Well I just had to write a little about this movie. It was an absolute epic and not just due to the 2 hour and 40 minutes of roll time. A roller coaster of emotion. A perfect mix of story, dialogue, characters and action all melded into one. Don't be fooled by the PG-13 rating. The story alone is way too involved to be comprehended by kids and there won't be enough action sequences and "hero" moments to keep them entertained. For the mature adult, however, there is a goldmine of enjoyment waiting to be uncovered.
Fantastic performance from the late Heath Ledger who takes a familiar character and makes him his own. It's a dark, disturbing but complicated villain who is both a genius and insane at the time. Aaron Eckhart is also perfectly cast as Harvey Dent. Gotham's white knight. He brings an air of politician, cop and gentleman all rolled into one as well as a darker side. The fact that both these two characters alone have so much detail in the character should show you the complexity of the movie. Gary Oldman also does a great job as Chief Gordon. Compare him to his roles in Leon umm I mean The Professional and The Fifth Element (two of my fav movies) and it illustrates his versatility of playing the smart and humble guy. Much more praise and focus should be given out to The Batman himself, Christian Bale.
Unfortunately there is not enough Bruce in this movie. Just a few rare glimpses of him. His back story was firmly established as the focus of Batman Begins and so now we see a more subtle development of his character. Bale seems to be suffering from his own success in that having always put in great performances and not been recognized means it is now hard to label a current performance as Oscar worthy as he always has had high standards. I suspect he may earn one of those "this movie wasn't great but you have been a great actor in a lot of other movies so here is an Oscar" Oscars that actors get after a while in the movie biz.
Another odd thing about the movie is that it is all so...light. Especially compared to Batman Begins. I wonder if this is to subtly show the change in Gotham from crime ridden to practically crime-free. It is hard to tell. It doesn't really affect the movie either way so I give my full recommendation in going to see this. You will not be disappointed.
3 comments:
Good discussion of the film, man. It was remarkable. I read somewhere about the change in Gotham, and the tech people on the film said the change was exactly for the reason you suggest. To show that Batman had inspired and helped facilitate a cleaned-up city.
Well I'm glad I picked up on that then! I thought it was also cool to have the "other" batmans. Were they ever in the comics?
I don't recall ever seeing those people, but he certainly did inspire other heroes. That may have been the point they were making.
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