The Dark Knight movie review

Jump to Comments

Apparently I’m doing movie reviews now.

I caught the 12:01 a.m. screening and decided to weigh in on it from an overly-critical chick’s point of view. Hopefully the subject alone will bring a few more subscribers to this blog. Yeah…that means you. Subscribe!

OK, let me start off by saying that I don’t like action movies in general. This genre seems to follow a formula that rubs me the wrong way and leaves me unimpressed 99% of the time. I sorta liked Terminator 2 but wouldn’t want to watch it again. I know to expect good-guy vs. bad-guy and good-guy wins OR bad guy doesn’t die and a sequel is coming. I prefer my movies to be dialogue-driven, unpredictable, and witty. I’m not impressed by computer-generated explosions or chase scenes that end in massive flaming wreckage.

I do gravitate towards “guy movies,” but they need to be balanced…for example – Pulp Fiction, Full Metal Jacket, The Shawshank Redemption, and more recently, No Country For Old Men and There Will be Blood (which is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.) I generally don’t get excited about new releases, or any movie for that matter – unless Pixar, Jimmy Stewart, or Hitchcock is involved. I don’t care for most romantic comedies or parodies of movies that already exist…Spaceballs, Scary Movie, etc. due to their formulaic approach ond/or overall stupidity.

I’m disappointed by almost everything I see, but of course there is that rare exception on occasion. I usually watch movies that have received awards and/or overwhelmingly positive reviews. I also gravitate towards movies that pertain to subjects that interest me, like video games or baseball. Oddly enough, I haven’t seen a “great” baseball movie ever, and I’ve seen them all. My favorite thus far would have to be “The Fan.” I can honestly say I am not the kind of person who you’d want to be sitting next to in the theater because I’d be picking it apart and pointing out the flaws the whole time.

Before I give my actual review, let me just say that I was worried that the movie wouldn’t live up to the hype. I had heard such great things about it. It’s “Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance,” and “none of the 2 and a half hours is wasted,” blah blah blah. I went in open-minded, yet prepared to be disappointed. Nes made me pre-order the tickets well in advance, and I considered going with him a huge favor.

Here goes (no spoilers, because spoilers suck):

I wasn’t blown away, but Heath Ledger DID give an Oscar-caliber performance. I was bored through most of the film, but was entertained during all of the Joker scenes. I’m not a Ledger fan, and have never seen any of his movies prior to this, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. He really embodied the villain role perfectly. As for Batman…meh. Christian Bale’s acting was average. I expect more out of a “leading man” in a major motion picture. I also couldn’t get over how cheap his headgear looked. I would have liked him to go for something shinier (OK, Now I’m just nitpicking.) The storyline itself was just OK. Crashes, explosions, etc…typical action stuff is all there. I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll just say that it follows the same formula that I expect in most (if not all) superhero movies. The cinematography was nice…beautiful overhead shots showed the wide expanse of Gotham City. I’m sure it would have been more impressive in IMAX. Do I recommend this movie? Sure, because you’ll probably like it. Would I want to see this again? No. I know I’m in the minority here. Very few movies have enough depth to require a second or third viewing, and this isn’t one of them. I don’t feel like I wasted my money, but I do think this was hyped into the stratosphere. It isn’t “one of the top 10/100 best films ever made” and it doesn’t deserve to be free from criticism due to Ledger’s death. He was by far the best part of this movie, and played his part superbly. Without him, I would be cured of my insomnia during this movie, and the last time I was able to fall asleep in a theater was during the first 15 minutes of X-Men (another movie I was dragged to.)

I’m definitely going to watch Brokeback Mountain in the near future.

BTW, Nes loved the movie. Men are so simple.

4 Comments

Filed under Kira, Uncategorized

Tags: batman, batman the dark knight, batman the dark knight movie review, heath ledger, Kira, movie review, nes, review, the dark knight, the joker