"The only justice in an unfair world is chance." - "Two Face" Harvey Dent in "The Dark Knight"
It's not the movie that I wanted, but it's the movie I kind of expected.
"The Dark Knight" had the biggest opening of any movie in history (so far). It was much anticipated and greatly hyped.
I was in Hollywood this week and I went to see it at the Arclight Dome Theater in the heart of Hollywood land - somewhat appropriate I think!
The Dome theater is fantastic! You feel that you're actually "in" the movie - unfortunately, for me, "The Dark Knight" was not the movie I wanted to be in!!!
There are some incredible special effects - it was hard to tell the computer graphics from real action - the film gets an "A+" for impact. However, most of the acting was as over the top as the special effects and a lot more effort could have been made in developing a story that made sense as opposed to the obvious "execution" of a script that wanted to keep the story out of the way so that we could get to the important stuff like extreme violence and explosions as quickly and as often as possible!!!
The Batman in this movie appeared to be nothing more than James Bond in a bat-suit. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as to whether Batman was about justice or revenge. In one scene he cold-heartedly drops a villain from several stories up with the intent of breaking his legs, so that he can obtain "information." Yet a few scenes later he takes the higher moral ground and restrains himself from killing the Joker - an obviously insane mass murderer, who by this time had been on a rampage of killing and terrorizing thousands of innocent people.
There were some ridiculous premises to some of the sub plots - the Joker vowed that he wanted to expose Batman's identity and then kill him, yet when an employee of Wayne Industries threatens to reveal Batman's identity, the Joker puts a bounty on his head rather than kidnapping him to get him to talk. By the way, the Joker wields Rocket Launchers, Machine Guns and Explosives throughout the movie - it never dawns on him to use them on Batman???
Gotham City gets locked down in terrorist attacks - but no federal agencies are involved - just the corrupted police force of the city. The inept crisis management portrayed in this movie makes FEMA look like a well-oiled machine!!!
The movie tried to show a more realistic Batman with realistic emotions about realistic situations - but unfortunately Batman comes across as far less than a hero in many situations. In fact, the argument could be made that Gotham City might have been a better place WITHOUT Batman.
The only really heroic act in the movie comes when a convicted killer makes a noble choice about saving lives.
I'd like to warn Hollywood not to let this director re-make "It's A Wonderful Life!"
There are some great scenes and lines in the movie - but they're there despite the script!
I like movies that leave you feeling good about life, encouraged and hopeful. This movie does just the opposite.
It's a movie about an unfair world where there are no absolute values like justice and mercy. It portrays an uncertain world where, as "Two Face" declares - the only justice is chance.
Perhaps it's the movie we want. I really hope it's not the movie we deserve.
"The Dark Knight" had the biggest opening of any movie in history (so far). It was much anticipated and greatly hyped.
I was in Hollywood this week and I went to see it at the Arclight Dome Theater in the heart of Hollywood land - somewhat appropriate I think!
The Dome theater is fantastic! You feel that you're actually "in" the movie - unfortunately, for me, "The Dark Knight" was not the movie I wanted to be in!!!
There are some incredible special effects - it was hard to tell the computer graphics from real action - the film gets an "A+" for impact. However, most of the acting was as over the top as the special effects and a lot more effort could have been made in developing a story that made sense as opposed to the obvious "execution" of a script that wanted to keep the story out of the way so that we could get to the important stuff like extreme violence and explosions as quickly and as often as possible!!!
The Batman in this movie appeared to be nothing more than James Bond in a bat-suit. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as to whether Batman was about justice or revenge. In one scene he cold-heartedly drops a villain from several stories up with the intent of breaking his legs, so that he can obtain "information." Yet a few scenes later he takes the higher moral ground and restrains himself from killing the Joker - an obviously insane mass murderer, who by this time had been on a rampage of killing and terrorizing thousands of innocent people.
There were some ridiculous premises to some of the sub plots - the Joker vowed that he wanted to expose Batman's identity and then kill him, yet when an employee of Wayne Industries threatens to reveal Batman's identity, the Joker puts a bounty on his head rather than kidnapping him to get him to talk. By the way, the Joker wields Rocket Launchers, Machine Guns and Explosives throughout the movie - it never dawns on him to use them on Batman???
Gotham City gets locked down in terrorist attacks - but no federal agencies are involved - just the corrupted police force of the city. The inept crisis management portrayed in this movie makes FEMA look like a well-oiled machine!!!
The movie tried to show a more realistic Batman with realistic emotions about realistic situations - but unfortunately Batman comes across as far less than a hero in many situations. In fact, the argument could be made that Gotham City might have been a better place WITHOUT Batman.
The only really heroic act in the movie comes when a convicted killer makes a noble choice about saving lives.
I'd like to warn Hollywood not to let this director re-make "It's A Wonderful Life!"
There are some great scenes and lines in the movie - but they're there despite the script!
I like movies that leave you feeling good about life, encouraged and hopeful. This movie does just the opposite.
It's a movie about an unfair world where there are no absolute values like justice and mercy. It portrays an uncertain world where, as "Two Face" declares - the only justice is chance.
Perhaps it's the movie we want. I really hope it's not the movie we deserve.
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