well, it’s been a few days, and i’ve managed to see “the dark knight” twice in 24 hours. i went and saw it at midnight with some friends, and went again friday night (coincidentally, i saw one of the people i went with at midnight, too, haha).
first of all, i just want to say that it might have been the best movie i’ve seen in a long long time. definitely goes in my top five. if you’ve read my blog before, you know that i’m not a comic book person, but i do like the movies. however, this movie went far above and beyond a “comic book movie” (think “iron man,” “the incredible hulk”). in my opinion, it was on the edge of being practically a psychological thriller. my boyfriend, who is a comic aficionado, absolutely loved it, too.
according to this article on CNN ShowBiz, the movie took in $155.34 million this weekend, making it the top grossing film for opening weekend so far, finally beating out the idiocy that was “spiderman-3.” i’m still mad about that - they made two awesome movies and then beat the pulp out of the third one until it was barely passable as a film, let alone a succession of the “spiderman” films. on opening night, “dark knight” took in $66.4 million, again beating out “S3.”
if we’re going in terms of rating, i give this film 4.5 stars out of 5. i’d really like to give it the full 5, but some parts were a little long/slow. the reason they were long, though, is because of all the story that had to be explained - and they did it very, very well. let’s go with a 4.9 - it was really just that good. it was good for the comic fan and for the non-fan (me), and explained enough to have it make sense to me, but left enough open that i had to do some research to understand some things, like why the joker told a few different stories about how he got his scars (because he’s just insane and has nothing to lose).
from here on out, spoilers are guaranteed. so don’t read further if you don’t want to be spoiled.
the plot: amazing. i was thoroughly impressed. it really sets up the show for you, giving you all of the characters and making you really like them. it starts out with the joker already basically running the mob scene in gotham, but they are not happy about it. the city slowly breaks down as he continues to take control of everything. there’s a lot less action than in the first film, but that doesn’t make it any the lesser. i was definitely impressed. especially since the joker ended up winning, with corrupting harvey dent into two-face, making gotham’s white knight the darkest of them all, besides himself.
characters: christian bale definitely creates an outstanding batman, flanked by a wonderful array of sidekicks in michael caine, morgan freeman, maggie gyllenhaal, and aaron eckhart (to an extent). he’s beautiful and talented, proven yet again. he was really just awesome. batman really ran the gamut of emotions in this film, experiencing great highs and the lowest of lows.
i am SO glad they replaced katie holmes with maggie gyllenhaal. they look a lot alike, but maggie is just way more talented. my boyfriend even asked me if i was sure they had changed the actress - that’s how much they look alike. maggie really did an amazing job - even though she died, she was amazing. i thought it was really fitting that her character died - it seemed like everyone was disappointed, but we all know that batman doesn’t have a girlfriend/wife as an adult, so she had to go sometime. this is what really made batman the “dark” knight of the film, and it was good. i loved that the joker told him dent’s location and said it was hers - it truly made the joker the sadistic character he was meant to be.
aaron eckhart was a fantastic harvey dent - turned - two-face. i couldn’t imagine a better actor for the job. he did so well as harvey dent, and there was so much foreshadowing to him becoming two-face. when he was around, it seemed like every other word was “face” or he was flipping that two-headed coin of his. this was a lot clearer the second time i saw the film, even though i had known what was coming the first time. his two-face was scary, too - i knew christopher nolan had said it would be unlike any other two-face we’ve ever seen, and he definitely lived up to that statement. it was a little CGI-y for me, but still terrifying and enough to keep me rooted to my seat. i’m praying that he’s not really dead because i’ll be so sad if two-face, one of the “big baddies” for batman, only gets a half hour in such an epic movie dedicated partly to his creation.
told you it was scary, didn’t i? eckhart is amazing.
michael caine, gary oldman, and morgan freeman all stood out as incredible actors, like always. they provided the perfect sidekicks to bale, and did a lot in their own right. they really helped the character of batman flesh out and stand as a force to be reckoned with.
and then we come to the joker, our wonderful heath ledger (RIP). ledger played the joker the way everyone has always wanted to see him. he was the perfect mix of funny and sadistic, often at the same time (early on, he does a magic trick where he sticks a pencil into a table, eraser side up, and slams a mobster’s head into it, and then the pencil is “magically gone”). the chemistry between ledger and bale is amazing and often a little frightening, as they do their dance to see who’s finally going to win out. the sad part is that the joker does end up winning, but he’s locked up for another time. even though ledger is gone, i’m sure they’ll bring out another fabulous actor to fill his shoes because that’s such an important role. ledger, practically unrecognizable underneath his makeup (except for the one scene where he doesn’t wear any and it’s scarily familiar even with the scarring), really plays the joker as he was meant to be, set on wreaking havoc upon gotham with no strings to be pulled and nothing to lose, almost causing batman to lose his mind and causing harvey dent to completely lose his. this is the joker as everyone has always wanted to see him, and he truly made the film the incredible epic that it was.
although the movie was nearly three hours long, it was completely worth it. however, it is rated PG-13 for a reason, and i don’t think people should take younger children (there were a LOT of scared elementary school kids at the midnight showing). it may be batman, but it’s not a fun family film - like i said, it’s practically a psychological thriller and is not meant to be taken lightly. it will emotionally drain you if you’re paying attention at all, so don’t plan on doing anything else except sleeping or discussing it with friends.
in other news, there was a TWILIGHT trailer at the midnight show!! i think we might have gotten the wrong trailer reel, haha, because no one else who saw dark knight saw this trailer, but it was absolutely awesome. makes me even more thrilled for the movie in december!!
i haven’t been able to find it on YouTube except for this stupid E!T link, but here’s the link to it on Yahoo! Movies: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810010670/video/8858452
unfortunately, there wasn’t a harry potter trailer with “the dark knight,” but there was a “mummy 3″ trailer, so it looks like HP will be with the new mummy. i loved the first two mummy films, but i’m afraid this is going to be a disappointment. oh well. it’ll have the HP trailer, and it comes out in a few weeks, so that’ll be nice.
drink from last summer and send out a bad slushie instead.
