OK I'm totally gonna get lambasted for this one.
I wanted to like The Dark Knight. Wait, that's not true-I wanted to love the The Dark Knight. I wanted it to wash over me like a hungry lover and leave me ravished in the wake of its awesomeness, and I'm not removing the metaphor, because like I said, I really wanted to love this film.
So today was the hubby's birthday, and that marks a significant event-one month until mine. I had a great day planned for him that was going to be a surprise, but OOPS, "someone" left the computer open to the websites that showed orders for both a massage and tickets to The Dark Knight. The element of surprise gone, at least we could talk about when he should come home from work.
Soooooooooooooooooo on to the topic of this post: I didn't like it.
That was to pause for the shock and horror most of you feel right now. I have to say that I agree with my mom on this one-it was too disturbing and violent for me to enjoy. Was the disturbance and violence well-done and believable? Oh yes. So much in fact, that it prevented me from enjoying anything else. I left the theater with a disturbed feeling in addition to a headache that must be from all the adrenaline that finally settled down.
The thing is, I felt like they spent so much time on the disturbing and violent elements that anything else was uber-short, possibly boring, and/or just poorly written. Anytime a civilian spoke you thought "no wonder Gotham's in such trouble-everyone here is an idiot who speaks bad dialogue!" It actually made you excited for the next explosion/chase scene so you wouldn't have to listen to them anymore.
Of course Ledger was amazing, but it made me all the more disturbed knowing that this was his last complete performance. As an actor, as much as you know it's not real, you still carry the spirit of what you're doing with you. Not that I think that means actors should only play happy roles, but it's just unfortunate that Ledger ended on this one.
Anyway, though I didn't like this movie, I certainly didn't hate it. The actors are amazing and the eighty-three fight/chase scenes are adrenaline-inducing. I think it was a tad long and plot-squished at the end, but Christian Bale is quite delicious on-screen and Aaron Eckhart and I had the same acting teacher at BYU. Go Cougars!
6 comments:
I really, really enjoyed this movie, but I didn't absolutely LOVE it. I have to say, I think I liked the first one better. But Heath was unrecognizable, and it did make me a bit sad.
However, it had Christian Bale in it, so I would suffer through anything. :)
I have not seen this movie, nor do I really plan to, but the overarching value of this movie compared to other garbage that comes out of hollywood is this:
The movie depicts a good man going against the tide of opposition, doing the right thing when everyone denigrates him and his efforts, defying the nay-sayers. Granted Batman is not an "ordinary man" in the classical sense, but I see some comparison to that Man of LaMancha who also marched into Hell for a Heavenly cause.
The Dark Knight: A paean of praise to the moral fortitude and courage showed by good men everywhere who stand for that which is good and brave and true, despite being vilified by those Jobish neighbors who call themselves our friends while conspiring against us.
We just saw this film last night and I have to agree with you, Lobbie. Not only did the dialogue leave something to be desired, but it was just too disturbing. True, I'm not big on disturbing films and this fit mold. I agree that Heath Ledger did an excellent job... perhaps too excellent in some cases during the movie.
Lobbie, did you like "Batman Begins"? I realized that I really liked it better. Heath Ledger was the best Batman villan ever, but I liked the storyline much better in the first one. The Scarecrow scared the hell out of me.
Thanks for answering my question! And I love my name on your blogroll. It's all too true.
One new reader of mine added me to hers, but put a warning next to it that says, "May contain disturbing images." I love having a warning.
Mr. Funny-
I agree that's what the film was trying to say, but I feel like it fell into the trap Gladiator did-namely, it had a significant message, but the violence/spectacle side overshadowed it so that's all you really remember. However, as I told my friend Joel, it may be that because I am more sensitive to violence on film, that I was too disturbed to feel anything else as strongly as my disturbedness.
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