teh Dark Knight
I saw the Dark Knight last night, finally. Holy StankFeet, it was Awesome.
I'll discuss it further under a cut, for those of you who haven't seen it yet and wish to remain spoiler-free (I won't give anything major away, but I know some folks are like myself & enjoy being 100% suprised.)
First off, Heath Ledger was amazing as the Joker. To be honest, when I had initially seen the pictures of how they were visually designing the character, I wasn't sold on it. I'm so used to seeing the Joker as this tall, thin, relatively fashionable (in his own weird way) guy from the comics & the cartoon show that when I saw pictures of what looked like a discheveled bum with runny make-up that I wasn't really digging it. Sure it looked cool as a bad-guy, but it didn't read as "The Joker" to me. Ledger made that HAPPEN though. He played the part so well that any doubts I had based on the look totally evaporated. I loved the subtle things he did with the character, how his eyes were always shifty and he'd be constantly licking & smacking his lips (old habit cuz of the cheek scars). It's a shame anytime someone dies, but it's even more of a shame with Ledger. After his amazing performance in this, he could have gone on to do some amazing work.
Harvey Dent/Two Face was also really good. I wish there'd been a little more showing Harvey's bad side earlier on, showing the drift to be more of a gradual slide as it was supposed to be than a sudden fall off a cliff. There's hardly any indication of anything sinister until he gets one of the Joker's guys in an alley. This isn't to say I had a major issue with this, just something I noticed that could have been a little better.
The way they did TwoFace though... holy crap, that was bruital. I cringed every time they showed the nasty side of his face, with his jawbone showing and his lidless eyeball all poking out. Ugh! Definately better than how they did Tommy Lee Jone's Two Face; that version fit that movie universe, but would have looked incredibly goofy in this one.
I also loved that they worked in the basis of "The Killing Joke" into this, just replacing Gordon with Two-Face. If anyone doesn't know The Killing Joke, it's often considered one of, if not THE, best Batman stories out there. It's basically The Joker out to prove that anyone, no matter how straight and moral, can be made into a psychopath; all it takes is a little push.
One last thing: Christian Bale plays Bruce Waine fantastically, but his Batman is ok. He's not bad, but honestly his 3-pack-a-day voice he does as Batman kinda ruins it. It's so hard to take him seriously like that. I GET that it's further disguising his identity, but I dunno... he coulda done a mroe realistic voice and not try to be Spawn.
One quick question (and this isn't a spoiler): Does Gordon have a son in any of the comics? I always assumed his daughter Barbara was his only kid. Anyone out there more knowledgeable with Batman-type things that can educate me on this? Thanks :D
I'll discuss it further under a cut, for those of you who haven't seen it yet and wish to remain spoiler-free (I won't give anything major away, but I know some folks are like myself & enjoy being 100% suprised.)
First off, Heath Ledger was amazing as the Joker. To be honest, when I had initially seen the pictures of how they were visually designing the character, I wasn't sold on it. I'm so used to seeing the Joker as this tall, thin, relatively fashionable (in his own weird way) guy from the comics & the cartoon show that when I saw pictures of what looked like a discheveled bum with runny make-up that I wasn't really digging it. Sure it looked cool as a bad-guy, but it didn't read as "The Joker" to me. Ledger made that HAPPEN though. He played the part so well that any doubts I had based on the look totally evaporated. I loved the subtle things he did with the character, how his eyes were always shifty and he'd be constantly licking & smacking his lips (old habit cuz of the cheek scars). It's a shame anytime someone dies, but it's even more of a shame with Ledger. After his amazing performance in this, he could have gone on to do some amazing work.
Harvey Dent/Two Face was also really good. I wish there'd been a little more showing Harvey's bad side earlier on, showing the drift to be more of a gradual slide as it was supposed to be than a sudden fall off a cliff. There's hardly any indication of anything sinister until he gets one of the Joker's guys in an alley. This isn't to say I had a major issue with this, just something I noticed that could have been a little better.
The way they did TwoFace though... holy crap, that was bruital. I cringed every time they showed the nasty side of his face, with his jawbone showing and his lidless eyeball all poking out. Ugh! Definately better than how they did Tommy Lee Jone's Two Face; that version fit that movie universe, but would have looked incredibly goofy in this one.
I also loved that they worked in the basis of "The Killing Joke" into this, just replacing Gordon with Two-Face. If anyone doesn't know The Killing Joke, it's often considered one of, if not THE, best Batman stories out there. It's basically The Joker out to prove that anyone, no matter how straight and moral, can be made into a psychopath; all it takes is a little push.
One last thing: Christian Bale plays Bruce Waine fantastically, but his Batman is ok. He's not bad, but honestly his 3-pack-a-day voice he does as Batman kinda ruins it. It's so hard to take him seriously like that. I GET that it's further disguising his identity, but I dunno... he coulda done a mroe realistic voice and not try to be Spawn.
One quick question (and this isn't a spoiler): Does Gordon have a son in any of the comics? I always assumed his daughter Barbara was his only kid. Anyone out there more knowledgeable with Batman-type things that can educate me on this? Thanks :D