just back from catching the dark knight. i've read so many positive reviews and a couple of not-so-hot reviews from a few poet-bloggers whose opinions i have the highest regard. what to make the of film? too many jumbled thoughts tonight so only a few notations.
does the joker behave as a 'terrorist' which he is called repeatedly in the film. well, he is and no he isn't. he's more an agent of mischief, or anarchy and chaos as he called himself, kind of like a loki figure. yet, during the narrative i couldn't help but think that movies reflect the times in which they are made. director christopher nolan's vision of the batman and the joker is intense centered upon moral ambiguity and the need for action being paramount. if this film reflects our own so-called 'war on terror' then it does so in a way that the dirty harry and charles bronson deathwish vehicles mirrored our fear of violent crime in the 1970s. the good guys are anti-heros who do ugly things to put away the bad guys.
frankly, i was unmoved by the first two reels where the action and such is more like the summer blockbuster explosions and crap. but by the last reel i was deep within the picture. the great actor i think in this movie is not just heath ledger but the seriously great gary oldman. oldman is a chamoleon in his roles where he becomes the character so much so that his own physicality is blurred. oldman is commissioner gordon as he is sid vicious in alex cox's biopic sid and nancy. gordon is the constant presence of decency and moral order in this story and when we get to the final reel his travails in the hands of aaron eckart's two-face is hard to bear.
i'll write more about this flick tomorrow night. i think reading so many reviews colored my expectations. i should've avoided reading them as i normally do before seeing a greatly anticipated film. and yet, it was because of those reviews i wanted to see it. i had lost interest in the batman franchise after tim burton's first feature and so stopped paying attention. i wasn't planning on seeing this movie and i have yet to see christopher nolan's first effort in the franchise batman begins. so there i was sitting in the darkened theater tonight expecting a transcendant experience. i didn't get that experience. but i did find a film that speaks to the fear of our time and watched two great performances by heath ledger and gary oldman. for the moment, that is enough.
5 Comments:
hey richard, i just watched it too - really enjoyed ledger and oldman as well - also michael caine's alfred. how bout this: joker vs alfred. that would be cool. batman bores me to death - he's PG-13 Hell - i cdnt get even a quarterway thru my gibungus 5-dollar "medium" fountain coke.
oh, and morgan freeman - if only the joker cd've killed morgan freeman . . . i'd've left w/ a little transcendence.
wow - i just saw that he was in a car accident:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_en_mo/morgan_freeman
now i feel bad . . .
wow, you haven't seen BATMAN BEGINS? really? that's crazy. it's excellent, btw. i remember my first reaction to that movie was, "this is not at all what comic book movies are ever like." that sort of smart, dramatic flair to the action-narrative is done really well. almost believable in a way that it seems like in can happen in our own world, and not just the "comic book" world.
and, also, btw, you should know that yr seeing this movie BEFORE its predecessor really chaps my whole need-for-sequential-order thing!
ryan: i thought freeman already was one of the walking dead as he was so under-used in the movie.
i did think that tho this was a darker, grittier and at times sadistic entry in the batman franchise, i was struck by how most of the violent acts were done outside the frame. even the famous disappearing pencil scene happend so fast that the violent act was glossed over. i'd love to see an r-rated batman film, someday.
logan: didn't mean to rip the fabric of space-time. i should get off my lazy ass and watch nolan's first effort. i simply thought of the batman films as silly vehicles for a-list stars dressing in goofy costumes, mugging and hamming it up, so i long stopped paying attention. i am interested in seeing where the franchise goes next considering that ledger's joker was one brilliant mind-fucking sadist. how much farther would the studio and filmmakers take the franchise, perhaps an r rating? i won't hold my breath.
Yes, but what about Aaron Eckhart? He too was good.
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