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The Dark Knight - Movie Review
Jul. 20th, 2008 03:20 pmI woke up early, yes on a Sunday no less and not by intent...and decided having nothing better to do, to brave the heat and humidity to go see The Dark Knight. Some people go to church on Sundays, I go to movies. ( It's not that I don't believe in God, I do, I just don't like religion all that much.)
Was The Dark Knight worth it? Oh yes, and then some. Heck the previews alone were worth the price of admission - they gave us previews of Quantum of Solace, The Watchmen and Terminator: Salvation - all of which look amazing, especially The Watchmen. Previews aside, the Dark Knight may well be the best action/superhero film that I've seen in my life. Although that may not be fair - since the other films really don't aspire to be much more than fun rollercoaster rides. This baby made Iron Man feel like a saturday morning cartoon by comparison, and I enjoyed Iron Man.
To spoil or not to spoil, therein lies the question. If you've read or are at all familar with the stories in the following three Batman graphic novels that more or less redefined the Batman comic series and persona back in the lat 1980s and early 1990s, I probably can't spoil you - you know the story, more or less. Those three graphic novels are: The Long Halloween by Tim Sale and Jeff Loeb (whom I believe Whedon may have gotten to write one of the Buffy issues), The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, and The Dark Knight by Frank Miller. Of the three this film follows the first one the closest - The Long Halloween - provides us with the dual tales of the Joker and Harvey Dent, changing Dent's origin story slightly from original. The Long Halloween may be one of the scariest and grittest noir stories told about an action hero. This film follows it - very closely. If you are not a fan of the noir superhero genre and by "noir" - I mean dark, gritty, and violent with a somewhat nihilistic/cynical look at human nature - you will not like The Dark Knight. If you are a fan of this particular genre, as I am, you will be in movie heaven. To say it is a dark and at times sadistically violent film is an understatement. This is not Superman or Fantastic Four or X-men.
This is the film I thought Tim Burton was planning to make in 1980 and was grossly disappointed. Burton's film, while fun and stylish, pales in comparison to what The Dark Knight manages to accomplish, an accomplishment that falls just a notch or two short of being a masterpiece in this genre. The fact it falls short may have a great deal more to do with the genre it is in than with anything else. Fans of Miller, Moore, and Loeb's Batmans, will however be pleased.
( Spoilers )
Was The Dark Knight worth it? Oh yes, and then some. Heck the previews alone were worth the price of admission - they gave us previews of Quantum of Solace, The Watchmen and Terminator: Salvation - all of which look amazing, especially The Watchmen. Previews aside, the Dark Knight may well be the best action/superhero film that I've seen in my life. Although that may not be fair - since the other films really don't aspire to be much more than fun rollercoaster rides. This baby made Iron Man feel like a saturday morning cartoon by comparison, and I enjoyed Iron Man.
To spoil or not to spoil, therein lies the question. If you've read or are at all familar with the stories in the following three Batman graphic novels that more or less redefined the Batman comic series and persona back in the lat 1980s and early 1990s, I probably can't spoil you - you know the story, more or less. Those three graphic novels are: The Long Halloween by Tim Sale and Jeff Loeb (whom I believe Whedon may have gotten to write one of the Buffy issues), The Killing Joke by Alan Moore, and The Dark Knight by Frank Miller. Of the three this film follows the first one the closest - The Long Halloween - provides us with the dual tales of the Joker and Harvey Dent, changing Dent's origin story slightly from original. The Long Halloween may be one of the scariest and grittest noir stories told about an action hero. This film follows it - very closely. If you are not a fan of the noir superhero genre and by "noir" - I mean dark, gritty, and violent with a somewhat nihilistic/cynical look at human nature - you will not like The Dark Knight. If you are a fan of this particular genre, as I am, you will be in movie heaven. To say it is a dark and at times sadistically violent film is an understatement. This is not Superman or Fantastic Four or X-men.
This is the film I thought Tim Burton was planning to make in 1980 and was grossly disappointed. Burton's film, while fun and stylish, pales in comparison to what The Dark Knight manages to accomplish, an accomplishment that falls just a notch or two short of being a masterpiece in this genre. The fact it falls short may have a great deal more to do with the genre it is in than with anything else. Fans of Miller, Moore, and Loeb's Batmans, will however be pleased.
( Spoilers )
