July 19, 2008

• The Dark Knight was...

  ...alright. 

  SPOILERS PRESENT

  I enjoyed Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk a whole lot better, though, especially Iron Man.  I so love Tony Stark.  He's a player, yeah, but wow is he ever funny.  You can spear me and gut me if you want for not praising the movie that seemingly the whole country is praising, but it's true.  I just don't get into these modern Batman movies as much as everyone else does. Fixation on the Batmans of old, perhaps?  Bleh, but after Batman Returns, they got a little weird, so that can't be it.  I know they weren't great movies, but I remember them so well.  I grew up with them.  My sisters and I friggin' kissed the screen when Michael Keaton's face was on it.  Gah, I so wish I knew why these movies don't work for me.  I so want them to work! Everyone else out there is lovin' on them but me, I'm like, "Yeah. Shrug."  I just miss that "playfulness" about the older Batman's.  These ones are just way too serious for me.  But hey, at least I don't think it sucked.  It didn't suck.  Not at all. Still...I don't see what the big fuss is all about, if I can be perfectly honest.  Sure it was good.  Sure it was entertaining.  At least, some of it was. 

  Honestly, though, for like the first half of the movie I was incredibly bored.  I was thinking, "Gawd, can't I get at least ONE intense scene here? I might as well be yawning here."   Too much mumbo jumbo and confusing jargon that just lost my attention.  But that proves another point:  my mind is not programmed to accept a serious Batman movie.  It didn't for Batman Begins (which I actually wasn't fond of at all), and it hardly did for The Dark Knight.  It's already programmed to want the less dramatic ones.  So eh, I don't really blame the movie at all.  I blame myself and my purposeful rejection of a Batman who's not fun to watch.  I suppose that's because of my seemingly deeply rooted, still-existent lack of interest in an overly serious Batman movie.  It's my understanding that these movies are so wonderfully praised because of their close similarity to comics, dark and brooding.  If I were a fan of the comics, I sense I'd be lovin' on this movie right alongside all the other geeks out there, and I mean "geeks" in a good way.  I so wish I can be just as excited about a comic book movie gone right as everyone else out there! I like that it went right, but how would I know what's right anyway?

  So I don't think my opinion on the movie should really count in anyone's eyes.  I only know of the Batman presented to me in the movies of old, and that's the only Batman I cared to know.  I liked him.  I liked the Batmobile and the batcave and all his bat vehicles.  I liked all the bats being around him like they were his pets.  I still don't think this movie sucked at all, though.  I found it good, better than the first.  Honestly, the only reason I even wanted to see this one was to see Heath's Joker.  None of the previews and trailers--seriously, not ONE--garnered much of my interest.  I was like, "Oh, okay, the next Batman. Go Heath. You're a dirty-looking Joker, but hey, love ya anyway. Yawn."  There was nothing too impressive action-wise in the trailers, nothing that made me think, "Wow I MUST see this."  Unfortunately, that also became the only aspect I truly enjoyed on the screen.  Any time Heath was on there, I was just fixated on him and his performance, trying to comprehend why this role was something he was so focused on getting right that he sacrificed much of his own personal way of thinking to get into character.  But when he wasn't there, I was like, "Blah. Booooring."  I hated that, but loved it at the same time.

  I suppose I just have a grudge against The Dark Knight after Heath died.  Heath's Joker was freakishly real, probably the best depiction of Joker, as people out there keep claiming.  Not that I don't believe them, but for me, it's a fairly new thing to think of Joker as sadistic, but hey...I didn't read comics, so if that's the way he's supposed to be, then great.  He certainly pulled it off well.  Like overly well.  What a fantastic actor.  What a crazy Joker.  While I was yearning to see if his talent paid off, it still kinda ticks me off all the more.  At the creators.  At this movie. At the comics. At the obsessive fans.  Heath's obsession with bringing to life such a psychotic character like this certainly showed on screen, but I hate wondering if that obsession warped his mind into bad judgments that would thus lead to his death.  Yes, I have a grudge against this movie because of it. Frankly, I don't think this wonderfully psychotic joker that every fanboy wanted was worth the death of such a versatile actor that could have had friggin' Johnny Depp getting a run for his money.  If only they chose someone else for such a role.  Someone else who wouldn't have put so much of themselves physically and mentally into it.  Seriously, are you happy now?  You've got your wonderfully psychotic Joker in his fullest, brought to life all prim and proper.  But look at the price that was paid. 

  So you see, as much I can like this movie or can friggin' LOVE Heath's involvement in it, I hate the fact that it was so overly serious.  What if the Joker was a little less disturbingly devilish and a little more...a jokester? How would Heath have worked the role then?  Would he have focused on being so cold, uncaring, and evil?  Blah.  Everyone wanted it, and now they got it.  An evil Joker who just happens to be the Joker everyone wanted.  He was great.  He really was.  What a freaking psycho that you just can't help but love because of it.  But I would have rather had an average Joker than a sadistic one if it meant we'd spare any emotional troubles of the brilliant man who'd bring him to life.  Blah.  But that's what everyone's talking about is Joker and how Heath's portrayal will forever go unmatched.  I for one happen to love Aaron Eckhart's Two-Face just the same as Joker.  He too was friggin' awesome, more scary than Joker because you don't know what the hell he's gonna do when he leaves everything to chance.  The Joker is clever in his schemes, but you somehow always know in which direction he'll lean.  Two-Face, on the other hand, can go either way.  Will he show mercy?  Will he not?  And that freaking face of his, WOW.  What excellent...EXCELLENT visuals there.  I absolutely loved how he looked, and was surprised his role was more than just a couple of minutes.  I hope to goodness he'll return so I can have a new reason to watch the next movie.

  At any rate, I know this isn't really a review of the movie.  As always, I think I'll need to see it again to get a more informative take on it.  The plot was interesting when it was understandable, but so much of it dragged and got choppy that my interest kept fading in and out.  The action was droll and uninteresting to me.  I got too much of a "been there, done that" vibe from some of the scenes.  The flipping semi scene was blah and fake looking. I thought for sure it'd be cleaned up since the trailer.  Either way, I found the truck flipping scene in Terminator 3 to be far, FAR more cool than this one.  At least that one seemed plausible.  But this one was like...okay what...suddenly a trailer can defy gravity?  If anything, the truck itself should have flipped, and the trailer should have plummeted into it accordion style.  Even if it was possible for the truck's bed to flip over perfectly into the air, it wouldn't have been that clean looking.  There was no weight to it.  It looked like a paper truck or something.  Yah, it's nitpickiness, but still.  Just didn't look right to me.  My friend all commented how "tight" it was that Batman did this weird flip thing to turn himself around after the trailer got flipped, but I thought it was too cartoonish.   *shrug* Oh well.  I'll give it 2 stars out of 4 as a regular movie.  But Heath's Joker and Aaron's Two-Face being present in this movie can give it one more star to make it 3 out of 4. 

  Bale is awesome as Bruce Wayne, but as Batman, far too clunky.  He looked strange in costume, too stoic.  And I cannot STAND the growly voice he makes when he's in costume. I get why he does it, I really do, but it just seemed too forced.  Too purposeful.  Too obvious that he's disguising his voice like he's trying too hard.  And it was just flat-out annoying after awhile. I got tired of him talking when he was Batman.  Still, as I said, Bruce Wayne was funner.  And sexier.  I loved that Katie Holmes was nowhere to be found (yay!!) and thought Maggie's portrayal was much more convincing.  Seriously, if Katie stuck around, how would that have worked?  She was way too young to begin with.  Could you have imagined her dating Aaron's Harvey Dent?  Or even in the interrogation room trying to be tough?  No.  Not to mention the fact that she too is very annoying to watch.  Nothing against Katie, though.  She's a pretty girl (I guess), but her voice is grating and that sideways smile is like...*groaaaaaan* The only role I liked her in was "Disturbing Behavior," but I sense that's because she was so much different than her Dawson's Creek character.  Seriously.  Anywhere I see her it's like I'm watching the girl from Dawson's Creek, just stuck in the middle of another world.  She's always the same.  I wasn't really interested in this movie, but once I found out Maggie was there instead I was much more accepting. Too bad they killed her off, though.  But I guess that means a new female lead will come into play, and yay for it probably being Catwoman. Though dammit, that means someone will have to top Michelle Pfeiffer who'll be TOUGH to top. Grrr. Still, at least I'll have reason to see the next one again.

  Oyyy, anyway....I'm rambling now.  The Dark Knight.  Worthy of a theatrical view, but nothing too fantastic for lindy.  My attention span just isn't there for this franchise.  *sigh*  I need more than just seriously dark drama.  Some movies I prefer the drama, and some movies I don't.  This one is definitely one where I don't.  Which sucks because apparently, Batman is SUPPOSED to be dark and serious, right?  Bleh.  Perhaps my mindset will change the more I see these movies.  Oh, but on the major plus side, the music was wonderfully spiffy.  That doesn't surprise me, though, since it's composed by two of my favorite composers: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard.  Yay for movie scores!  So this one may just be the next movie on my score collection. 

  Anyway...I'm sleepy. 

  Ta-ta. 

  • 4:53 am
  • 4 Comments