Thursday, August 7, 2008

I'm Gonna Make This Pencil... Disappear

I saw The Dark Knight last night. Now y'all can stop nagging me about it :)

The problem with walking into a movie for which your friends whose opinions you respect have gushed their love for is that your expectations are high. I'm not saying it wasn't good. However, I was hoping for it to be awesome. Sadly, while I do agree it's good, I think they missed a couple of opportunities to make it really great.

Best parts: Michael Caine and Heath Ledger.
Second best parts: Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart.

My main disappointment, though not a huge one, was Christian Bale. Mostly, I think the writers could have upped a couple of aspects of the film regarding him and accomplished more. There were a couple of emotional bits where I was expecting them to close in on him and give him a moment where we could really see the knife turn. They did this some of the time, but seem to have not wanted to on one of the most key points. I felt let down.

Then there was the whole issue of that one thing... *Spoilers ahead*

So, Joker says "You can save one of them" and then we get that fallout, but am I wrong, or did Joker reverse the addresses? And there's no payoff for it (aside from the obvious). That was where I really felt let down. *Sigh*

Overall, good stuff. I love the direction Ledger went with the Joker. Creepy, creepy stuff, and the makeup for him was fantastic. Great stuff there.

So, I'm not saying I didn't like it. I'm just saying it didn't blow my mind as much as I hoped it would.

1 comment:

Jenny Maloney said...

*Spoiler*

Yeah, the Joker reversed the addresses--because he's a jerk. I thought that was awesome...raises the question of one person's life over another's (which is especially important for a superhero...do you always get to save who is most important to you?) In Spiderman, they let that slide--you know where the Goblin is dropping MJ and the trolley thingy? Spidey saves both (I believe in the comics it's a different gal that goes down and she actually dies). Batman doesn't get to.

I think you're right about twisting the knife--probably should've done that. Since they were comparing the reactions between Dent and Bruce, if Bruce had all the info and still chose the route he did...that'd have more impact. But then I'm torn, because that would seem just *way* to altruistic at the end. I liked Al's protectiveness...if such is the knife twisting you're talking about.