(no subject)

[quigonejinn]

So. Probably one of the most intricately and impressively plotted movies I've seen in a long time. And there's competent villainy! I appreciate competent villiany! And subtle little knif-shanks at the PRC, and references to British imperialism in Burma/Hong Kong.

I appreciate these things.

I appreciate all of these things. Really. Especially the bit with the Joker setting it up so that Harvey could hear Rachel die? I exclaimed "NICE!" in the theater, and I'm pretty sure that's why the people int he row behind me were so eager to get away from me when the movie was done. XD And the bit with the ferries was very, very well-executed. Heads and shoulders and a torso above Batman Begins.

On the other hand:

JESUS FUCK, MOTHERFUCKERS. THE NOLANS PRETTY MUCH FAILED AT EVERYTHING WHERE YOU KNEW THE NAMES OF THE PEOPLE TALKING. ANVIL MOVIE IS ANVILLY. ANVIL MOVIE HAS ANVILLY DIALOGUE. ANVIL MOVIE ANVILS SYMBOLS. PS: ANVIL MOVIE HAS ANVILS.

I mean, the actors did the best that they could, but when they did that white knight bit with Dent early in the movie, I couldn't contain myself and just said, "Oh Christ!" out loud. And made groaning noises when they dropped in the bit about the girl's mother.

And, to be honest, not really that impressed with Heath Ledger. He did a good job, a competent job with what could have totally sucked, but not worth that much hype. It's a showy, fundamentally one note character, so all Ledger had to do was hit one note and sustain it. I also don't think the note was fundamentally so difficult that other comptetent actors couldn't have done it, especially with the aid of the pancake makeup meaning that you don't need to worry so much about perfect control of your facial muscles. And I'm really glad he toned done the eye-wiggling as the movie progressed because it annoyed the fuck out of me.

I like the touch about his backstory being uncertain and unclear, but yeah.

No nuance. +8 for competence, but ceiling limit at 75 because ANVIL MOVIE IS ANVILLY!!!!!!!!!

In fact, there's no nuance or depth to any of the characters. When they make the (let us not discuss how TDK totally fails at women characters; J-Fav, you have permanently raised my expectations and doomed me to a life of disappointment). Harvey Dent strains for it, and I may have seen Even J-Gor, who I love. Deeply. And intensely. And is played by Gray Oldman, so I strained hard to find some, but no. None.

So yeah, I think what I'm trying to say is that my fave movie of all time would result if somebody hired J-Fav to do all the characters and the dialogue and the casting and working with the actors and hired the Nolans to do the action and the villain and plotty sequences. J-Fav would yell at the Nolans to use real characters and would let his talented actors off the chain to do their jobs; the Nolans would write bitchin' action sequences and point out when J-Fav's script and timeline made no fucking sense.

Also: I bet the code for Batman's car is kissing cousins with what Tony has in Jarvis -- tell me that I wasn't the only one laughing at how Bruce's car has "loiter" and "intimidate" the way that other cars have reverse and drive.

Comments

[karabou.livejournal.com]

Who the fuck is J-Fav? o___O

[amonitrate.livejournal.com]

oh my dear, yes. with the anvils. gah. there was like zero characterization in this entire film. I loved the action, the action was win. but gah. Like, there was more characterization in one of IM's little workshop experimentation Tony talking to robots scenes than this entire flick could pull out of its ass.

that really, really annoyed me.

[prosodi.livejournal.com]

Aaron Eckhart seriously does not get enough love in the press for the part he did. Because, I mean. SERIOUSLY.

[jamaillith.livejournal.com]

So you got the point about Batman being A DARK KNIGHT? And how the KNIGHT is DARKEST just before the dawn? And did I mention Batman being a KNIGHT? Who is DARK?

[nolivingman.livejournal.com]

You are correct in every way, and yet they totally got me by making me love Harvey - which I always had a soft spot for him anyway - and by giving me so much of Jim Gordon. OMG JIM. HEART.

And yeah, I agree about Heath/Joker. He was good, but to me, Joker is SO single-note. It gets tiring watching him after a while.

[nextian.livejournal.com]

BASICALLY nolan and the batverse in general have this beautiful, stupid-ass belief that an incredibly shallow investigation of dualism is ANY REPLACEMENT for a real philosophical presentation. GUESS WHAT, once you've said "dark" and "light" and "TWO FACES TO THE COIN" about FIVE THOUSAND TIMES, you've said everything there is to say about "sometimes people are evil and good AT THE SAME TIME."

Not that I overanalyze my comic book movies!

I literally started choking on my popcorn in the mancrush Russian ballerina dumbass scene. It was just so perfect. It was like they were reading off the cuecards for a PSA.

[notexotic.livejournal.com]

RDJ: "Fuck DC Comics." (http://gawker.com/5037992/robert-downey-jr-fuck-dc-comics)

[wyntereyez.livejournal.com]

I loved TDK. I've seen it more than once, and enoyed it each time. Heath Ledger's Joker was chilling, the action sequences were awesome, and Harvey Dent/Two Face is now my favorite villain.

That being said, I agree with you completely. The characters were indeed one-dimensional, and the dialogue pretty much spelled everything out for you. And I got the whole 'white knight/dark knight' thing the first time; did they really need to spell it out? Repeatedly? Plus, I agree with your assessment of Heath Ledger. Yeah, his performance was good. It was even a little scary. But... it was indeed a 'one note' character that any good actor could have pulled off. Though I am glad that at least Heath's final performance is so well received. I just wish it didn't overshadow other deserving actors/characters, like Aaron Eckhart's Harvey, who was my favorite character of the entire movie.

And I don't see what the deal was with Gordon's son, either. I don't remember him being important - or even existing - in the Batman universe, after all. And his wife is named Barbara... if the daughter fits canon and is also named Barbara, then their family consists of two Barbaras, a James/Jim, and a Jimmy. Wow, whatever would they name a third child if they had one?

So, yeah... awesome movie on some levels, not so much on others. I prefer Iron Man.