I haven’t written a movie review/ramble in forever and as I had the misfortune to see The Dark Knight again over the holidays, I thought it’d be a nice way to restart this little blogging tradition even though most everyone’s thoughts have been typed for months now. I should warn you, however, that surprisingly I’m not much of a fan. But let’s talk about the stuff I did enjoy.

The Joker. Period. I’m not really a big Heath Ledger fan. In fact, I think the only other thing I’ve seen him in was Brokeback Mountain, which just goes to show how eclectic my movie watching is. But anyway, I thought he was brilliant. Every single scene he was in I absolutely loved. The way he was written, the way he talked, his laugh, his behavior. Spot on. Not a single complaint, which is saying a lot from me. I’m only saddened he’ll never be in a sequel.

I adored pretty much the entire returning cast. I still wish Caine would play Alfred a bit more primly, but I have definitely warmed up to him since Batman Begins. Oldman and Freeman absolutely shined, in my opinion. And honestly, if the whole movie had just been those three making jokes at Bruce Wayne’s expense I’d probably have far less hate over it.

I was very impressed with Aaron Eckhart’s Dent and was very shocked by the Two-Face face! I should also mention that when first seeing this, I was completely spoiler-free and was totally surprised that Two-Face was in the movie. (Especially given things like this are usually accidentally discovered by me and that’s never not annoying and sad.) In particular I was very pleased with the scene in the hospital with the Joker. I was happy to see some foreshadowing in the beginning with the coin and such, too. Though, I did have a few minor complaints that I’ll get into in a bit.

And lastly before I start the quibbling, I did enjoy Bale . . . partially. I still think he does an amazing Bruce, he’s just the right mix of smart buisnessman slash philanthropic good Samaritan slash oblivious playboy that I absolutely love watching Christian go to town with. I was also pleased with the direction the film took in terms of Batman’s view on Gotham — this undying faith that it’s worth saving (e.g., the “social experiment” on the ferries and Batman’s firm belief that they would inevitably do the right thing). And yet [Read more...]