I know most people would much rather me give a simple yay or nay when it comes to movie reviews, but you can silence me, no more!
The Dark Knight was hyped up from the beginning, mainly because of the Heath's last performance as the J-Man. I certainly had expectations going in, and for the most part they were met. But, here are some of the things that I found interesting...
1. Usually when you watch a movie, you don't quite want to know that you're watching a movie. You want to be watching life, a story, imagery, etc. So when the technical pitfalls show through, I see the skeleton of the movie being made, which takes me closer and closer to reality (somewhere I don't want to be when watching a movie). There was a scene in the industrial bat cave where Bruce was talking to Alfred, and it didn't happen once, but TWICE in two consecutive cut shots where you can tell they paused and started up a scene again. Bruce was looking up in a shot, and in the next shot his face was down. Then, Bruce was looking up in the next cut shot, then in the next scene his face was down again. Is that right? No, it's not, and I blame it on the people who edit the shots. You see this in sitcoms pretty often, but for it to be in a major motion picture, a huge summer flick with a budget upwards of $160 million, there's little room for mistake. This fault took me away from the dialogue, distracting me.
2. DK actually did pretty well with the endorsements, keeping it to a minimum. Spiderman and Ironman were terrible, throwing brand names in your nose. I only saw one major endorsement, Canon, when photographers were shooting TF saying he was the DK. And a plus in my book, they were actually holding and using the SLRs kind of like you are supposed to. Spiderman really sucked in this department because Peter Parker was just holding it like a sandwich or something, like That 70s Show did do his homework to know how a freelance photographer should work a cam-cam. The other endorsement wasn't really an endorsement, so kudos (the Nokia phone that Morgan Freeman was using for a short while in JapAmerica).
3. I'm sorry but the DK's car and bike are dumb. There is no way that they can be that agile! You can't cant steer a bike with wheels that big! They're wonky, dumbly designed feats of engineerings. Just look at James Bond-type gadgetry: refined, sleek, smart. I guess that's what you get from a superhero movie though.
4. What is Batman? He is a creature of the night. He's in the shadows, he strikes like a crazy lightning bolt, he's invisible. How did the movie start him out as? A monster truck Batmobile crashes through a parking garage wall, and Batman fistfights bad guys and dogs. How lame. Where is the mystery, the ninja qualities, the sophistication? How easy it is to make Batman disappear when he's talking to somebody? This has been done to death. All you have to do is film, tell him to leave, then film again. Pacing of the movie was off (started off super strong, really weak in the middle, then picked up at the end).
5. Bale's Batman voice was awful. Really, really distracting. I know he's Batman and he doesn't want people to know that he's Mr. Wayne, but you shouldn't have to have the bottom half of your face that animated. He looked and sounded like a distressed polar bear.
6. Why would the policeman be out there with all the convicts holding the detonator? Lame.
I'd say the only thing holding this movie up is Ledger's part in it. The rest is just typical blockbuster/summer flick/superhero/super money movie.
Girl: Look! Ani-mals! Sister: Yeah, lil' sis, but you don't have any money, remember? You spent it all on rocks. Girl: But me wuunnnnt. Me wunnnnt...
(proceeds to crawl inside)
Sister: Dude, you're insane... (backs away)
Mom: Kids! Let's go, Wheel of Fortune starts in half an hour. Comeonnow. Comeonnow. Huh, that's a nice machine, I wonder why no little kids are playing with it... Kids! I told you already, let's go. Where's your sister?
Sister: She's in the freakin' machine! She crawled in like Alice!
Mom: What? You crazy American girl, there's no one here. Find your sister so we can go. I want to see Pat! (walks outside)
Sister: She's in here, I'm tellin' you! (checks to make sure) Yeah, crazy woman, she is! Look!
Mom: What? Let me see (feels around) Holy....Earl! Earl! Your daughter's in the machine! Turn off the car!
Girl: Mom! I'm inside!
Mom: Honey, how, how did you do this? Get out of there!
Dad: What's going on here? Where's my daughter?
Mom: She's in the freakin' machine, EARL. How did you let this happen...
Sister: Daddy, they're towing your car...
Dad: What? No, they're not. Wait, yes they are. Hold on...
Mom: Sweetie! Can you hear me? You need to come out, we have to go!
Girl: I'm sleepy...
(People start coming)
Woman: Here, all you have to do is reach in here and grab her.
Boy: No, no, here, take these paper towels and feed it to her. Then pull on it.
Woman: That's not going to work.
Boy 2: Hey, there's a girl in there.
Boy: Yeah, we know that.
Dad: They tried to tow our car, honey, can you believe that?
Sister: Did you get her out yet? I have to pee.
Woman: There's a girl in there. Look.
Boy: I'm not listening to you, I'm going to clean my window...
Woman: I'm outta here...
Mom: Pulll!! Pull!! Come on sweetie, almost there!
