The Dark Knight…an OVERRATED film
Posted by Matt Rosenberg on March 24, 2009 at 6:00 am
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REDDITSo I watched the Dark Knight in IMAX, on regular screen, and on Blue Ray and in that order. The hype for the first time I saw it was through the roof. From the fan point of view I was, for lack of a better word, gitty to see this movie. Along with the rest of America, I was beyond excited to see this highly anticipated film; to see the post humous performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker, and Bale back as the badass Batman character he created in Batman Begins. Upon leaving the theater (IMAX) I had many thoughts running through my mind…
…Heath Ledger was awesome but what was the deal with all the Oscar buzz. He is a fantastic and talented actor but I wasn’t quick to give him the Oscar unlike many of my friends, and pretty much all of America. His role was broken down like this; go get painted to look as creepy as possible, wet your hair, and act deranged and crazy. He’s an actor, he’s supposed to be able to do that. Don’t get me wrong he nailed the part, but that just doesn’t provide a good enough reason to award him an Oscar. Will he be remembered for his role, absolutely, but whoever played that part was going to be remembered for the role; the forever comparison to Nicholson and just the sheer magnitude of the role. Ask yourself this, could anyone else besides Russel Crowe have been Maximus, could anyone else have played Rocky besides Stallone, could anyone have been Forrest Gump besides Tom Hanks? Now, could any else have been the Joker, and the answer is YES. Personally, I thought Daniel Day Lewis should have been the Joker, but that’s another post for another day. Just look at that face…it was born to be the Joker .
However, the issue of the movie was not Heath Ledger. The issue of the movie and why it was overrated is that the story was good, but not great. The interesting life story of Batman captured the first film. There really was very littler substance to this movie; it was just a good guy trying to catch a bad guy. Batman Begins was a better movie than this.
I constantly found myself comparing Batman Begins to the Dark Knight. I thought the Dark Knight was just too hectic and unrealistic. Nolan built this new Gotham world in Batman Begins on platform that it was a real city. The Dark Knight loses that as the Joker does just does too much in too short a span of time. He’s in too many places, has too many people following his plan to perfection. Think about it, if one minor tid bit of his plan doesn’t go right than his entire scheme is finished. And yes, despite what he thinks, the Joker is a schemer. He schemes to ruin Dent and beat Batman.
Another aspect that bothered me was that the fight scenes were too confusing to follow. In the final scene when Batman dives into the under construction building with sonar, the editing is too choppy. It’s too much to follow and in fact watching it on IMAX made me dizzy. Watching the film on the regular screen was a much better movie experience. Nolan deviated from what he achieved in Batman Begins.
Batman Begins was cerebral, intelligent, cool, original, and simply awesome. Still the best of all classic comic movies. The movie is driven by Batman, not the villain. That is the biggest thing Nolan lost in the Dark Knight. The movie is really about the Joker and yes, his scheming. In addition, Dent was a completely unrealistic Two Face, Maggie Gyllenhaal was not as good looking as every character made her out to be, and there was no Wayne Manor or Batcave.
I will leave with these words, the Dark Knight is a very cool movie. It’s just not as good as people are saying. Nearly 3 hours and constant chaos. Not enough story and not enough Batman. Hopefully, Nolan goes back to basics for the third. All we know is right now, is that he is shooting the next film entirely in IMAX.
Let us know what you think. Show me how I am wrong or how I am right. Thanks
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ok so i’m gonna have to disagree with you. while you bring up some valid points about ledger’s performance as memorable for the role and maggie gyllenhall really not being that hot (haha) , i feel like you only are brushing the surface of the movie in your judgements of it.
ultimately, as nolan’s second batman film, he had a choice. he could either try to upstage his previously awesome batman begins, or he could try to approach Gotham from a different angle. i can see how he wouldn’t want two of his movies being too similar to each other, because then one overshadows the other instead of being appreciated individually for its differences.
one might say that this movie was completely fueled by the joker rather than batman, but sometimes the audience can learn more about the main character by watching his reactions rather than his actions.
if you look deeper into the historical context of a joker (or a jester, particularly as the character is depicted in Shakespeare’s plays,) he is a truth-teller– wise enough to act like a fool in order to reveal what no one else could about the king or other members of the royal court. (kinda like when you tell ur friend something mean but true and then disguise it as a joke). this idea of a joker exposing the “truth” in people coincides with the joker’s role in this film. he is constantly putting batman in situations that make him question himself, his character, and whether he wants to continue on this martyr path. also, the joker is able to break Dent’s squeaky clean character down enough to reveal the evil inside of him. The joker literally takes half of Dent’s face off. Talk about exposure!This idea is further supported during the scene with the boats. The whole time the joker is expecting one of the boats to blow up the other, because, as he says, everyone’s true nature is evil and people are always gonna put themselves first. when the joker realizes that perhaps he is alone in his darkness (no pun intended), the audience is able to get a deeper view into a person with a lost soul (and we almost feel bad for him! that takes talent.)
SO…the joker drives the action in order to reveal the other character’s reactions, and allow the audience to get to know their hero through a different lens. what we see in each of these characters i think is up to interpretation. but i don’t think it is fair to compare this movie to batman begins, because he’s trying a more sophisticated approach here– through a character that i couldn’t take my eyes off of. could it have been better? of course, no movie is perfect. but to deny its depth and interesting approach would be to place it in line with other 2 dimmensional comic book movies – which I think we can both agree it isn’t.
@Nancy,
We appreciate your feedback. I just want to say it was extremely insightful and great read. I do agree with on various points you bring up.
The meaning/purpose behind the Joker’s plan is brilliant. I think trying to expose an saint like figure as Dent drove a big part of the film.
Additionally, like you, I feel that the ending of the movie was easily the best part. And, it was the LEAST violent of any scene. So technically, the most simple scene was the best part. It was the most cerebral and most original. Somehow, the darkest of people (criminals) were internally good. Ironic huh.
However, I just don’t think the film making aspect was as good as people think. The film making aspect took away from the movie experience. I got dizzy and thought there was too much going on. But remember, I do want people to think I didn’t enjoy it because I did. Bale is an incredible actor and Ledger nailed the part of the Joker. The Batman character created in this movie is a legendary figure. One for the ages.
I enjoyed the movie but did not jump on the bandwagon like a lot of people. It was dark and complex and very character driven which I liked a lot. Some of the directing and storytelling got to me though. The action scenes were shot too close up and cut too quickly. Watching it in Imax I was getting a bit sick and got confused at times of what was going on. I also thought the cat and mouse games between Batman and the Joker got ridiculous. I mean, the Joker knew he was going to be arrested so he already had a bomb placed in a guys stomach beforehand? Come on. Also the scene at the end with the boats was not needed. Could have done without it and let the movie run longer than it needed to be. Good movie, not great, loved the dark feel and excellent acting although I though Maggie was underused.
I can’t add anything to Nancy’s excellent discourse, so pardon me if this feels vague and dumbed-down…
I will give you the action scenes bit, as that was something I complained about in BATMAN BEGINS. Nolan needs to take a cue from Snyder. And yes, I think Maggie was way underused, wish she had had the screentime of Katie Holmes. But I think the cat-and-mouse bit was pretty logical in its chaotic way. I think it does strech it a bit, but I can see something like that happening. I don’t see (to pinpoint the jailscene) the difference between that and what we see in the OCEAN’S movie, THE ITALIAN JOB, HEAT… And yes, anyone could have played teh Joker, but no one could have made it so… HIS, you know? I mean, he disappears, and not just because of the makeup, IMHO. DDL would have been absolutely haunting yes, and maybe Johnny Depp would have been insanely good in the role… but I don’t think they would have done it better. Nicholson’s Joker, brilliant as it were, was more cartoonish, and I think that’s why Heath is considered “better”. I don’t, I just think they’re very different.
I agree, this won’t be history’s greatest action thriller. In that aspect, it is a bit overrated. But I think it deserves every praise it gets, minus the fanboyish “OMG it’s like WTF, so cool I peed, LOL” praise.
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@Juan Carlo
A couple things, one I completely agree with you that Ledger was better than Nicholson. Jack’s was more cartoonish. Well, the world Burton created was more cartoonish. So the role fit. Ledger was haunting and disturbing in a more real setting. He did a great job. They both did. My reference to Nicholson was not to compare them but merely to introduce the idea that people will do so. And that, will make the role more timeless as years from now we might still be having the same discussion.
I also agree with the fanboyish jargon that its getting. Your feedback is appreciated. Please tune back into the themoviebanter.com daily to discuss other movie topics, and of course for more BANTER
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First no one reads the comics about Batman and Joker. Recently in the graphic novel “Joker” they compare the Joker and Gotham to a disease…that there is no cure for, only a Batman. Think about it without a Batman could there be a Joker?
The story was absolutely incredible and there were some over the top parts and it did drag on a bit to long but how could you say the movie is about the Joker. The first movie explained how Bruce Wayne is Batman and the “mask” is Bruce Wayne. It’s about the development and character of The Batman. Which as you can tell by the end, its whatever Gotham needs him to be.
Plus how could you say Harvey Dent is unrealistic. He was a man who lost everything, his career crashed, face was burnt, and fiance killed. As you know justice “is” blind and that was his MO with the coin flip.
Also for some sweet Batman graphic novels to get everyone more awesome I would recommend “Joker”, “The Killing Joke”, “The Long Halloween”, and “Hush”
Rock on
You wrong dawg. That shiznit was gangsta yo. One love. Blah blah
Interesting to hear your point of view on this Matt. I remember entering the cinemas to see this film carrying a huge bag of hype and critics reviews, but once the film had ended, i left the cinema saying “was that it”. It was a good film, but i think too many people just followed everyone else’s line, and just played like it was the best film ever. I myself did not think it was the best. Many things could have been better, Nolan did do a great job, but he is no genius.
Heath was the best part of the film, i found myself just on the edge of my seat waiting for his next scene, not even caring about what Bruce Wayne was up to. And please dont even get me started with Batmans voice.
It was a great film, but it wasnt the best…
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I wish I had more to say to you but other than I completely agree, there isn’t much. I found that most people did feel the same we did. Just expected more and guess disappointed because of all the hype. Thanks
best. movie. ever.