much more rewarding character arc and conclusion. Dark Knight sort of had a character arc with Harvey Dent, but the conclusion was very unsatisfying.
One fear I'd always had was that the Joker would be so awesome, that he would overshadow Batman. My prediction was confirmed as Joker completely stole the show. Joker is just too awesome. Batman comes off as a much weaker presence. The movie doesn't try very hard to make you believe in his quest. At least not until the very end, at which point it's really too late. By then I believed that Joker was right all along and that he'd won. The scene with the ferries attempted to show that there was good in humanity, but it felt like an extremely small victory. I still agree with Joker.
And as cool as it is to have Joker stealing the show and basically winning, it shouldn't happen quite like that in a Batman movie. You need to work hard to show the audience why Batman's way is still the right way. In this world, it's easy to believe Joker. Deep questions of morality and human nature were raised in this movie, so there was no way we could get a satisfying conclusion.
I think I would have liked the movie a lot more if, for one thing, Rachel Dawes wasn't in it. And mostly I just think they should have taken a simpler approach to the story and focused on the relationship between Batman and Joker. They need to make it more like The Killing Joke. Heath Ledger studied that comic book while preparing for the role, and it shows. He understands the Joker better than anyone before him. But you really only glimpse at the relationship. Batman was more of an angry man in a suit, and it only made Joker seem more on top of things. The movie needed to show a Batman that was above us all when it came to right and wrong. They needed to show why Batman was different than the Joker. But instead they try to push that notion that Batman and Joker really aren't that different. Gordon's speech briefly touched upon what Batman really is. He's the Dark Knight. He is a symbol of justice and all that is good. But like I said. By then it is too little, too late.
I also didn't expect Batman's voice to bother me as much as it did.
I'd give the movie a 7/10. There are a lot of good things about the movie, but overall it's just not as good as I'd hoped it would be.
EDIT: Upon reflection, I feel like I have to give this movie a higher rating. There were some disappointing things about it. Things I didn't like. But it's still one of the best movies of this century. It deserves at least an 8/10.