this movie is the reason i kept my bale icon through various icon trims: the dark knight
So, The Dark Knight was pretty much everything I was expecting/hoping it would be.
That is, a damn well-crafted movie that is better than Batman Begins (haha, I just typo'ed "Barman Begins" - reboot of Tom Cruise's Cocktail, anybody?) and bleak and dark as fuck. And at the same, as overwhelming and powerful and incredible as it was as a movie experience, I would not want to rewatch it, probably ever. Maybe in 2018. Maybe.
Best comic book movie so far? Oh, easily. Best movie ever made? (Yeah, IMDB Top 250 I am looking at you!) Ha ha.
First things last.
1. Dear Guy Who Sat Behind Me in the Theater,
I friggin' hate you. You do not imitate Joker's lip smacking when I'm shitting my pants over Heath Ledger's creepy portrayal of this villain. You just don't do that.
So fuck you. I was so fucking scared during some scenes and then you with your fucking lip smacking and ohmygod I wanted to die or kill you like Batman sans his One Rule. FUCK YOU.
2. Dear Kid Discussing Batman With His Dad Before the Movie,
Thank you. It was a cute discussion, totally sweet, and in an odd way it made me even more emotional when Gordon's kid was threatened.
Then again, I'm also just very hormonal at the moment.
3. Dear Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Sure, you are not Katie Holmes. Thanks for that. And yet ... yawn. Sorry. :(
4. Dear Christians Bale & Nolan,
Plz to be never stopping making these movies.
PS. To the Bale: have kids. With me.
5. Okay, enough with the dumbass wannabe-witty letters. So yeah, the Joker creeped me the fuck out. Like, whoah seriously. Insane insanity. Am I stating the obvious? Sure, but I got out of the movie less than an hour ago so excuse me if I lack eloquence. You know what kind of bugs me? The fact that okay, certainly, the Joker had his creepyfunny moments, but this whole ..I don't know, idolization of the character with the catch phrases and everything, when you see the movie it's all the more creepier. Joker is not a leader. He is not a philosopher. He's a psychotic killer and every time the surrounding pop culture sort of glosses over the fact it just kind of gives me the creeps. Including the guy behind me smacking his lips. Do you realize what you're doing?
Y SO SRZ, I know, I know.. I just reeeeally hope The Dark Knight actually gets through to people as a movie, and doesn't end up one of those misunderstood overhyped movies like Fight Club, which gets quoted a lot and 90% of the time, people seemed to have completely missed what it was trying to say. Then again, you could also argue I just misunderstood the movie, but shit, I don't think I did.
6. Something I liked:
The fact that despite being a comic movie whose endings usually cater only to the sequel teasing, this felt like a full movie. It didn't just work up to making a sequel like I initially thought it might, it told the Joker story, wrapped up the Harvey Dent storyline as well, all in a neat package and called it a day (or a night - har har har).
7. Something I especially liked:
The whole evacuation boat explosion scenario and its conclusion. It was like this humanist message in a movie that was just so bleak and terrifying and dark and then they slip that in. It could've been cheesy as hell but in that moment, it just worked perfectly.
8. Something I hope doesn't happen:
Analysis of the movie, tying it into a context that is not related to it at all. I'm talking "TDK is an analogy to ____" blank being whatever, the Bush administration, consumerism, this or that or whatthefuckever. Because you know, the way I see it, it's just not. Comic movies rarely are. They're just trying to take the best (or in case of the worst, what the producers *think* would appeal to viewers) from the vastness that are comic storylines, and make good films out of those, ones that both people who know the comics and don't, will enjoy.
I mean, that's my take. Comic movies can be interesting and fantastic and even a tad psychological but they are not meant to say this or that about our world. At best, in my view, they can go for a general message, like the Dark Knight did (and wonderfully so).
9. Something that is of little relevance:
Some people might say Hollywood is going Bollywood in terms of running length, and my bladder would agree. However, I don't think it's very relevant because it didn't turn out that Bruce is actually Gordon's long-lost son (or that Maggie is Gordon's long-lost daughter, or that Harvey is Bruce's long-lost brother who grew up into a different faith, or .. you catch my drift).
But Bruce did totally want his suit more adapted to song-and-dance numbers in Batman 3: Gabbar Escapes Arkham (points to whoever got that joke - apologies for its lameness).
10. Something I just want to say:
How cool was Cillian Murphy's special appearance? One of the few laughs I had in this movie.
11. Something some people will probably kill me for saying:
I saw the trailer for Hellboy II before TDK and OMG. DO WANT. DO WANT NAO.
The thing is, as great as TDK and Batman Begins are as movies, there's something about them that doesn't make me want to call them my favourites. They're not ones I want to rewatch, either. And you know, it's not just the bleakness, I think. I can dig tragic movies. I have hard-to-watch favourites. But it was the same feeling with Batman Begins.. I walk out of the theater thinking, "Wow, excellent movie." but when I see it in the DVD section at a store six months later, I don't buy it, I don't even pick it up.
So I think I'll always prefer honest-to-god fun films like Iron Man to more ambititious projects such as the Batman reboot. Then again maybe there's something wrong with me.
(I need to rewatch Hellboy before September.)
12. Something I feel ought to be mentioned:
Christian Bale was not shirtless a lot in this movie.
Edit: I did not have that feeling of "THIS MAN IS DEAD" when watching Ledger's Joker but I did have a vaguely sad feeling when Joker had this line about continuing this dance with Batman and in a way it would be possible but I think with Heath died the Joker storyline in this series of movies. Which is Le Sad.
That is, a damn well-crafted movie that is better than Batman Begins (haha, I just typo'ed "Barman Begins" - reboot of Tom Cruise's Cocktail, anybody?) and bleak and dark as fuck. And at the same, as overwhelming and powerful and incredible as it was as a movie experience, I would not want to rewatch it, probably ever. Maybe in 2018. Maybe.
Best comic book movie so far? Oh, easily. Best movie ever made? (Yeah, IMDB Top 250 I am looking at you!) Ha ha.
First things last.
1. Dear Guy Who Sat Behind Me in the Theater,
I friggin' hate you. You do not imitate Joker's lip smacking when I'm shitting my pants over Heath Ledger's creepy portrayal of this villain. You just don't do that.
So fuck you. I was so fucking scared during some scenes and then you with your fucking lip smacking and ohmygod I wanted to die or kill you like Batman sans his One Rule. FUCK YOU.
2. Dear Kid Discussing Batman With His Dad Before the Movie,
Thank you. It was a cute discussion, totally sweet, and in an odd way it made me even more emotional when Gordon's kid was threatened.
Then again, I'm also just very hormonal at the moment.
3. Dear Maggie Gyllenhaal,
Sure, you are not Katie Holmes. Thanks for that. And yet ... yawn. Sorry. :(
4. Dear Christians Bale & Nolan,
Plz to be never stopping making these movies.
PS. To the Bale: have kids. With me.
5. Okay, enough with the dumbass wannabe-witty letters. So yeah, the Joker creeped me the fuck out. Like, whoah seriously. Insane insanity. Am I stating the obvious? Sure, but I got out of the movie less than an hour ago so excuse me if I lack eloquence. You know what kind of bugs me? The fact that okay, certainly, the Joker had his creepyfunny moments, but this whole ..I don't know, idolization of the character with the catch phrases and everything, when you see the movie it's all the more creepier. Joker is not a leader. He is not a philosopher. He's a psychotic killer and every time the surrounding pop culture sort of glosses over the fact it just kind of gives me the creeps. Including the guy behind me smacking his lips. Do you realize what you're doing?
Y SO SRZ, I know, I know.. I just reeeeally hope The Dark Knight actually gets through to people as a movie, and doesn't end up one of those misunderstood overhyped movies like Fight Club, which gets quoted a lot and 90% of the time, people seemed to have completely missed what it was trying to say. Then again, you could also argue I just misunderstood the movie, but shit, I don't think I did.
6. Something I liked:
The fact that despite being a comic movie whose endings usually cater only to the sequel teasing, this felt like a full movie. It didn't just work up to making a sequel like I initially thought it might, it told the Joker story, wrapped up the Harvey Dent storyline as well, all in a neat package and called it a day (or a night - har har har).
7. Something I especially liked:
The whole evacuation boat explosion scenario and its conclusion. It was like this humanist message in a movie that was just so bleak and terrifying and dark and then they slip that in. It could've been cheesy as hell but in that moment, it just worked perfectly.
8. Something I hope doesn't happen:
Analysis of the movie, tying it into a context that is not related to it at all. I'm talking "TDK is an analogy to ____" blank being whatever, the Bush administration, consumerism, this or that or whatthefuckever. Because you know, the way I see it, it's just not. Comic movies rarely are. They're just trying to take the best (or in case of the worst, what the producers *think* would appeal to viewers) from the vastness that are comic storylines, and make good films out of those, ones that both people who know the comics and don't, will enjoy.
I mean, that's my take. Comic movies can be interesting and fantastic and even a tad psychological but they are not meant to say this or that about our world. At best, in my view, they can go for a general message, like the Dark Knight did (and wonderfully so).
9. Something that is of little relevance:
Some people might say Hollywood is going Bollywood in terms of running length, and my bladder would agree. However, I don't think it's very relevant because it didn't turn out that Bruce is actually Gordon's long-lost son (or that Maggie is Gordon's long-lost daughter, or that Harvey is Bruce's long-lost brother who grew up into a different faith, or .. you catch my drift).
But Bruce did totally want his suit more adapted to song-and-dance numbers in Batman 3: Gabbar Escapes Arkham (points to whoever got that joke - apologies for its lameness).
10. Something I just want to say:
How cool was Cillian Murphy's special appearance? One of the few laughs I had in this movie.
11. Something some people will probably kill me for saying:
I saw the trailer for Hellboy II before TDK and OMG. DO WANT. DO WANT NAO.
The thing is, as great as TDK and Batman Begins are as movies, there's something about them that doesn't make me want to call them my favourites. They're not ones I want to rewatch, either. And you know, it's not just the bleakness, I think. I can dig tragic movies. I have hard-to-watch favourites. But it was the same feeling with Batman Begins.. I walk out of the theater thinking, "Wow, excellent movie." but when I see it in the DVD section at a store six months later, I don't buy it, I don't even pick it up.
So I think I'll always prefer honest-to-god fun films like Iron Man to more ambititious projects such as the Batman reboot. Then again maybe there's something wrong with me.
(I need to rewatch Hellboy before September.)
12. Something I feel ought to be mentioned:
Christian Bale was not shirtless a lot in this movie.
Edit: I did not have that feeling of "THIS MAN IS DEAD" when watching Ledger's Joker but I did have a vaguely sad feeling when Joker had this line about continuing this dance with Batman and in a way it would be possible but I think with Heath died the Joker storyline in this series of movies. Which is Le Sad.