The Dark Knight (unspoilery thoughts)

[dangermousie]

Finally saw The Dark Knight tonight.

Oh wow.

WOW.

I am sort of non-verbal right now. It was excellent, even if it was one of the bleakest movies I've seen.

Heath Ledger as the Joker was amazing. Amazing. Now I see what all the fuss was about. The movie got a little more fun, a little better and involving, when he came on screen. You couldn't help but laugh at what he was doing, even if it was horrible (and I love that this version of the Joker is perfectly sane, just with goals very off the radar for a normal person).

Oh, and oh, Bruce. Seriously, the way this new reimagining is going, with making worse and worse things happen to him, I think they might run out of the parade of horribles to do to him, soon. Oddly, I think a part of him always craves the punishment though: he has issues and guilt complex a mile wide (the one thing Rachel got right is not wanting to be in a relationship where you are the other party's sole reason for normalcy. That would be hard to put up with. At least not without loving the guy a lot more than she did).

My favorite character in the movie was actually neither Batman nor Joker, but Harvey Dent. He wasn't a superhero, or a chaotic terrorist, he was just a very good, very human person who broke under some incredibly horrific things done to him and his loved ones. I don't know, I rooted for him and really felt for him and he just made me think of old-time mob proescutors. You had to be a little crazy to take this job, knowing the life expectancy, and then of course the catalogue of horrors pushed him over the edge.

Rachel? Ugh. I used to think it was Katie Holmes' nonacting that made her so irritating, but Maggie G is a much better actress, so I am forced to conclude Nolan just can't write women. Ther biggest suspension of disbelief for me wasn't Batman's powers or Joker's abilities, it was that such complex and interesting men like Bruce and Harvey both thought the sun rose and set on Rachel Dawes.

Oh, and Commissioner Gordon? LOVE.

With all this, I still like Batman Begins better. Don't know why (TDK was excellent) but I do.

Our trailers were wonderful: Blindness, The Watchmen, the Bond movie, Body of Lies (I think that's the name), the Coen Brothers movie, etc. Yay.

Can you link me to your TDK write-ups? Please?

Comments

[elvensapphire.livejournal.com]

It was excellent, even if it was one of the bleakest movies I've seen.

It was so bleak and oppressive that the more I think on it, the more I really believe it was too much. Batman Begins sparkles in a few points, with just tiny lines and winks and bits of witty humor, and that was all but lost here.

Anyway, I agree completely with everything you said. It was an amazing piece of movie-making, and that cast of actors is positively genius, but overall...I like Batman Begins better, too. Not that this one wasn't great, but I don't think I'll ever want to sit and watch it repeatedly for fun. (Only someone really masochistic would want to do that, imho.) And I just love Batman Begins, so I definitely felt slightly underwhelmed.

I'd happily go on analyzing, but am exhausted at the moment. Here's a link to my own post about TDK: http://elvensapphire.livejournal.com/298727.html :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

We really have a similar view on this don't we? The darkness gets too much, at times. And yes, the big thing for me is that Rachel just wasn't worth all that, really...

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I think Dent was the surprise for me. There was a lot of promo about him in the viral marketing ("I Believe in Harvey Dent", etc) but we still didn't know a lot, and I think Eckhart nailed a very tricky character, because his arc really had to be believable.

As for Rachel, I found her a LOT better than in the first film. She seemed... more fleshed out than Holmes version. But you can't really call them the same person, which I suppose is a good thing. I suppose the sun rises and sets on Rachel because she seems to be one of the few young women in the whole of Gotham City. LOL. There isn't a strong female presence in these films all - even less so now.

Ledger was amazing, I don't know what else to say.

But man... poor Bruce. Kick the poor guy when he is down... I'm so... in love with the concept of the Bruce/Rachel/Harvey love triangle though. it has tragedy written all over it. The best thing Alfred did was burn that letter. Poor Bruce. Destined to be hunted now.

Oh, and my reaction post is here. It got kind of epic in the comments.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

There isn't a strong female presence in these films all - even less so now.


I really find it the movies' only drawback. The rest of superhero movies have decent to cool female characters but not the Batman universe.

The best thing Alfred did was burn that letter.

Yes. As the movie shows, sometimes people need hope, even if it's false.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

Yea, the Batman universe does lack in the female area, which is I suppose how the creation of Rachel came about. I suspect that if there is a 3rd film in the new franchise, we will see Catwoman, simply because otherwise they'd end up with another male villian. But then again, I don't know they can top the Joker. Trying to introduce another female love interest could be tricky though, seeing as they will only have that one film to flesh her out, and if we pick up from where we left off, I don't think Bruce is in the right frame of mind to be worried about getting any.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

and if we pick up from where we left off, I don't think Bruce is in the right frame of mind to be worried about getting any.


I don't think Nolan writes women well (Batman, Prestige, Memento*) so maybe they should just not have a female lead in the next one? It just takes time from Bale shirtlessness anyway :P

*Memento is one of my Top 10 movies, probably, and it works in part because the woman is the driving force but we never really see her. And female characters in Prestige were marginal.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen Memento yet (I do own it but haven't watched it - travesty, right?), so I can't comment on that one, but I'd agree with the Batman franchise at least. The Prestige screenplay is based on a novel, and the women in that are clearly not important, and relegated to mostly foils for the men, but I think that could be the era in which it is set also. The women in The Prestige didn't bother me so much - they felt more fleshed out than say Rachel did in the Batman series - but they were never meant to be the driving force. So I wouldn't say Nolan didn't write them well, but more that they aren't the main point of the story.

It would be strange to have no female in it at all, wouldn't it? I mean, is it all that common these days to not have ANY leading/supporting female in a film? I'm not sure. That said, I'm not opposed to it - their biggest challenge is to find a villian who is more threatening to Batman than the Joker was. Hard ask.

[carviangli.livejournal.com]

oh Lol. I JUST finished my review of this and asked people to link THEIR batman posts...

umm...here's mine though(about half of it my review and the other half is just random stuff)

http://carviangli.livejournal.com/20755.html#cutid1

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Bruce is viciously masochistic. I think he feels deeply responsible for everything that goes on around him and I think the beat down he gets from being Batman is more about him feeling a need to be punished than protecting Gotham a lot of the time.

I loved Harvey. I loved that in the love triangle you completely understood why Rachel chose him over Bruce and you couldn't fault her for it even though your heart broke for Bruce. It's one of the most believable love triangles I've seen in a while because they never villified Harvey in any way until he finally snaps. Even Bruce liked him.

Here's my initial write up.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

beat down he gets from being Batman is more about him feeling a need to be punished than protecting Gotham a lot of the time.


I think so too. His responibility is really a quest for control over the chaotic environment but that also means that to him, when something goes wrong, it's his fault.

[angerfish.livejournal.com]

Heh, I found my way to your lj from your signature on Bollywhat. And I'm so happy to see Harvey Dent love. He was actually my favorite character. Maybe tied with Gordon...

So yes, the movie was pretty amazing. (Ps. Mind if I friend? You Lj is fun to read!)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Of course! I'll friend you back!

[angerfish.livejournal.com]

Aaaand friended! :D

Forgot to mention I have a Dark Knight reaction post, though it's posted over here (http://dhadak-dhadak.livejournal.com/3181.html) among all my study abroad blather.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Aaaand friended back!

Thanks for the link!

[sundae-sweet.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I saw this movie after Iron Man, Hellboy 2, and Hancock. Because after watching it, it has pretty much ruined me for any other movie that will ever come after it. It didn't even feel like a comic book movie for me- it just transcended whatever its original medium ever was. And yes the title helped because The Dark Knight just sounds way cooler than Batman.

Oh and check out this other article on cracked.com about celebrities who might just be superhero alter egos. Its has a pretty funny blurb on Christian Bale. It looks like someone on the Cracked staff has, as they put it, "a Texas sized man crush" on CB.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/2008/07/23/4-celebrities-who-just-might-be-superhero-alter-ego/

Sorry, couldn't figure out how to link it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That article made me lol and lol. Thank you!

[equustel.livejournal.com]

Re: interest in Rachel... I think Bruce clings to her as much for what she represents as for who she is. He idealizes her. She's part of his childhood and past, the unspoiled part before his parents' death. With Batman's presence causing so many other dire consequences in Gotham (and in himself), I think he's reaching for the one thing not yet irrevocably affected by his quest or his own personal tragedy.

When Bruce kisses her, it strikes me as a selfish, petulant move - like a desperate claiming of what's his. The way he walks away says it all. It's sad, and naive (like Rachel said, no circumstances at this point would allow them to be together), but he does it anyway and convinces himself that he can still have this - that this, at least, hasn't been taken away from him. Which is why what Alfred does is such an act of mercy, even if it's a lie. He's letting the ideal stand, even if the reality will never match up to it.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

That's a great explanation and his fixation finally makes sense to me. Thank you...

[animeshon.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loved the movie. I'm so behind in posting so I haven't posted my comments yet, but will soon. Heath Ledger just blew me away, and it really made me quite sad just how amazing he is in this movie (I honestly thought people were just making a big deal out of it because he was dead).

I haven't watched Batman Begins yet (I'm not sure I can stomach Katie Holmes!).

I'm so jealous you got to see The Watchmen trailer, our trailers were fairly boring.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Katie Holmes was indeed awful but she is a small part of the movie and I loved Batman Begins so!