Skip to main content

The Dark Knight Movie - My Thoughts

The much talked about The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan's sequel to 2005's, Batman Begins, continues to bring an edgy realism to the Batman legend. I've been anticipating this film since the announcement of Heath Ledger being cast as the Joker because, as I mentioned here, I had every confidence that Heath would (and could) redefine this character.

If you're looking for reviews or story outlines this isn't the post for you - especially if you haven't seen the film. This article is my thoughts after having seen The Dark Knight and I'm assuming you've seen it too - hence there may be spoilers ahead.

I didn't get to see this film until a week after its Australian release which gave me time to get a feel for how the movie was being received by critics and audiences. This doesn't influence whether I go to see a movie but if general consensus is good then it gives me confidence that I'm going to be entertained.

Thankfully The Dark Knight opened with fantastic reviews (for the most part) and broke most of the box office records held by Spiderman III - a movie that missed the mark for me with its Emo Spiderman.

Unfortunately, as a result of such a good opening week, I think my expectations were set just a notch too high. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a great movie worthy of every accolade it's been given. As a long time Batman fan with some background knowledge of these characters, I didn't expect to find the plot difficult to follow in places, but I did. There are a lot of supporting characters, particularly amongst the villains. At times I found it difficult to know who was who - catching up later or never really being clear about who was with who.

For example, I didn't get the gang of copycat Batmans right away and was confused that Batman was using a gun and shooting at people. I did get up to speed when the real Batman showed up, at the Scarecrow bust, but it threw me enough to make me wonder about whether Scarecrow was part of the Batman copycat crew or not - even now I'm not so sure?

I also didn't pick up on the fact that there was two mob bosses pitted against each other, Salvatore Maroni (who now runs Falcone's mob family) and Gamble (a Gotham crime lord at war with Maroni). I thought they were all part of the same mob - which the Joker was trying to take over.

When a movie is receiving so many good reviews I tend to look for the bad reviews so I don't have to read the same glowing accolades over and over. This review by Chris Tookey from Mail Online raises a couple of interesting points. Notably that Chris also found the plot difficult to follow at times and that The Joker is incredibly well organized for a man whose mantra is chaos.

Almost everything the Joker does in this movie, in terms of his crimes, would have to have been planned to the 'n-th' detail. Such as sewing an explosive device into a man's stomach, ready to be detonated by the Joker's one phone call, whilst in custody. That isn't something that just happens by chance - it's premeditated and would have to be planned carefully. Even if you're a psychotic, criminal mastermind.

Similarly, Batman, whom we know is well resourced and organized, seems to be able to construct some pretty amazing technology in record time. How exactly do you construct a sonar, visual monitoring station that can observe an entire city using ordinary mobile phones, without your chief gadget man (Fox) knowing about it until it's finished and installed?

All my main points of contention aside what was important for me about this movie was the Joker and whether Heath Ledger achieved what I was hoping he would. I'm happy to say Heath delivers - but you didn't need me to tell you that. You'd have to be under a rock to not know that people are gunning for him to receive a posthumous Academy award for his performance.

So many good things have been written about Heath's performance and this movie that it seems the only way to say something new is to point out the disappointments or the things you'd like to have seen.

Heath's Joker is so engaging that you just want to know more about him. Most interesting is when the Joker starts to explain how he got his facial scars. You think you're getting some insight into his past only to discover later that the Joker has many conflicting stories about the scars. In effect you don't know if you've been given a glimpse or if it's just a story for chilling effect.

Not explaining the Joker's back story is both genius and disappointing. I can't say you ever get to like the Joker during this film. You certainly don't feel for him when Batman beats the crap out of him in the police interrogation room. However, with Heath's performance and interpretation you do wonder just how did he become the Joker (both the character and Heath - rumor has it Heath kept a diary of his character development on the Joker. Maybe some day it'll be published).

Some day, let's hope there will be a big screen, Joker origin story. Something that goes against the comics and the 1989 Batman movie by Tim Burton where the Joker emerged from a vat of chemicals that scared his skin white etc. (Given that Heath's Joker wears white makeup let's hope the chemical story will be dead and buried as too cartoonish).

I do like where this movie series is going with the idea that Batman is not seen as a hero by the citizens of Gotham - despite helping to reduce crime. Given that he's been succeeding most people wouldn't have a problem with a vigilante terrorizing criminals. However Batman's presence seems to be creating as many problems for Gotham as he's trying to fix so the general distrust of Batman is some what warranted and believable.

Overall this movie is as good as people have said. In terms of plot this one is something like the Matrix Trilogy. Just like the first movie in that series, the first movie, Batman Begins, was a more self contained story. All the loose ends were tied up with an option/setup for another film. The Dark Knight is perhaps more of a self contained plot than the second Matrix film but even so the story isn't finished. There are loose ends that have to carry forward into a third film. Batman will need to be rejected even more by the citizens he is trying to serve and protect.

I would recommend seeing this film at least twice because it does move at quite a fast pace. If you're struggling with the plot, like me, then seeing the film a second time is a must. It's not as easy to digest as Batman Begins but I think the little nuances that you'd pick up in a second viewing will make that which you understood the first time shine even more.

Comments

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

TV Series Review: The Office - Australia (Prime Video) (2024) *No Spoilers*

W hile I'm a late comer fan of The Office, only watching after the original and USA versions were both available on streaming services, I did watch them in the order of release i.e. I watched the U.K. version first. Now, with the release of the Australian version of The Office on Prime Video, I think it's best to approach watching this new version understanding that it is not those shows. More importantly, remembering the US version was not well received or as popular as it has become since streaming became a thing. I personally remember people often saying the original version was better, back in the day. Of course, the Australian version has analogues for all the same characters you're familiar with from the previous versions, with their characteristics, so you can easily see who is the Aussie version of each character. While there are actually 13 different adaptations of the series worldwide, I was surprised to learn this is the first time the boss has been female. No...

TV Series Review: Velma (2023-2024) *No Spoilers*

A s a kid, Scooby Doo cartoons were something I used to watch fairly regularly. I wasn't a diehard fan but it was one of the better, of the many, cartoons I used to watch. I had heard about the new animated series, Velma , around the time of its release but it wasn't coming out on any streaming service I was subscribed to so it went off my radar pretty quickly. Quite by chance I signed up to a streaming service so I could watch DC Entertainment's, The Penguin, and noticed Velma was on that platform. I figured I may as well get my money's worth out of the subscription. I did know that Velma, herself, had been race swapped for the show, which made no real difference to me, though I do prefer classic Velma if pushed to choose. However the first episode of season one was a real shock to my expectations! No where had I heard this series was skewing very much into adult humor and themes. I was expecting something more along the lines of the original Scooby Doo show. Instead I...

Trump's 2024 Election Win Will Change Everything - At Least I Sure Hope It Does!

Trump by Leonardo.ai & TET A s an outsider looking in on the US 2024 election, right up until election day, it is beyond my belief that the election continued to be a 'close race'. It is even further beyond my belief that Trump won, without question.  Even if the Democrats wanted to claim the election was rigged somehow (which I'm sure Trump was gearing up to do had the outcome been different) it would be hard to make the case, beyond a recount. There's no slim margin here. Trump clearly won. While I would've preferred a Blue win, I at least got one outcome I was hoping for. A clear winner on election day. If I could give the Democrats some free, unsolicited advice for the next election. Stop targeting the opposition as if they're somehow selfish, evil villains. That's not how political parties work. At the end of the day the all represent the public. The people. The everyday citizen who you're trying to convince that you have what it takes to meet t...

Movie Review: Memory (2023)

S omething a little different for me in terms of movies I usually review,  Memory  is a film I was invited along to see by my partner, and both of us didn't know much about the movie going in, other than it was a film where one of the leads has dementia. The basic premise follows adult, special needs social worker, Sylvia (Jessica Chastain), who leads a simple and structured life. When Saul (Peter Sarsgaard) follows her home from their high school reunion the surprise encounter profoundly impacts both of their lives. The film starts out very awkward and disjointed to some degree, which I feel is intentional, to reflect that Sylvia, who is also a struggling single mother, is fairly resilient, she is, in many ways, just barely holding everything together because she doesn't have any other option. When Saul sees Sylvia at their high school reunion it seems like some unpleasant memories from her past are fast tracked into the forefront of her life, and things move forward fro...

Movie Review: Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) *No Spoilers*

I f you're like me and didn't go to see  Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom  in theatres you made the right choice. For context, I loved the first Aquaman movie . It's one of my favorites from the Snyder/DCEU era. It is a relatively well made adventure story, with some fantastic world building, amazing visuals, and included some commentary on  environmental issues as well. Despite having, mostly the same creative team, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom comes across as a film that couldn't decide what it wanted to be, in terms of a sequel. On the one hand it wants to showcase the cool, fun, wisecracking, but bad ass, rock'n'roll  version of Aquaman (Jason Momoa) with another rollicking adventure. On the other it feels like someone said it had to be epic with potentially world changing stakes so Aquaman would have to do 'King Shit' and be all serious, navigate deep sea politics, and generally try to be a responsible heroic good guy that he is when he's not being ...

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

Optimus Robots, Self Driving Cars and Buses - Tesla's 'We Robot' Event and the Evolution of Optimus

Tesla Optimus Robot Serving Guests. Image: Tesla O n the tenth of October Tesla held their 'We Robot' event, which I guess is the new incarnation of their previous Tesla AI Day annual event. There were three much talked about reveals, the driverless taxis, a driverless bus, and Optimus robots moving around the event, fully interacting with people 'on the ground'. Tesla Driverless Taxi. Image: Tesla While it was cool to see so many driverless taxis, that you could get in and experience for yourself as they drove around the Warner Brothers lot, and the driverless bus was something of a surprise reveal nobody expected, my attention was on Optimus. Tesla Driverless Robovan. Image: Tesla It was in September of 2021 that Elon Musk first announced his plan to create an affordable, humanoid, domestic robot, that would eventually be in homes worldwide. That vision was underlined with a person wearing a robot suit, that wasn't as well received as Elon may have liked, despite...