Movie Review - The Dark Knight
There was some Batman movie that came out a few weeks back. It's made a bunch of money and has made many comic book nerds happy. I saw the movie and here's my review.
If you liked the first installment of the Christopher Nolan series (methinks it was called Batman Begins?), I believe you'll like this movie as well. Christian Bale plays the Batman/Bruce Wayne character pretty well. Being a fan of the first Batman theatrical release, I'm kind of partial to Michael Keaton. But Bale makes a very good leading man. The other notable character is obviously The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, who has since passed away. Lots has been made about the performance of Ledger with many people calling his performance "Oscar-winning." I politely choose to disagree. While I believe his performace was good, I believe it was just as good as Jack Nicholson's turn as The Joker in the first Batman (while you're mulling that over, remember that there were two different directors who went two different ways). I think that he's getting a lot of extra plaudits because it's believed that this role was one of the factors in his eventual death. But let's get to the movie itself.
The movie was good. Very fast-paced and action-oriented. Maggie Gylenhal (sp) took over for Katie Holmes in the Rachel Dawes department. The switch was okay, but they played the role two totally different ways. And that was kind of puzzling to me. Aaron Eckhardt plays Harvey Dent, who eventually turns into Two-Face. I liked the way they played the character, but I was disappointed that they killed him off less than an hour after his transformation. He probably could have merited another appearance in a future installment. Gary Oldham again shines as Captain (and subsequently Commisioner) Jim Gordon. There was lots of cool gadgetry including cell-phone sonar (which is a very interesting topic..). Tiny Lister even makes an appearance!!
I'm giving the movie an 8 out of 10. I'll see it again in the theater. Not after 6:00pm mind you, but I'll see it again.
posted @ 12:06 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I am one to disagree. Sorry man, but I thought that Heath Ledger's joker was infinitely better than Nicholson's. I do not think that it was due to who played them, but the superiority of the script. Methinks that the original batman wanted to be more comic-booky and this wanted to be more dramatic. I prefer these two installments way over the others.
I had a conversation with a friend on Wednesday and we were discussing the differences between Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan. I like to think that all our comparisons are made in the light of the movie's script. So that being said, do you think that Nicholson could have played the Nolan Joker as well as Ledger? Coversely, what about Ledger playing the Burton Joker?
I will agree that subsequent installments of the first series were a little much for me, especially Mr. Freeze (sorry governor). But I still like the original.
I completely agree with your analysis of Heath Ledger's joker. Though I can appreciate the tragic turn of events surrounding the movie, I don't think it's an oscar-worthy performance either. And I also think that the character lacks something in Ledger, true he created a psychopathic Joker that was so creepy he was fasnicanting to watch, but the whole essence of the Joker, the humor, I found lacking in Heath's portrayal. His Joker is simply not that funny.
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