Saturday, 2 August 2008
4:36 pm | Posted by
John M. Kirkham |
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The Dark Knight review by Brendan
******** SPOILER ALERT *********
I thought it was pretty good. Much more substantial a film than IRON MAN, or any of the Marvel efforts so far, including the SPIDERMAN movies.
But it was too long. I got a bit bored here and there. Bales' Batman is a bit dull, frankly. I didn't get any emotional feeling from him when the girl dies at the end, for example. Robert Downey Jr was better 'hero' in IRON MAN - more of a focus for his own movie.
I would have cut out those "Batman packs it in, empties the Batcave" sequences and the oily accountant who rumbles that 'Bruce Wayne is Batman' too. They didn't work and weren't vital at all. Obviously I didn't buy Jim Gordon is dead either... His death was so blatantly underplayed that they tipped the plot twist too overtly.
Heath Ledger really was great, lolling tongue and all! But those cut-aways when the Joker is driving the big truck felt like the usual movie padding... But I LOVED the Joker giving different explanations of how he got his scarred grin to each victim, making a mockery (!) of the 'abuse' excuse so beloved of our over-therapised culture.
The fight scenes were very average... I'm not sure that Nolan is very good at fight action really.
In the end, the most exciting thing for me was the anarchic chaos of the Joker. The film was actually 'saying something' about society... The two ferry boats idea was good too: Maybe people are smarter, more reasonably humane on their own, without psychpathic and corrupted 'leaders' generating conflict and wars etc. (Hey you, Listen to me, I gotta plan: Let's nuke Iran!)
And the role of a 'hero' was soundly looked at too - and with a fair amount of genuine insight.
That's my two penneth worth, Nora!
By the way, has anybody seen WALL-E? Great first third, then it nosedives badly... "The Citizen Kane of animation?" I thinkest not, true believer!
Also, worst movie I've seen of the year must be PERSEPOLIS... The most boring bollocks I've ever had the misfortune to sit through.. I lasted about 25 minutes and had to bail out! A complete waste of my time and money. How some critics gave this tedious animated bilge five whole stars is beyond me...
That's it.
Nuff moaned.
******** SPOILER ALERT *********
I thought it was pretty good. Much more substantial a film than IRON MAN, or any of the Marvel efforts so far, including the SPIDERMAN movies.
But it was too long. I got a bit bored here and there. Bales' Batman is a bit dull, frankly. I didn't get any emotional feeling from him when the girl dies at the end, for example. Robert Downey Jr was better 'hero' in IRON MAN - more of a focus for his own movie.
I would have cut out those "Batman packs it in, empties the Batcave" sequences and the oily accountant who rumbles that 'Bruce Wayne is Batman' too. They didn't work and weren't vital at all. Obviously I didn't buy Jim Gordon is dead either... His death was so blatantly underplayed that they tipped the plot twist too overtly.
Heath Ledger really was great, lolling tongue and all! But those cut-aways when the Joker is driving the big truck felt like the usual movie padding... But I LOVED the Joker giving different explanations of how he got his scarred grin to each victim, making a mockery (!) of the 'abuse' excuse so beloved of our over-therapised culture.
The fight scenes were very average... I'm not sure that Nolan is very good at fight action really.
In the end, the most exciting thing for me was the anarchic chaos of the Joker. The film was actually 'saying something' about society... The two ferry boats idea was good too: Maybe people are smarter, more reasonably humane on their own, without psychpathic and corrupted 'leaders' generating conflict and wars etc. (Hey you, Listen to me, I gotta plan: Let's nuke Iran!)
And the role of a 'hero' was soundly looked at too - and with a fair amount of genuine insight.
That's my two penneth worth, Nora!
By the way, has anybody seen WALL-E? Great first third, then it nosedives badly... "The Citizen Kane of animation?" I thinkest not, true believer!
Also, worst movie I've seen of the year must be PERSEPOLIS... The most boring bollocks I've ever had the misfortune to sit through.. I lasted about 25 minutes and had to bail out! A complete waste of my time and money. How some critics gave this tedious animated bilge five whole stars is beyond me...
That's it.
Nuff moaned.
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4 comments:
I felt about the same as you did on TDK. I am a huge Begins fan, and I think a lot of it has to do with Nolan making it in keeping with his strengths. This movie wasn't really playing to his strengths. As you said , action isn't his strength. As well as all the bogus gadgetry that was shown, including the sonar cellphone gimmick. I really think this movie needed more drama to actually make the deaths effective, instead we were treated to a lot of bloat. Don't get me wrong, I still think it was a good movie. But had Nolan actually watched Heat more closely, having said that he was inspired by it, he would have realised what made it effective.
You hit the nail on the head Brendan.
How about they get some story boards from you for the next one?
Liked Ledger's Joker. I actually found myself laughing at his performance more than anyone else in the cinema. Because I'm a sadistic anarchist, presumably.
Thought Nolan repeated the odd soliloquy once or twice, which slowed down the last third a bit too much to be comfortable. Must have been the odd Joker/Dent/Batman/Gordon speech in that last showdown that could've been cut.
Could have cut two subplots (the Chinese mob accountant, the Waynecorp whistleblower), too, without losing too much. I made it through without having to go for a pee, but by the end my arse was numb. But when the first one was such a hit, the studio was obviously inclined to let Nolan have his way.
Plus, people are talking about it as if it was HEAT or CHINATOWN, but throughout, I kept noticing how kid-friendly it was. Which is just right, after all. Totally pandering to us aged fanboys would be bleedin' horrible. A kid's movie, but a dark one with lots of big ideas for them to chew on as they grew up with it, like my generation did with THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.
But it probably is the best of that bad bunch that is "comic book movies". At least Gotham looked like a real place, rather than a bunch of sound studios, and Bale's Batman works as a likeable, Bond-esque, entity. His chemistry with Caine is great, and I wish they had more time together.
Still think the suit and the car look awful though.
I'm totally with you on Persepolis, Brendan. You know, I'm still have not read the original GN, but when I start to hear all the price a la Maus, it starts to stinks. Then I see the animation and all I can see is a movie for movie festivals. A completly posse.
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