Why So Serious?
not-URGA MOTW
The Dark Knight
Most of my URGA friends were not available this week, so I went to see The Dark Knight with my brother in law at Marion.
Man, assigned seating sucks. I haven't been to Marion since they introduced it, but it proved to have been a bonus that we booked in advance and got okay seats - the session was very full! City cinemas tend to be quite empty, even on Tuesdays...
Anyway, down to the movie. Due to the wonderful hype for this movie, I had high expectations. Did it meet them? Well, yes, but not always in the way I'd planned.
The plot is long and complicated, but it still sticks together fairly well. Due to the sheer number of characters, a lot of them get sidelined a bit with only minor roles (Alfred, Lucius Fox) but the main characters do still get the limelight they deserve.
Everyone's been saying how brilliant Heath Ledger is as the Joker, and yes, sure, he's good, but I think the hype and Heath's unfortunate death have overshadowed the actual role. The Joker is NOT a funny man in this film, he is a dangerous psychopath and doesn't actually do all that much maniacal laughing as you would expect. Still, it's a very good performance and role, and shows just how badass and dangerous this character can be.
But the real winner, in my opinion, is Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. This man shows his strength of conviction, and a complete breakdown when he later becomes Two Face. The Two Face makeup is exceptional and looks great (and horrifying!) and I love his decision making process. When Harvey Dent is DA, he has a two-headed "lucky" trick coin that he uses to say he's "taking chances" when his answer is definitely planned in advance. After he loses half his face, and the coin becomes burnt on one side, he uses it (after some influence from the Joker) to truly let chance take control of his decisions - whether his victims should live or die. The two-headed trick coin becomes a two-faced normal 50-50 chance coin...
In all this, the focus on Dent and the Joker puts Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) himself a little in the background. But that's OK because we explored his character depth a lot in the first film, so I can accept the few scenes of Bruce's self-doubt as enough to drive his character forward. I didn't understand his decision partway through the film to "give himself up" purely because the Joker had killed about 5 or 6 random people, which Bruce felt guilty for. However, considering what comes later in the film (I won't spoil it!), in retrospect it makes sense.
The other character who gets quite a lot of screen time and development is Lt Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman). This is again a good thing as his character was pretty underused in Batman Begins, but seeing this character develop more is well worth it.
The action set pieces are great, although I think the trailers have given away some of the more speccy stunts, which meant there were few moments in the film when I was really gasping - I'd already seen it! Such is the problem when they don't carefully construct the trailers. One things for sure, the trailers may have shown off the cool stunts, but they certainly don't give you much insight into the story! It takes quite a few unexpected turns, which is great :)
All in all, a solid followup to Batman Begins. I think it's probably worth a second viewing, but I must say the high expectations left me a little underawed. Still, it's hard to find any fault, so I'll give it both thumbs up :)
9/10
The Dark Knight
Most of my URGA friends were not available this week, so I went to see The Dark Knight with my brother in law at Marion.
Man, assigned seating sucks. I haven't been to Marion since they introduced it, but it proved to have been a bonus that we booked in advance and got okay seats - the session was very full! City cinemas tend to be quite empty, even on Tuesdays...
Anyway, down to the movie. Due to the wonderful hype for this movie, I had high expectations. Did it meet them? Well, yes, but not always in the way I'd planned.
The plot is long and complicated, but it still sticks together fairly well. Due to the sheer number of characters, a lot of them get sidelined a bit with only minor roles (Alfred, Lucius Fox) but the main characters do still get the limelight they deserve.
Everyone's been saying how brilliant Heath Ledger is as the Joker, and yes, sure, he's good, but I think the hype and Heath's unfortunate death have overshadowed the actual role. The Joker is NOT a funny man in this film, he is a dangerous psychopath and doesn't actually do all that much maniacal laughing as you would expect. Still, it's a very good performance and role, and shows just how badass and dangerous this character can be.
But the real winner, in my opinion, is Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. This man shows his strength of conviction, and a complete breakdown when he later becomes Two Face. The Two Face makeup is exceptional and looks great (and horrifying!) and I love his decision making process. When Harvey Dent is DA, he has a two-headed "lucky" trick coin that he uses to say he's "taking chances" when his answer is definitely planned in advance. After he loses half his face, and the coin becomes burnt on one side, he uses it (after some influence from the Joker) to truly let chance take control of his decisions - whether his victims should live or die. The two-headed trick coin becomes a two-faced normal 50-50 chance coin...
In all this, the focus on Dent and the Joker puts Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) himself a little in the background. But that's OK because we explored his character depth a lot in the first film, so I can accept the few scenes of Bruce's self-doubt as enough to drive his character forward. I didn't understand his decision partway through the film to "give himself up" purely because the Joker had killed about 5 or 6 random people, which Bruce felt guilty for. However, considering what comes later in the film (I won't spoil it!), in retrospect it makes sense.
The other character who gets quite a lot of screen time and development is Lt Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman). This is again a good thing as his character was pretty underused in Batman Begins, but seeing this character develop more is well worth it.
The action set pieces are great, although I think the trailers have given away some of the more speccy stunts, which meant there were few moments in the film when I was really gasping - I'd already seen it! Such is the problem when they don't carefully construct the trailers. One things for sure, the trailers may have shown off the cool stunts, but they certainly don't give you much insight into the story! It takes quite a few unexpected turns, which is great :)
All in all, a solid followup to Batman Begins. I think it's probably worth a second viewing, but I must say the high expectations left me a little underawed. Still, it's hard to find any fault, so I'll give it both thumbs up :)
9/10