Overall, Nolan brilliantly maintained tension throughout the film, a difficult task for a 2 1/2 hour flick. I did feel it was a tad long. We could have done without the China bounty hunting subplot, however awesome it was to watch. The cell phone sonar tool was also a little too gimmicky and seemed to only be there to give Morgan Freeman something to do. The music was brilliant - that "thingsarereallytensewhatsgonnahappenohmygod!!!!" screeching noise was used perfectly. I didn't like the IMAX format, sadly. It was too hard to tell what was going on, having to turn my neck to see from stage left to stage right, and the Fenway-esque legroom (as in, none at all) for 2 and 1/2 straight hours bordered on unbearable (I needed an "act three stretch"). TDK also suffered a little from the "two endings" problem, as we jumped from the Joker vs Batman final showdown right to the Two-Face vs Batman/Gordon final showdown.
We were all wrong about Heath Ledger. Myself included. How could you blame us though? He hadn't done anything approaching this level of acting before. Admittedly, anyone would look creepy with that make-up. But what impressed me was that perfect Joker voice. Where did that come from? It didn't sound anything like Heath, but it also didn't sound forced at all. We saw no Heath and heard no Heath, and that complete disappearance into character is what made him so frightening - the Joker essentially became a real person. What's more, the lack of a definitive Joker origin made him more like a force of nature than a man - not unlike the "incorruptible symbol" of Batman. This Joker is immediately put into the debate of the best film villain ever.
How can Gary Oldman look so different from movie to movie? I can't believe James Gordon, Sirius Black, and the villain from The Professional were played by the same actor. And then when you see Gary Oldman on the red carpet, you're like "so that's what he looks like." It can't be all haircuts and mustaches, can it? Shouldn't be possible.
My fasting from any TDK trailers, commercials, or images appears to have paid off. I have read complaints that people knew Gordon hadn't died because scenes of him in the trailers had yet to be shown in the film.
IMDB informed me that Nestor Carbonell, who plays Gotham's mayor, was in fact the parodical Batmanuel in the live action version of The Tick.
The disappearing pencil trick is right up there with Indiana Jones preempting a sword fight with a revolver as among the best morbid gags in movie history.
Any appearance by William Fichtner (the shotgun-wielding bank manager, also of Equilibrium, Black Hawk Down and Prison Break fame) is worth noting.
Since TDK broke every record ever for movie revenue and our culture expects action movies to come in trilogies, a third movie seems unavoidable. That's both bad and good. Good because Nolan, Bale, and Co. obviously know how to put together masterpieces of Batman theater, and it's silly to think they couldn't do it a third time. Bad because TDK was so insanely, genre-transcending good (currently the best movie ever per IMDB), the third installment just has to disappoint. I mean, what could be thrown at Batman that's more challenging and entertaining than the Joker's chaos-for-sake-of-chaos scheme? I'm not sure, but let's run down some possible baddies:
- The Penguin. I think including the Penguin would be a must for this reason - this Batman has yet to face an enemy with the monetary resources to match Bruce Wayne. Drop the DeVito "deformed short guy" angle and make the Penguin a billionaire businessman / uber crime lord. Put him at the top of the pyramid, running or recruiting other baddies. Have him use money to control cops and judges the way the Joker used fear. Oh, and he has to be played by Paul Giamatti. That's non-negotiable.
- The Riddler. I think it was Gary Oldman who said The Riddler would be next. I'm not really thrilled about this because the Riddler just seems too much like The Joker. And there's nothing really that interesting about him, anyway. I mean, he asks questions. Ooooo. Alright, so in the comics he also sets traps ala the Saw movies. But I don't want this beautiful franchise to turn into a ripoff of gore fests.
- Catwoman. With Rachel Dawes dead, it'd make sense to introduce a new Batman love interest. My biggest worry here is that Halle Barry's crap-fest version might be too fresh in our minds. And she wouldn't have to be a villain - perhaps a rival vigilante instead.
- Bane. In the comics, Bane is unique for being the one villain who truly defeated Batman. In the Knightfall storyline, he snapped Batman's back like a twig and put him out of commission for an extended period of time. I believe a former Robin and some guy named Azrael donned the Batsuit while Bruce was rehabbing. I'm not sure how this could work on film. It'd be a great way to end a 2nd installment - ala Han Solo in carbonite - but what of a final part of a trilogy? You'd have to throw the back-breaking in the middle and have a long time lapse instead. I'm not sure that'd work well at all.
- Two-Face. Is he dead? Even if he's not, what does he have left to do? Kill more mobsters, I guess. But wouldn't that feel like the last third of TDK all over again?
- The Joker. I think - think - there's a way to include The Joker. Have Batman visit him in Arkham for some reason, and we don't see his face. But we do hear Mark Hamill speaking. Hmmm? I mean, even if they brought back The Joker full-force, even played exceptionally well by some other actor, what would be the point? Batman already met that challenge - we need to give him a new one.
- Harley Quinn. Throwing in the Joker's Animated Series-created girlfriend might be cool if done correctly.
- Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Clayface - way too gimicky for Nolan's (relatively) grounded, realistic Bat-verse. Stay far away.
1 comment:
Personally, I'd like to see Jim "Hot Pocket" Gaffigan as the Penguin. My other suggestion (and this one is serious), is Phillip Seymour Hoffman for Penguin. As much as I respect Giamatti and as great as he would be in a tuxedo, I prefer Hoffman. Compare his performances in Charlie Wilson's War, Along Came Polly, and Capote (for which he won an Oscar). Heck, look at his bit part in The Big Lebowski; that's a total of four wildly different characters. Most of Giamatti's characters are the same person with varying neurotics. Thus ends my longest comment EVAR.
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