Dark Knight:
Noun – A motion picture by Chris Nolan. Sequel to Batman Begins. Recognized by general nerdom as the top tier Holy Grail of comic book movies
Dark Knighted:
Verb – To be convinced by popular belief a comic movie is better than it is
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Dark Knighted is a term I use within my circle of friends. And it has become part of our vocabulary. Let me explain (and many comic nerds will vilify me for this) but: I really do not think The Dark Knight was that great a film. Oh, it was good and I enjoyed it a lot. But, the more I think about the movie the more I have to be honest and call it for what it was: good, not great. In fact, Batman Begins was probably better, but I digress….
What everybody loved about The Dark Knight was what I loved: Heath Ledger’s Joker performance. Aaaaaaaaand that’s about it. People will say the same generic things about Nolan movies: cinematography, realism, dark gritty nature etc. But again, that is just lip service which translates to “When Joker killed that guy with a pencil it was friggin awesome! He flipped a Semi truck!!” So, let’s look at a few things from the flick:
- The bat voice was ridiculous. Everyone knows it. Many web sites have parodied the extreme humor of Bale’s “Grrr Where is Rachel Daaaaaawes?!!”
- Batman goes into communist China (illegally), kidnaps a Chinese citizen (who left America on a legal visa/passport), and drops him off at Gotham central. Really. So China was cool with that? So Gotham cops said “Hmmm…well shucks, since he is here and all, might as well question him, State department won’t mind.” Oh, and do you think Batman perch on the C-130 seats, stare at everyone and his bat voice say “I’m Batman. More peanuts please. What’s the in-flight movie?” for the 13hr flight back? Love that Nolan realism.
- Eric Roberts and Michael Jai White’s ‘academy performances’ as mob bosses….sigh
- Lucius Fox has the gall complain about cell phone sonar after supplying Wayne with tech and gear to perform vigilante justice for years AND assisting in the illegal kidnapping of a Chinese national.
- Harvey Dent and his oh so quick heel turn to Two face. A point of contention. Some folks really like this. I thought it was kinda contrived. And the burned face was less than ‘real’. Kinda cartoony.
- Batman/Wayne being emo over a girl. Why does Batman always do this in Bat flicks? Rachel Dawes, Vicki Vale, Selina Kyle, Chase Meridian.
- Flipping the truck…ok that was awesome!
- Christian Bale…I know I know. I like him as an actor as well. But he isn’t a good Batman. Arguably best so far, but still not Batman. Which is odd because he was a great American Psycho. But again, does Batman sit around and pine about his lack of love?
- So the prisoner boat, decided NOT to kill the civilians to live huh?….Hmmm…..
So, what really have is a movie that is a collection of OK to good parts. It was shot well, and Michael Cain, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman were excellent in their supporting roles. And of course Heath Ledger and a Joker performance that blew Jack Nicholson’s out of the water. So, why are we convincing ourselves that this flick was the comic movie Jesus and it walked on water?
I know we comic fans crave good interpretations of our beloved icons. And we have been burned before (Superman Returns, Iron Man 2, Spider Man 3, Elektra, Ang Lee’s Hulk, X-Men 3,). But please be honest, The Dark Knight was a very well shot and well produced collection of OK stuff with a kick ass villain.
So, when people yell at me for this opinion and call me crazy I have to ask: If you were to skip all the Joker scenes from the movie, just fast forward right on through them, would you still like it so much? Does Bales throaty Batman, Aaron Eckhart’s 9 min of villain time and 1 Semi truck flip still do it for you? Probably not.
Comic friends, this movie was good. But don’t deify it yet. Make the studios work harder to make an even better product. Batman Begins and Dark Knight are both good movies. But are they Batman movie you would make? Or are they just the best Batman we have been given so far.
But hey, I am just a dude with a different opinion. And I never made over a billion dollars, so what the hell do I know ;-)
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