Posted by Helen on: 07.21.2008 /
We went to see The Dark Knight (the latest Batman movie) on Saturday.
I’ll do my best not to discuss important details although judging by the returns for this weekend everyone’s already seen it :)
Overall I was impressed: I thought it mostly justified the high ratings. The Joker was the best bad guy I remember seeing in a movie. He was the most interesting character in the movie (imo) because a) he was creative, albeit it in a horribly nasty way and b) we never really found out why he did what he did. (Or if we did, I missed it)
It’s sad that The Joker actor, Heath Ledger, died after making this. Actually I forgot he was the actor while I was watching it so that didn’t affect my view of the movie.
I’m glad Michael Caine was in it - I enjoy watching him.
There are parts where the plot seemed a bit disjointed/I got a bit lost as to what was happening. Maybe it was me; maybe it could have flowed a bit better. I felt like the timing was good - it stayed exciting/suspenseful throughout.
The movie is about good and evil and whether people do good or evil when pushed to their emotional limit. Good was implicitly defined as caring about/helping others; evil was furthering one’s own interests at the expense of others. I don’t recall any overt definitions of good. Or any mentions of God, which is interesting since a lot of movies do bring God in at least in passing mentions. Often desperate people pray in movies but I don’t think any desperate people in this movie did.
I don’t enjoy watching violence - this was about at my limit of what I’d watch. It wasn’t too graphic, at least. I really don’t understand how other people enjoy watching people hurt each other (I know it’s fake, but it’s intended to look real and it usually does).
I’ve never been sure about Batman as a hero because he’s very violent. I was glad to hear concerns expressed by him/his friends in this movie about whether he might turn into what he opposes. One of The Joker’s motives which did come out was his desire to make good people do evil things. He was curious - which can be a good thing - but not in this case because he was curious to see what people do when you’re hurting them or they’re afraid you’re about to.
Did you see it? What did you think?
Comment by: Craig
1 07/21/08 6:35 AM | Comment Link |Yes, I saw it yesterday…I really enjoyed it. The first movie did a great job of setting this one up (it could not have stood on it’s own) and this one went places I wouldn’t have expected in a superhero movie (Unlike Helen, I do like batman as a superhero, mainly because he is less far-fetched). I was also impressed by Nolan bringing the complexity of good/evil to the table…the “good” people/ideas weren’t 100% good and the “evil” people/ideas were 100% evil…it just wasn’t as clean cut as you might expect from a super-hero movie. I think this might have muddied up the plot a bit and may have contributed to it being a bit hard to follow at times…but there’s always time for a second viewing…I’m going to see it again in IMAX!
Comment by: Helen
2 07/22/08 5:42 AM | Comment Link |Craig, I like my heroes totally unrealistic. Except I do like how he changes his voice - voices are very recognizable (which fascinates me), so there’s no way people who Clark Kent wouldn’t recognize Superman has Clark Kent’s voice.
I should say, I like Batman better than I did before the recent couple of movies about him. They’re successfully marketing him to me :)
The way they dealt with good and evil and the complexity of those in humans was one of my favorite parts of the movie.
Seeing it in IMAX sounds awesome!
Comment by: Bob
3 07/23/08 7:58 PM | Comment Link |Just saw it today. Couldn’t get into imax but enjoyed it on the normal screen. Very cool and thought provoking. Much better than the campy 90’s versions. I’m wondering where it will go in the next film. Helen have a great vacation!