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I was afraid that I’d be disappointed in The Dark Knight. In my experience, when everyone is in histrionics over a movie, it can never measure up to the high expectations I have for it. I was afraid that Heath Ledger’s performance was being blown out of proportion due to his untimely death.
I was wrong. Believe the hype. Everything you’ve heard is true.
For the past few years, we’ve been drowning in superhero movies. This one not only sets the bar for the genre, but transcends it. This is a brilliant film regardless of its genre.
I’m not going to go into great detail here, because I assume you all will see this movie. Christian Bale is back as Batman, and though he does a fine job, the star of this show is undoubtedly Ledger’s Joker. This is a villain unlike any we’ve seen before. He is thoroughly uninterested in money and power, the usual drugs of choice for Gotham’s crime lords. He is an anarchist who thrives on chaos. He relishes evil, and his greatest pleasure is in revealing the capacity for evil that resides in all of us, especially in those who seem to be incorruptible. He is the most terrifying sort of villain: he is completely insane, absolutely brilliant, he has nothing to lose, and really, nothing to gain. As he himself puts it, he is the immovable object to Batman’s unstoppable force.
This film explores with unflinching candor the human capacity for evil. But perhaps hitting closer to home is its depiction of good people faced with overwhelming pressure to compromise. It is impossible to miss the parallels to our nation’s current struggle against terrorism. To what depths will we sink to eradicate this threat? As Batman says, “I’ve seen what I would have to become to fight men like him.” Another character, before fully realizing the import of his words, says, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
I could go on an on. Suffice it to say that you must see this film.
A word of warning to parents out there: Dark Knight achieved a PG13 rating because there is no sexuality, no foul language that I can recall, and the violence is, for the most part, insinuated. There’s no blood onscreen–which, if you ask me, is the most effective way to induce squirming in an audience. What I imagine will always be worse than what you can show. The tension is interminable and at times, almost unbearable. We realized at the end that we had been tensed and ready to sprint for the exits through the entire thing, for fear that the Joker would step through the screen and practice his chaos theory on us. This is not a movie for kids. But it is the best movie of the year so far.
Hey, it was our anniversary weekend. We were child-free, so we saw a couple movies. Lay off!
I didn’t hate the first Hellboy; I thought it was different and fun; so when I saw that this new one got an 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, I thought, “Wow! Better see it!” I left the theater feeling confused and insecure, wondering what the critics all saw in it that I missed.
The movie begins with a flashback to Hellboy’s childhood, with his adoptive father, Professor Broom, reading him a bedtime story which sets the stage for the film’s plot. It is illustrated with an imaginative animation sequence, but the child actor who plays Hellboy is atrocious. He must be somebody’s kid or something, because he was painful to watch.
Returning to present day, Hellboy (played by Ron Perlman, who is really magnificent in this role) and Liz (Selma Blair), his pyrokinetic girlfriend, have moved in together and are now a bickering, tiresome couple. His unrequited pining for her in the first movie was much more fun to watch. Abe, the blue fish guy, is still around, and they are joined by a new character: Johann Krauss, a German ectoplasmic being who inhabits an old-school deep sea diving suit. He is assigned to keep tabs on Hellboy, so of course, friction ensues.
The villain is an elf-prince who wants to destroy humanity for destroying the world. (Yes, there’s a strong environmental undercurrent. Am I the only one who’s tired of being scolded when what I paid for was to be entertained?) He’s actually pretty fun to watch. He’s a very bouncy fighter with a cool, collapsible spear.
I just realized that at this rate, this review is going to take more time than I’m willing to give. Let’s shift to ultra-condensed mode:
The movie is stuffed to the gills with fantastical creatures and scary beasties. But it fails to feel original, with several scenes looking as though they were copied straight out of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. Guillermo del Toro’s touch is apparent, with many of the creatures reminding me of Pan’s Labyrinth. But visual impact is empty without equally strong storytelling. Marty put it best when he said, “By the time it was halfway through, I didn’t care what happened anymore.” The film was 2 hours long, but it felt like 3.
Del Toro is usually a master at weaving a good storyline, but this effort fell flat. Let’s hope it’s because he has “The Hobbit” on his plate, and he’s putting his best efforts into it.
And who knows? Maybe we’d have liked it better if we hadn’t just seen the best movie of the year the day before.
Our annual trip to Indy to visit family and friends is coming soon. If you fall into the category of being our family or friend, we’d like to spend time with you.
We’ll be in Marion July 11-14 and in Fishers July 15-21. If you’re available during those dates, please CHECK OUR CALENDAR for open times and email us or post a reply to this blog. We’d love to share a meal with you or just grab a coke – we don’t drink coffee but if you’re lucky we’ll buy you one.
Hope to see you soon!
