That Batman Movie

Uh, spoilers for TDK.

So, three weeks late and after probably literally everyone else, I saw The Dark Knight last night.

This was an intensely awesome film. This isn't really news to anyone and all the actors were phenomenal and I think Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was everything everyone said it would be. Actually, I lie--it was more. Way, way more.

I really, really liked it and I want to stress that, because as much as I liked it, wow gaping plot issues.

I think the Bushism complains I'm hearing are pretty off--it's my opinion that Nolan and Co totally did go there, but they did it in a way that shows how well technology like that can be used. How responsibly, by putting it into the hands of someone who is moral enough for it. On the grounds that it made Batman too right-wing, I just don't see it--the movie was way, way tamer than his OMACs--this Batman actually put up a failsafe for someone else to stop him. But I do, however, think it had no place in the second movie.

Batman's Super Control Freak could have been--and, in my opinion, should have been one of the villains in the third movie. I hear a lot 'how do you top ninjas and then Joker?'. Well, you do it by the inner struggle, not that a lot of popcorn-munching wham-bam movie-goers want to see it. So pair that with a physical villain and I think there could be a really great third movie. Two Face, perhaps? After all, we didn't see him go into the ground. . .

I think the Control Freak Radar System would've made an awesome villain, because it's one of Batman's biggest struggles is 'how far is too far for the greater good' and 'when does surveillance become tyranny'.

Against the Joker, a weapon so high tech just doesn't work for me. I wanted a more visceral show down between the pair--not necessarily a fight scene, but more of that play. Reducing that to show an aspect of Batman's inner conflict that had previously gotten five minutes of screen time was a large loss. The movie would have been much, much better if that idea had been held off until the third film--or if it was introduced towards the end as a build for the third.

The movie didn't go deep enough, and for a two and a half hour film I expected it to go pretty deep. While it definitely didn't get anywhere near the Spider-Man Problem of having way too much going on, it started to tread down that path. I don't think any action sequences would've needed to have been sacrificed--thus keeping the Wham-Bam-Thank-You-Director crowd happy--to accomplish a deeper, more thoughtful film.

All in all, I thought so much of that movie was a bit rushed--I had no idea the Joker saying once for Batman to unmask was such a big deal until twenty minutes later when Batman was angsting about it. I didn't feel particularly threatened by the Joker's demands until the judge and commissioner died. I think a lot of the development was shallow--why couldn't we see Joker waltzing into the hospital and planting the bombs or get a few glimpses of him working everyone behind the scenes? A lot of the main plot came across vague and confusing.

But fuck, did Ledger steal the show, imo. Good God, that was an amazing acting job--that scene in the police station? Totally gave me chills.

Maybe I'm being too picky--my husband laughed at me on the way home because of how I can't just enjoy something without thinking it to death.