Steaming up the street

[elspeth_vimes]

So I just saw The Dark Knight. Truly amazing piece of work. Some astounding acting, flawless visual effects, excellent screenplay, a few very nice sound touches... Worth paying twice the ticket price for. Hell, worth three times the price

Comments

[captainlilith]

Well that's... very well thought out and intelligent. You're not an English major, are you?

:D

But seriously, despite the fact that I've never read Heart of Darkness, I see the connection. And I wouldn't be surprised if that was exactly what the screenwriters were going for.

[elspeth_vimes]

Actually not! International Studies. Possibly minoring in Folklore.
But thank you!

With Nolan it really is possible. The really ironic thing is that in a deeply important way, it's truer to Heart of Darkness than the movie that is really just a modernized version of the novella, Apocalypse Now.

[captainlilith]

We need more screenwriters in Hollywood who can make connections to classic literature, even if it does go mostly unnoticed.

Even if I were familiar with the book, though, I doubt I would have noticed. I was too busy going "HOLY CRAP THIS IS AMAZING."

Kind of like when I watched Transformers. I think everyone who was sitting near me can attest to the fact that I was spending the whole moving going, "GIANT ROBOTS. 8D"

[elspeth_vimes]

Amen, sister.

XD Seriously, the only reason I thought of it was because my reaction to bleak philosophy is to remind myself that Heart of Darkness was bleaker. It's also possibly the best piece of work in the English language. >.>

...But weren't they doing that too?

[karakael]

*jaw drop* You are right!

I hadn't thought of it that way at all, but you have a very good point. Though I had more problems with the movie than you had, some of them might stem from the fact that it did have such a grim world view.

[elspeth_vimes]

Well, I also admit it ran a bit long. And needed more Alfred.

But still. Brilliant.

[karakael]

I saw it in a drive in movie theater, so maybe some of the things you saw I didn't. ^.^;

I guess one of my problems is that I've read to many of the modern batman comics, and not enough of the miller stuff.

[elspeth_vimes]

I have to admit, I think drive-ins are not actually made for people who want to watch the film properly.

Alright, I admit I know zilch about the actual comic, but I did just see this with Lea, whose knowledge of it is like mine of The Far Side. And she calls it the most accurate comic book movie yet made. According to her, this definitely goes back beyond the Miller stuff. For example, you notice how the Joker gives conflicting reports of his origins? That's because when he first turned up in the comic, he wasn't given any origins. He was a total wild card. Two origin stories were later developed, and they both came along five or more years after he appeared.