The Long Dark Soul Of The Night
Posted on | July 21, 2008 at 11:49 pm | 6 Comments
I just saw a fun little comic book flick called The Dark Knight. It had this guy who dresses up like a bat and beats the snot out of people, and this other guy who dresses like a clown and kills people and spreads chaos. And another guy who… but that would be giving too much away.
I knew the movie was going to be unrelentingly grim, but I also knew I’d like it a lot no matter what. So what didn’t I like? Strangely, whenever the camera lingers on Batman (which it does moreso than in Batman Begins), it kind of takes you out of this film noir/crime masterpiece and blunts the “realism” the director is going for (compared to other superhero movies). I did like the fact that it was a Batman movie that actually had a lot of focus on Batman, and used The Joker more sparingly than I thought it would. But there was still something too jarring about seeing that cowled head and hearing that gravely voice that just took me a bit too much out of the pic. And some of the storytelling was not clear. I think it was because things just moved so fast and I didn’t have time to absorb everything. On reflection, and from talking with others, I figured most of it out. But there were still some things that were lazy – like never explaining what happened with The Joker after he crashes the party and Batman dives out the window. They could’ve at least showed a scene of him leaving, or terrorizing the guests more or something. There were other things I didn’t quite get as well, but I don’t want to go into them now.
Despite its problems, I still enjoyed it immensely, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around it all. It’s a very draining movie, in more ways than one. Despite the grimness, there was some (black) humor. The acting was stellar, as it was in Batman Begins. Sure, Ledger was good, but everyone knew that going into it. You can’t escape that hype. But what surprised me is how completely Gary Oldman disappeared into the role of James Gordon. If I had not known it was Oldman beforehand, and hadn’t seen him in the first movie, I would not have recognized him here. Great work. I liked the general lack of CGI and the amazing stuntwork. The movie felt old-fashioned that way.
Enough for now. It’s past my bedtime.
Latre.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 63°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Face” (Feckless Beast)
- “Around The Eyes” (Shalini)
- “Bleed American” (Jimmy Eat World)
- “Look Around” (Something For Rockets)
- “Isaac’s Law” (Loud Family)
- “Strange” (R.E.M.)
- “Brilliant Mind” (Furniture)
Creepy Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “sister naked bathroom”.
Comments
6 Responses to “The Long Dark Soul Of The Night”
July 22nd, 2008 @ 6:00 am
So, in summary:
- too much Batman in the Batman movie
- Batman movie very realistic, except for the Batman parts
- story too complex, except for the stuff they left out
- Ledger good, but you expected that so it doesn’t count as much as Oldman, whom you forgot was in the movie until reminded
It can be a little bit tricky to get things just right for ol’ Rogj, Mr. Nolan, but just keep trying!
July 22nd, 2008 @ 6:16 am
I would have liked this post no matter what you wrote about. You have to love a title that references the writing of St John of the Cross. It would have worked better if the movie was painfully bad since the book was written by someone who was being tortured in prison, and encouraged the expulsion of imagination.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 9:55 am
It can be a little bit tricky to get things just right for ol’ Rogj, Mr. Nolan, but just keep trying!
I felt compelled to nitpick so that I’d have something negative to say and wouldn’t come off as a slavishly devoted fan, but really it was darn near perfect.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 10:11 am
You have to love a title that references the writing of St John of the Cross.
As everyone knows, I’m all about the religion.
July 22nd, 2008 @ 5:05 pm
Well then based on your review, we’ll go see the Imax version as soon as possible. (we were going to anyway, but I was afraid there wasn’t too much Batman in it)
July 23rd, 2008 @ 9:57 am
Speaking of the IMAX version, see today’s post, which will go up sometime tonight.