WShawn
07-18-2008, 04:42 PM
I saw The Dark Knight last night at a special screening for Intel/Dell (I worked on a video preceding the feature). I'm probably going to be in the minority, but I was kind of underwhelmed. I'd give it a C+ or B-. Maybe my expectations were too high after seeing many positive reviews, including Ebert and Roeper which declared it the best superhero movie ever (to me, that would be The Incredibles, followed by Spiderman 2).
Heath Ledger steals the movie, no surprise there. He is absolutely riveting when he's on screen, and it seemed like the audience I was with was rooting more for the Joker than Batman. In a perverse way, he was the only "fun" part of this summer superhero movie.
To me the movie felt too long and overstuffed, with all these characters running back and forth around Gotham City. I think it would have been better to stick to one villain, saving Two-Face for a sequel. I could see the plot twists and betrayals coming a mile away.
It also didn't help that at the screening I attended the sound mix was horrible. I could barely hear the dialogue half the time, overwhelmed by music and sound effects.
The action scenes were okay, nothing spectacular except for one confrontation that's shown in the trailer.
From Superman to Iron Man, Spiderman to X-Men, superhero movies have to play by the rules of the universe they establish. The Chris Nolan Batman movies go for gritty, plausible realism. No one has superpowers. Batman screws up and gets hurt. But I have to say, it got to a point in The Dark Knight where I stopped suspending my disbelief. The Joker's plans come together so perfectly, and he and his gang are able to do things that I just couldn't believe within the real-world context the director establishes.
I thought Batman Begins was better because it seemed more character-driven, and the Tim Burton movies were okay, not great (I actually like Batman Returns more than the first Batman). To me, nothing's ever topped Batman: The Animated Series for its character-driven portrayal of the Caped Crusader.
My two cents.
Shawn Marshall
Portland, Oregon
Heath Ledger steals the movie, no surprise there. He is absolutely riveting when he's on screen, and it seemed like the audience I was with was rooting more for the Joker than Batman. In a perverse way, he was the only "fun" part of this summer superhero movie.
To me the movie felt too long and overstuffed, with all these characters running back and forth around Gotham City. I think it would have been better to stick to one villain, saving Two-Face for a sequel. I could see the plot twists and betrayals coming a mile away.
It also didn't help that at the screening I attended the sound mix was horrible. I could barely hear the dialogue half the time, overwhelmed by music and sound effects.
The action scenes were okay, nothing spectacular except for one confrontation that's shown in the trailer.
From Superman to Iron Man, Spiderman to X-Men, superhero movies have to play by the rules of the universe they establish. The Chris Nolan Batman movies go for gritty, plausible realism. No one has superpowers. Batman screws up and gets hurt. But I have to say, it got to a point in The Dark Knight where I stopped suspending my disbelief. The Joker's plans come together so perfectly, and he and his gang are able to do things that I just couldn't believe within the real-world context the director establishes.
I thought Batman Begins was better because it seemed more character-driven, and the Tim Burton movies were okay, not great (I actually like Batman Returns more than the first Batman). To me, nothing's ever topped Batman: The Animated Series for its character-driven portrayal of the Caped Crusader.
My two cents.
Shawn Marshall
Portland, Oregon