Why so serious?
So went to see The Dark Knight over the weekend.
I liked it. Batman is back bigger, better and more deranged than ever before. Christian Bale is, as ever, fairly easy on the eye and Gary Oldman deserves a special mention for managing to steal the scene every time he was on camera (yep - mysterious driverwise I fell for it, I was guessing he was Batman. Have I ever mentioned I'd be a terrible detective?). I still love Bruce Wayne’s bumbling playboy millionaire persona (I found the whole “You don't watch the news very much do you?” exchange especially funny), the supporting characters were as good as ever (Lucius Fox is still a hero, best blackmailing scam blown out of the water winner 2008, right there) and there were some amazing set pieces. Loads of people didn’t like the ship dilemma, but I quite liked it - it was predictable but still managed to generate a lot of tension (although I really could have lived without telephone bat-sonar. @#*& bat-sonar? Sigh…). Aaron Eckhart was great but oddly I was ambivalent towards Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel, I mean she was ok but a bit meh with it. I don’t think it was actually her fault, more that the character didn’t really have that much to do. She flounces around a court in a suit, then flounces around a restaurant in a dress, then flounces around a party etcetera. However, I suppose the Joker’s the character everyone’s most interested in and I have to admit I wasn’t sure if I’d like this incarnation, but there was no need to worry - from the pencil trick onwards I though this Joker was fantastic, probably the closest to the comic book villain and genuinely scary in places. Heath Ledger’s performance was electric and I think the accolades the critics have given him for this role are well-deserved.
What got right on my nerves after about 30 seconds was Batman’s and Gotham’s newest villain (actually is who Gotham’s newest villain is even a spoiler anymore?) playing a good old fashioned game of ‘who needs the throat lozenge more’. What was with the voice? I get that dangerous, edgy, dark Batman is very different from lovable, bouncy, airheaded Bruce Wayne, but really does the outfit not make the distinction enough? There’s an advert on TV at the moment for another film which features a couple of teenage girls trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to flirt with a boy who works in a shop. Girl 1 tells her friend to speak in a low tone as boys find that sexy. So they troop up to the lad and introduce themselves - its all going splendidly until he somewhat ruins the mood by asking the friend if she needs something for a sore throat. Every time Batman painfully rasped something in that voice I flashed immediately to that scene!
And hey, the Scarecrow even made a cameo and the 30 seconds he was on screen were still better than the bloated, self-indulgent muddle of Batman Begins. Still annoyed by BB? Why yes, yes I am, but at least The Dark Knight goes some way towards making up for it.
Scary, psychotic, flashes of genius - and the Joker wasn’t bad either (ho ho!) - a tad overlong in places, but a rip-roaring ride that I greatly enjoyed.
I liked it. Batman is back bigger, better and more deranged than ever before. Christian Bale is, as ever, fairly easy on the eye and Gary Oldman deserves a special mention for managing to steal the scene every time he was on camera (yep - mysterious driverwise I fell for it, I was guessing he was Batman. Have I ever mentioned I'd be a terrible detective?). I still love Bruce Wayne’s bumbling playboy millionaire persona (I found the whole “You don't watch the news very much do you?” exchange especially funny), the supporting characters were as good as ever (Lucius Fox is still a hero, best blackmailing scam blown out of the water winner 2008, right there) and there were some amazing set pieces. Loads of people didn’t like the ship dilemma, but I quite liked it - it was predictable but still managed to generate a lot of tension (although I really could have lived without telephone bat-sonar. @#*& bat-sonar? Sigh…). Aaron Eckhart was great but oddly I was ambivalent towards Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel, I mean she was ok but a bit meh with it. I don’t think it was actually her fault, more that the character didn’t really have that much to do. She flounces around a court in a suit, then flounces around a restaurant in a dress, then flounces around a party etcetera. However, I suppose the Joker’s the character everyone’s most interested in and I have to admit I wasn’t sure if I’d like this incarnation, but there was no need to worry - from the pencil trick onwards I though this Joker was fantastic, probably the closest to the comic book villain and genuinely scary in places. Heath Ledger’s performance was electric and I think the accolades the critics have given him for this role are well-deserved.
What got right on my nerves after about 30 seconds was Batman’s and Gotham’s newest villain (actually is who Gotham’s newest villain is even a spoiler anymore?) playing a good old fashioned game of ‘who needs the throat lozenge more’. What was with the voice? I get that dangerous, edgy, dark Batman is very different from lovable, bouncy, airheaded Bruce Wayne, but really does the outfit not make the distinction enough? There’s an advert on TV at the moment for another film which features a couple of teenage girls trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to flirt with a boy who works in a shop. Girl 1 tells her friend to speak in a low tone as boys find that sexy. So they troop up to the lad and introduce themselves - its all going splendidly until he somewhat ruins the mood by asking the friend if she needs something for a sore throat. Every time Batman painfully rasped something in that voice I flashed immediately to that scene!
And hey, the Scarecrow even made a cameo and the 30 seconds he was on screen were still better than the bloated, self-indulgent muddle of Batman Begins. Still annoyed by BB? Why yes, yes I am, but at least The Dark Knight goes some way towards making up for it.
Scary, psychotic, flashes of genius - and the Joker wasn’t bad either (ho ho!) - a tad overlong in places, but a rip-roaring ride that I greatly enjoyed.