Saturday, July 19th, 2008...12:43 am
the dark knight - review
There are no words than can adequately describe how good this movie is. It really is beyond any form of hyperbole of flowery language that even i can muster.
It is simply, and brilliantly, good.
MILD SPOILER ALERT BUT FRANKLY IF YOU DON’T KNOW SOME OF THIS STUFF WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING KNOWING ME
Christian Bale continues to shine as Batman and Bruce Wayne. I’ve never seen a better portrayal of both of these characters in the same movie. My only complaint is that there are a few too many points where he gets his fight on without the mask. That said it isn’t like they went all Tobey “look it really me under the mask” Maguire. The moments when he does kick ass as Bruce Wayne feel natural, i just wish they hadn’t happened as much.
Aaron Eckhart is superb. Harvey Dent has found a home in this man. No one else can be allowed to play Dent. It’s when he becomes Two-Face that he really shines though. There are moments before the transformation (the mental one, not the physical one) where you can glimpse a darker edge but once he crosses that line and becomes Two-Face he is brilliant. The utter rage that he hurls at you from the screen is breathtaking.
Heath Ledger. Wow. Give the man an academy award please. Hands down this is the best performance i’ve seen in many a year. Effortlessly menacing. Disturbingly charming. There are times when you find yourself actually warming to the character. And then he repulses you for feeling that way. The best part about The Joker in this movie is that he doesn’t change. Both Bruce Wayne/Batman and Harvey Dent/Two-Face undergo enormous changes in this film and are vastly different from the men they were when they started. The Joker does not change. He is a constant throughout the entire film. From start to finish he is the very embodiment of carnage and chaos.
I cannot say enough good things about this film. It isn’t a comic book film. I mean no disrespect to the genre but it simply isn’t. This is a gripping psychological drama about the limits to which people can be pushed and what happens if they push back. It is superb and deserves all the praise that i can lavish upon it.
11 Comments
July 19th, 2008 at 10:57 am
It was indeed a superb film. Brilliant acting, fantastic script, awesome direction.
Heath’s Joker pisses all over Jack Nicholson’s. This was the real Joker.
Two face, well I think you said it all Reg.
But I have to disagree with your comment that this was not a comic book film, for two reasons.
I have many comic books that are psychological dramas, including Watchmen, as well as a few Batmans. Second, the moive had a lot of similar scenes as one of those Batman comics, the Long Halloween. Which works really well as Batman Begins had a lot of scenes straight out of the comic Batman Year one, which was the preceding comic to Long Halloween.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:06 am
I wasn’t suggesting that it had no basis in comics. My comment was more to state the difference between this film and something like Iron Man or Spider-Man.
July 19th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Good review, but why so serious?
July 19th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Dark themes, twisting plot, elegant performances…
(no, I don’t really have anything else to add to your discussion…except maybe…)
Four point five stars from me, David, how about you?
July 19th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I know what you inferring to. My point is that comics can be a serious medium and often have a stigma about them. When Watchmen won the hugo award more people complained because it was a comic and comics have since been banned from the hugo awards.
There is also a difference between Marvel comics and DC comics. DC have been making more adult orientated comics for decades. Directly (Batman, Green Arrow) or through Vertigo (Watchmen [a Hugo award winning] League of exordinary gentlemen). Marvel comics have always been more family orientated. Especially the titles you have mention (Spiderman, Iron man, Fantastic Four) Despite Stan Lee’s claims that Marvel heroes are better characters (not that he’s bias. But then, almost all of them have the same origin story - gamma radiation [only the delivery is different - spider, machine, cosmic rays]) DC has always maintained an advantage in terms of stories. The only exception is Superman (people seem incapable to write good superman stories without getting carried away with the powers)
Comparing DC movie adaptations to Marvel adaptations is like comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruit, both taste good. But from a completely different tree,
July 20th, 2008 at 4:32 am
Great review. I do have one question that has not been answered yet: What the hell was Scarecrow doing in the movie? …Filling up his 2 year contract?
July 20th, 2008 at 8:10 am
Closure from the first film? To make the movies flow together? Or to stop people from asking why isn’t scarecrow in the movie if they failed to included him.
Spiderman 3, take note, this is how you have three villians in the one film.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:27 am
I thought his presence in this film was to demonstrate that the criminal world in Gotham is being taken over by the “costumed freaks”.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Based on the above discussions and other chats i’ve had about the movie i want to change my story a little bit.
When i said that this wasn’t a comic book movie i was wrong. It is a glorious example of how a comic book movie should be done.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
^ That’s more like it!
July 20th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Welcome to the fold
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