Two-Faced Review of "The Dark Knight"
Jul. 22nd, 2008 11:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snurriDid I enjoy this film? Yes. Does it have problems? Many.
Heath Ledger = Good. Amazing, actually. Also sad.
Batman's Voice = Bad. Maybe it would be bad if he sounded like Bruce Wayne, but I kept waiting for Gordon to offer him a lozenge.
Maggie Gyllenhall = Wasted, and in a girlfriend-in-the-refrigerator sort of way. On top of Dr. Horrible I find this very tiring and frustrating.
The Ferry Dilemma = An unaccountably optimistic note in an unrelentingly dark film. Also, is it not usual for, I don't know, ANYONE from the crew to inspect the engine room before launch?
Morgan Freeman = Apparently because he played god in those Almighty movies we are to be reassured that he can play god with universal surveillance. Am still scratching my head over the "Wow this is extremely problematic"/"Yup it is let's go ahead with it" meta-commentary the filmmakers left in.
Beating Up Dogs = Uncool, Chris Sims notwithstanding.
Gary Oldman = Was acting for a different and slightly better film than this one. Best Commissioner Gordon ever.
Car/Van/Motorcycle/Semi Chases = Eh. I did like the convoy delivering Harvey to County lockup, and the mysterious driver -- Is it the Joker? No, it must be Bruce. No . . . oh, I get it.
Aaron Eckhart = Balances Ledger's performance in a very quiet and easy-to-overlook way. Also:
Two-Face Makeup = Incredibly perfect, and creepy, and wrong.
Michael Caine = In some ways he feels like the emotional center of this film, which is saying something. But:
Alfred = Makes less and less sense the more that comics and film writers develop his backstory -- why the hell is this guy serving drinks at cocktail parties?
The Trip to Hong Kong = Probably what tipped the story over into slightly-bloated territory, because it distracted from:
The Joker's Attempts to Turn Gotham's Citizens On Each Other, the City Government, the Cops, the D.A., and Batman = Could have been brilliant, and had some nice moments. But as mentioned above, the ferry bit contradicted it in a rather unbelievable messy and not-that-interesting way, and in the end the film allows Batman and Gordon to embrace:
The Idea That In Order to Protect the Citizenry, We Must Present Attractive Lies To Distract From the Fact That Said Protection Comes At the Expense of Their Civil Liberties = Appalling. Granted that this is Batman all over, but the film endorses it on both overt and symbolic levels (see: Alfred burning Rachel's letter) while only making the most cursory of nods towards the idea that just maybe this is notsogood. Really, ick.
Heath Ledger = Good. Amazing, actually. Also sad.
Batman's Voice = Bad. Maybe it would be bad if he sounded like Bruce Wayne, but I kept waiting for Gordon to offer him a lozenge.
Maggie Gyllenhall = Wasted, and in a girlfriend-in-the-refrigerator sort of way. On top of Dr. Horrible I find this very tiring and frustrating.
The Ferry Dilemma = An unaccountably optimistic note in an unrelentingly dark film. Also, is it not usual for, I don't know, ANYONE from the crew to inspect the engine room before launch?
Morgan Freeman = Apparently because he played god in those Almighty movies we are to be reassured that he can play god with universal surveillance. Am still scratching my head over the "Wow this is extremely problematic"/"Yup it is let's go ahead with it" meta-commentary the filmmakers left in.
Beating Up Dogs = Uncool, Chris Sims notwithstanding.
Gary Oldman = Was acting for a different and slightly better film than this one. Best Commissioner Gordon ever.
Car/Van/Motorcycle/Semi Chases = Eh. I did like the convoy delivering Harvey to County lockup, and the mysterious driver -- Is it the Joker? No, it must be Bruce. No . . . oh, I get it.
Aaron Eckhart = Balances Ledger's performance in a very quiet and easy-to-overlook way. Also:
Two-Face Makeup = Incredibly perfect, and creepy, and wrong.
Michael Caine = In some ways he feels like the emotional center of this film, which is saying something. But:
Alfred = Makes less and less sense the more that comics and film writers develop his backstory -- why the hell is this guy serving drinks at cocktail parties?
The Trip to Hong Kong = Probably what tipped the story over into slightly-bloated territory, because it distracted from:
The Joker's Attempts to Turn Gotham's Citizens On Each Other, the City Government, the Cops, the D.A., and Batman = Could have been brilliant, and had some nice moments. But as mentioned above, the ferry bit contradicted it in a rather unbelievable messy and not-that-interesting way, and in the end the film allows Batman and Gordon to embrace:
The Idea That In Order to Protect the Citizenry, We Must Present Attractive Lies To Distract From the Fact That Said Protection Comes At the Expense of Their Civil Liberties = Appalling. Granted that this is Batman all over, but the film endorses it on both overt and symbolic levels (see: Alfred burning Rachel's letter) while only making the most cursory of nods towards the idea that just maybe this is notsogood. Really, ick.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-03 12:55 pm (UTC)I would have actually been okay with the boat ending (assuming any of the several hundred logical issues with how it played out were fixed), had it been the ending, and, again, been executed more logically and with less smug sureness on Batman's part that he knows the outcome in advance. I don't think we really needed anything with Harvey Dent post hospital scene, and the whole second ending completely undercuts the boat stuff because suddenly the people of Gotham can't be trusted, because they can't survive the news that a politician (essentially) went evil? PLEASE.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-08-03 04:04 pm (UTC)I guess the thing about your boat ending idea is that it points out that there were several different approaches they could have taken to streamlining the film, and they didn't go with any of them. They could have dropped the gangsters and the crooked cops and focused on the Joker's manipulation of the populace. They could have forgotten about the HK extradition crap. But yeah, as you say, first they'd have to get their arguments right, and the people of Gotham don't get to be both venal and noble at the exact same time.