First, let's get this out of the way: Heath Ledger is frakking brilliant as The Joker. Whatever forces conspired to land him the role, well, that's just excellent. It's the most well-written role I've encountered in a while, and it so easily could have gone into caricature territory with a lesser actor, but oh my god. That was good. Yes, I wish he were still alive and be around to enjoy this moment of Joker frenzy, but, well, at least his OD was accidental and not from illegal drugs (oh, River.).
Let's also get this out of the way: to those losers I had to share the theater with last night, you guys suck. You don't bring your children to see a Christopher Nolan film. You don't applaud when the people on those ferries make their choices. You don't gasp when... well, it's a spoiler, but you just don't. and you don't... You just don't. Sit still, watch the movie. I have eyes, too, I can figure out what's happening on screen without you telling your seatmate the details or the explanations ("mali yung sinabi nya!" moron.). if he or she can't figure it out themselves, then they don't deserve to.
And we go back to the movie. OK, first: a jealous Bruce Wayne kind of reeks of Patrick Bateman that it's almost funny. Christian Bale plays gravitas so heavily that you almost have to make like The Joker and ask, why so serious? And while I understand the need to alter one's voice when playing an alter ego, pitching it down to a ridiculously gravelly voice, I had to wonder: couldn't you enunciate a little?
The thing is, though, for a Batman movie, it seemed that Batman/Bruce Wayne himself played second fiddle to all the other storylines going on around him.
(Sidebar: Cillian Murphy is back, and his presence is remarkable, especially in this "frak continuity" day and age. And given how he was probably the most consequential character in the original movie, looks like he's gonna make it to the third.)
Aaron Eckhart is Harvey Dent and might as well had been the lead actor for the movie, since the whole saga of The Dark Knight is about him. It's nice to see Eckhart in a big blockbuster, especially since his brilliant turn in Thank You for Smoking was shadowed by the grating Katie Holmes person, who cannot seem to make her acting turns be about her acting. His character's evolution is actually the one you care about, and in the end, it's his character's fate that determines the whole movie.
(sidebar, 2: when Joker tells Batman "you complete me", I again wondered, was this a wink-wink pun at the former Rachel Dawes?)
Yes, the movie is long (over two hours). But there is never a dull moment, and for the most part it makes a whole lot of sense (except for the aforementioned ferry scenario, and why nobody in the police station ever took off The Joker's make up). The expositions are quick, concise (almost to a fault: some scenes don't last for any longer than a minute. Maybe that's to help build the tension and anticipation, and it's never jarring, but it could have been better, methinks Then again, this is a summer movie, and most audiences have no attention spans to speak of). The action sequences are those made for a summer movie blockbuster, with big expolosions, things going boom, and fancy, fancy sequences.
And as for that ending, well, I guess there won't be any scenes of Batman visiting Arkham Asylum to see The Joker in the third movie.
Watch it. Go.
Revel in a summer movie that not only the big explosions and whatnot, but also a good story, good acting, and something going on for it beyond the big action sequences.
Go.
Have Heath Ledger remind you why you fear/hate clowns, and have him tell you how he got those scars.
And if you get there early, you might make like li'l fangirl me and gasp in happiness at the trailer for Clone Wars.
Go.
Dawson: They're about to announce the winner for Best Action Sequence. I mean, I don't mean to sound loyal to the point of naive, but it's so undenyingly obvious that it should go for the dinosaur chase from The Lost World. I mean it's---
Joey: Ridiculous and absurd that they would reward such gratuitous bloodshed and destruction.
Dawson: What are you talking about? The action sequence is the basis and very core of every summer movie hit.
- from the MTV Movie Awards
2 comments:
I love the Cillian Murphy bit. It sucked that he only had a few minutes in the film but at least he was in it.
Maggie was good. Sure there may be an actress out there who could do better but at least she didn't grate on the nerves. She might have actually done a better job at this if they had given her more to work with (more screentime) but management may have deceided to cut her character's parts to just small segments in part because there were already so many arcs in the movie and a bigger part because Katie Holmes' extended scenes in the first movie made them want to play safe.
Damn you Katie Holmes.
I am also loving the fact that they got solid actors to play small parts. William Fichtner as the bank manager and Michael Anthony Hall as a newsman were welcome extras.
I agree with you on the whole gravelly voice. I could barely hear what he was saying. And scenes wherein he's not in costume were few and far in between which is sad. You do not waste a good and expressive actor's talent by putting them under a mask. (This rant also applies to Spiderman 1 where they put Mr. Dafoe in that horrid suit where you can't even see part of his face.) I never wanted Bale to have this role but me thinks he needs the money. Oh well, I just hope the next Batman movie shows more scenes with him without the mask.
As for Heath...he was good. He even had small quirks built in what with the tongue thing he did. I've always thought that good actors always gave their characters small quirks. Greatness is in the details people. Too bad he's gone. But at least he achieved what he was going for in this movie. He kicked Jack Nicholson's version's ass. Anarchy! Yeah!
I was worried for a while, if you might have been at my screening, because my friends were the noisiest ones in the theater...especially at the magic trick. No one clapped at the ferry scene, though, so, phew.
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