(no subject)
I saw The Dark Knight again a few days ago, in IMAX this time. After this second viewing, it becomes increasingly evident how pedestrian the last 45 minutes of the film was. I'm going to try to address these issues, spoilers included, so if you have yet to see it (which is literally impossible considering its massive sales), avert your eyes to the next post.
The biggest problem with the film? It was too long. Or maybe too short. At any rate, it was certainly not the right length.
Had the film ended at the hour and 45 minute mark with the Joker sticking his head out of the cop car, and Batman standing in the rubble, it would have been a perfect, Empire Strikes Back-esque ending. Instead, the film goes from perfection to complete mediocrity. Harvey Dent's transformation into Two Face is rushed and difficult to believe. All the post-9/11 overtones toward the end felt heavy-handed and unnecessary. The entire concept of the cell-phone radar machine, ostensibly a comment on the Patriot Act, was easily the worst aspect of the film. Morgan Freeman goes on a diatribe about how he feels it's completely wrong and morally reprehensible; for him to then say, "Okay, I'm going to do it just this one time," caused me to nearly laugh out loud. Also, the scene in the building with all the sonar-vision tomfoolery was a complete mess. There was no sense of placement - it felt almost Michael Bayish - even my second time watching it, I had no idea what was occurring.
However, had it ended at that hour and 45 minute mark, there would have been no closure to The Joker, making a third film nearly impossible. Thus, I feel that the film could have used another 10 or 20 minutes to fully flesh out Harvey Dents transformation. Adding that, and fixing the aforementioned imperfections would have truly made this the Godfather 2 of comic book films.
Anyway, my prediction for the third film: In lieu of the Joker's arrest, an obsessed fan-girl played by Anna Paquin evolves into Harley Quinn to terrorize Gotham in his name~
The biggest problem with the film? It was too long. Or maybe too short. At any rate, it was certainly not the right length.
Had the film ended at the hour and 45 minute mark with the Joker sticking his head out of the cop car, and Batman standing in the rubble, it would have been a perfect, Empire Strikes Back-esque ending. Instead, the film goes from perfection to complete mediocrity. Harvey Dent's transformation into Two Face is rushed and difficult to believe. All the post-9/11 overtones toward the end felt heavy-handed and unnecessary. The entire concept of the cell-phone radar machine, ostensibly a comment on the Patriot Act, was easily the worst aspect of the film. Morgan Freeman goes on a diatribe about how he feels it's completely wrong and morally reprehensible; for him to then say, "Okay, I'm going to do it just this one time," caused me to nearly laugh out loud. Also, the scene in the building with all the sonar-vision tomfoolery was a complete mess. There was no sense of placement - it felt almost Michael Bayish - even my second time watching it, I had no idea what was occurring.
However, had it ended at that hour and 45 minute mark, there would have been no closure to The Joker, making a third film nearly impossible. Thus, I feel that the film could have used another 10 or 20 minutes to fully flesh out Harvey Dents transformation. Adding that, and fixing the aforementioned imperfections would have truly made this the Godfather 2 of comic book films.
Anyway, my prediction for the third film: In lieu of the Joker's arrest, an obsessed fan-girl played by Anna Paquin evolves into Harley Quinn to terrorize Gotham in his name~