2008 summer blockbusterRating: 13/20
Plot: The Joker, tired of stealing from mob banks, unleashes madness on Gothem City. Batman, the cop, and the district attorney try to stop him.
Just when I thought this one was over, it went on for another (nearly incoherent) 40 minutes, keeping me up way later than my normal bedtime of midnight and making me grouchy this morning. As with most comic book movies, I didn't understand a lot of what was even going on, and Dylan wasn't around to explain it to me. Harvey Dent's transformation near the end befuddled me. But probably not as much as Batman's voice befuddled me. There was way too much movie here--Nolan was trying to fill half a paper cup with forty-three thousand pounds of grape jelly, the sweet kind that you can get at the 99 cent store, the kind that makes you feel really guilty for no good reason. That's why, after a little less than five and a half hours of sleep, I woke up with a mysterious purple stain on the front of my pajama bottoms. And I'm still going to contend that the action sequences in these two Batman movies don't make a lot of sense. Pass the popcorn, biatch!
I rarely feel guilt over any kind of jelly, and are you sure your stain was purple?
ReplyDeleteWhen this came out the reviews I was hearing made it sound like the greatest movie ever made. I promptly shelled out my eight bucks and was pissed. First I was mad at the stupid theatre employee with one of those orange wands who was standing for 30 seconds in front of the screen. She was distracting me from trying to figure out who Maggie Gyllenhaal was supposed to be. Then the wand woman went to my side and stood for another 30. Then when she walked by, I told her to let the manager know I would like to chat in about two hours. Then I figured out that Maggie Gyllenhaal was actually Katie Holmes who had been tragically disfigured by botched plastic surgery or a villian with a nasty sense of humor. Lots of action scenes later the Joker was hanging upside down and the movie seemed about over. Then, as you say in your review, it just wouldn't stop. It was a decent movie, but I would have given it about a 14. I then chatted with the theatre manager, advising her that their wand policy was stupid and Gyllenhaal was too ugly to play the female lead in a major action franchise.
Later the DVD came out, and I decided to give it another shot and would try to figure out where Nolan went wrong. I was no longer shocked by Maggie's presence (and she won't be a problem in future movies). In fact, one of the most unintentionally hilarious lines ever is when the Joker says to her "and you are beautiful". They don't call him the Joker for nothin'. I also realized that stopping the movie after the Joker is hanging added several points. I now believe "The Dark Knight" is a flawed masterpiece. Ledger is electric and mesmerizing. I believe his is one of the greatest acting performances in movie history... really. The action sequences hold nothing back and are great. This film is not afraid to go really dark (no pun intended), but also has great dark humor. The soundtrack is terrific and the supporting characters are very good. The last two scenes are by far the weakest, and so I will have to penalize the film, but I would now give it a 17. I'd be curious to see if you liked it more after a future second viewing.
Ya know, I almost gave this a 14 but figured my experience would be the exact opposite of yours, that I would like it less after seeing it again. But I did like it a tiny bit more than the first one, mostly, I think, because the bad guy was more engaging. A lot more. You're partially right--Ledger's performance is very very good. I'm not sure I'd throw a "one of the greatest performances in movie history" tag out there, but he brought a lot of, well, character to his character. I don't like the action sequences though, and they seem like the sort of visuals that would make me dizzy in a theater.
ReplyDeleteWho knows when I'll see this again. I doubt I'll be in much of a hurry. Maybe I'll watch 1 and 2 back-to-back when the 3rd one comes out on dvd.
By the way, if the Joker is in future movies (he's not dead, so I assume he would be), Tom Waits should play him. He's the guy who played the bug-eater in the Keanu Reeves version of 'Dracula'...he's got the perfect gravelly voice and has been great in small roles (Mystery Men, that Wristcutters movie) and I think the make-up would hide the fact that he's a lot older than Ledger was. The dude's a performer. Hand me a petition, and I'll sign it.
That, or Crispin Glover. The character would change drastically though.
13? 14? 17? i have no freaking clue what is going on in this movie. too many characters. plot is all over the place. we've watched an hour and we still don't really have lift-off on the story arc. The batman's voice is "unintentionally" funny and the dead guy is just that a dead guy, heath ledger CAN'T act. a 13, the lowest score i have seen, isn't a masterpiece, but something i would watch again. I'm having trouble making it through this once.
ReplyDelete"the happening", that we agreed was a 3, at least didn't bore me into submission. This at the rate it's going is a 1. other movies i have given 1s to at least weren't filmed with this large of a budget. at least they weren't hailed as being great movies. at least they didn't win undeserved pity academy awards. at least they weren't 2 1/2 hours long.
shane your score doesn't match your lackluster review.
i don't think i've made it through any of these batman movies. give me adam west and burt ward. crispin glover would make a great robin as well.
heath leger wore on me the more i watched the film. one of the greatest performances ever? : ) no. not in a million years. academy award good? no. not even academy award good(though those awards mean nothing) however it was the best acting in a poor movie.
ReplyDeletechristian bale played batman as american psycho 10 years later. it's all he knows.
the movie made little sense and the first hour was soooo boring. 8.
Them's fightin' words, Anonymous! I'm not the guy who cares enough to fight about 'The Dark Knight' though.
ReplyDeleteI can't stand Christian Bale. That's well documented here at shane-movies. I did like Ledger in this. Think about all of those other comic book movies we've seen. Think specifically about the bad guys in them. Are any even close as engaging or interesting as this Joker?
I agree with both you and Cory. On the one hand, I think a lot of this movie is unnecessarily confusing and I couldn't figure out why the last twenty minutes even existed. And the action sequences, as I noted above, I really hated. But on the other hand, I do like how the movie "is not afraid to go really dark but also has great dark humor." And as much as I hate to say it (just cause it seems like what EVERYBODY was saying), Ledger sort of carries this one on his shoulders. I think he's such a perfect villain.
I think you gave 'Hellboy' a higher rating than this...that can't be right.
I'd like to see a version of Batman where Crispin Glover plays all the parts.