The Dark Knight

[elemess]

Saw The Dark Knight. It isn't Dark. It's Bleak. And Brutal. And probably a half hour too long.

It sure as hell ain't Iron Man. In fact, it's not like any "superhero" or "comic book" movie I've ever seen. It's more like Dirty Harry meets Seven but with cooler toys and better dialogue coaches

Comments

[anonymous]

I agreed. That was one unrelenting movie.

Make this pencil disappear

[pacotelic]

Oh yeah. It was a haunting movie. I feel even worse than I did after there will be blood. While I thought "Cook Thief Wife Lover" was just being gratuitously unpleasant, this one never failed to be plausible in its horrors.

Re: Make this pencil disappear

[elemess]

That's the catch - every terrible thing came from somewhere or otherwise served a purpose. Nothing gratuitous about the violence or emotional brutality. And hardly a drop of blood anywhere, which is unheard of -- even the few onscreen deaths were relatively clean.

[muse0fire]

I thought it was fantastic, but I disagree on it being bleak instead of dark, for one reason: the scene with the convict on the boat with the detonator. In my mind, that scene redeemed humanity for the whole movie.

And holy crap - I know what you mean about seeing The Joker in your sleep... I keep thinking back to small moments of his. Truly, Heath Ledger immersed himself in creating a terrifying and remarkable character.

[elemess]

The ferries were the only* bright spot, really. Even though The Joker is captured at the end, I feel like he won the war. Harvey Dent became Two Face. The Girlfriend got 'sploded. And Batman becomes a cop-killer fugitive. There's no joy in Mudville.

Heath Ledger was unrecognizable in this movie, and not just because of the makeup. A phenomenal performance. He'll get an Oscar nomination, if not the win.

* And maybe when Batman's sonar cell phone Patriot Act contraption gets fried.

[muse0fire]

Even though The Joker is captured at the end, I feel like he won the war.

Except he didn't win because although yes, he achieved many of his nefarious goals (wow, I was NOT expecting the 'sploding GF) he did NOT succeed in turning the people of Gotham against each other, on the ferries. The fact that amidst all of the fear and the chaos that he created, neither boat blew the other up, means that his main goal failed. Yeah, he killed some people and destroyed Dent's "White Knight" - but he only managed to create personal chaos, not mass chaos.

And maybe when Batman's sonar cell phone Patriot Act contraption gets fried

You think Rumsfeld and Rove watched that scene and went, "Damn - why didn't we think of that??"

[elemess]

He did, however, turn them against their hero and wreak all kinds of havoc. He killed off half the police force, including the commissioner, and tainted most of the rest, including the some of the most trustworthy. As an added bonus, he killed off the DA and the ADA. I think mass chaos is in the cards -- there's a power vacuum in Gotham at every level. The question is who fills them.

You think Rumsfeld and Rove watched that scene and went, "Damn - why didn't we think of that??"

Who says they didn't?