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BlackChampagne -- no longer new; improvement also in question.: The Dark Knight



Monday, February 16, 2009  

The Dark Knight


Thanks to my discovery of a fairly inexpensive DVD outlet in the San Rafael area (as narrated via my Twitter stream) I finally got a copy of Batman 2, and sat down to view it that very evening. I watched it on my laptop while lying in bed, a movie viewing technique that has rapidly become my favorite, since I first embraced it in hotel rooms on my recent termite-tenting sojurn. I don't remember the last time I had my TV on; certainly before Xmas, since the DVDs I've watched since then have all been on my laptop, either while lying in bed or if at my desk, watching through the 24" flat screen I obtained during the same after Xmas sale period as the laptop.

I've been thinking about just getting rid of my TV, or at least moving it out of my living room, but I'm not sure where to put it, and I don't know what I'd put in its place. Besides the TV, which is old, not very large, and the bulky CRT type, I've got a DVD player, a VCR, a tuner, and a CD player, plus 3 speakers and yards of associated wiring. The CD player and VCR have sat inactive far longer than the DVD player, but they just add to the weight and annoyance of these technological tombstones. All of those are on a large, two-level TV-stand type table, for which I'd also have to find a relocation destination.

Which is why I'm trying to ignore them rather than going to the trouble to remove the whole heap of stuff. Much though I'd enjoy the clutter being gone from my small and otherwise over-cluttered living room, it's not worth the effort to move it all, when I don't really have anywhere to put it. Besides, Jinx perches atop the TV for at least an hour a day, and her life is stressful enough with the hyperactive hellion dildo little kitty I've inflicted upon her these last months. And yeah, I'll blog about the new cat at some point. Or so I keep telling myself.

Returning to the point of this post, the Batman... It's hard to judge a movie under such circumstances. I've heard about how great it is for months, there's all the Heath Ledger memorial Oscar discussion, it pulled in the second biggest box office in US history, etc. I had managed to avoid reading much about it or hearing anything too spoilery about the plot, and if you're in the situation I was a few days ago, you should stop reading now, since I'm going to discuss the movie as though we've all seen it.

I'd heard that the Joker devised all sorts of fiendish psychological challenges, forcing the heroes to choose who lived and who died. There is that element in the film, but I was expecting it to be more explicit, like the dilemmas presented to individuals in the Saw films. I was glad they didn't go too far in that direction, since the impossibly scheming criminal genius thing is kind of overplayed. That the film had that element in it, but didn't take it all the way to fruition, was a theme.

I'll post (or at least write, since I don't seem to get around to actually posting film/book reviews much anymore) a proper review at some point, but here's my short take on. The movie wasn't sure what it was, or perhaps it was sure and it's trying to redefine various genres. It wasn't ever a superhero/action film, since the action was always too weighty and serious to be joyous. It wasn't smart enough with enough plot twists to be a crime thriller with devious crime bosses matching wits with police. The Joker was wacky and enjoyable, but he wasn't insidious and twisted enough to be a genius in a psychological thriller, like Hannibal. Batman was determined and conflicted, but he wasn't so animated by vengeance that it was a revenge thriller (as the first Batman kinda was).

The movie seemed to be very jack of all trades, but in a good way. It wasn't a great movie in any particular genre, but it was a very good one in lots of them. The director's goal to make a was good/quality film, rather than a fun/action picture. I think he succeeded; I just don't know if he made the best choice. I'd be curious to learn how Ledger's death changed the editing process. Did they expand the Joker's role, and try to make it more about his motivations and actions, and de-emphasize the action and remove the fun and humor so as not to break the intense, serious mood? Did they think a more jolly, typical action movie wouldn't serve as Ledger's epitaph? Or was this the plan all along, and Ledger's death only helped to focus the viewer's attention on his anti-hero role?

I did enjoy the movie, I'm just not sure how much. And if I think it could have been better if it had focused more on on or two genres, instead of venturing into so many. I definitely think the PG-13 rating hindered it. The lack of blood and gore definitely held back their presentation of the Joker's madness, and lowered the overall seriousness of the film. The Joker was scary and compelling as it was, but if they could have shown him just drenched in blood a few times, or shown him actually cutting someone, and giggling as he murdered, that would really have turned up the psychological level.

Hannibal is erudite and brilliant, but every film has him committing horrendous acts of violence, on screen, at least once or twice. He doesn't just delegating them, or dance up to them and leave the rest to the viewer's imagination. Knowing that he won't just hold a knife to someone's face, as the Joker does several times, but that he'll use it, and take pleasure in the mutilation, and that you'll see it happen, adds a lot of weight and menace to his character. The Joker could have been 100% more violent and 50% crazier and that would have improved the film, for me. Blowing up empty hospitals and burning money and killing a few of his henchmen in amusing fashion didn't convince me of his ruthlessness. He could have arbitrarily blown away a few of the rich people at the fund raiser, or just tortured someone for fun, or slaughtered indiscriminately. Why is he tying up and gagging captured policemen? Abbatoir time, Joker. You've got your reputation to think about.

Anyway, I'll think it over and watch it again and then write a review. As always, feedback/disagreement is welcomed.

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Comments:

I think Dark Knight is completely overrated and rubbish. I saw it at the theatre and left thinking 'what, is that it?'

It seems like everyone hyped it up because of ledger's death. IMO the movie would have been much improved if they didn't have all the two-face rubbish in it - it really distracted and dragged it down, especially with his ridiculous half-burnt face (which looked extremely fake).


 

I had about the same reaction. I really got excited about Joker from the previews, but was extremely disappointed when I discovered that they had already shown most of the cooler parts in the trailer(I hate when movies do that...).

The whole movie, I was waiting for Joker to do something really violent and twisted, but those moments never came(I downloaded it, so I didn't realize it wasn't rated R). When the movie finished, I didn't really know what to think. I absolutely loved parts of it, but as a whole... I dunno. To me, it just seemed like it tried to be too many things, and lacked focus.

And I won't lie, all the hype about how sick and demented the joker was didn't help. Hell, now that I think about it, symbiote-Spiderman from Spiderman 3 was almost as sadistic as Joker.

That does remind me though... I haven't seen Batman Begins yet. What did you think of it? Is it worth watching?


 

Er... nevermind my last question, I just realized you had a review of Begins up.


 

Yeah, I should have linked to my Batman 1 review, and would have if I were still a real blogger. I just read it to refresh my memory, and it's funny that i said it would have been much improved by an R rating, when that was one of my major reactions to this one. If you're going to have amoral thugs and vicious behavior and bad guys in a movie, it's probably a good idea to make the film with an adult rating, so you can actually do more than hint at those elements? Box office considerations always weigh in, unfortunately, and 13 y/os can't (so easily) go see an R-rated movie 10x during the boring summer.

Batman 1 is a more fun movie, and definitely a better action movie. It's much more compact and cohesive and concentrated on bruce wayne's evolution into Batman, and his learning experience as Batman and his quest to save the crumbling, fallen Gotham city.

Batman 2 is, as I said in this quickie, not trying to be an action movie. It's a morality play, it's a crime thriller, it's a psychological drama, etc. And it's not perfect at any of those things, but it does them all pretty well. Does the total exceed the sum of the parts? I'm not sure yet; my first viewing was so influenced by the hype and expectations I had going in that my evaluation is very suspect and subjective.


 

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