monkeyskin
Refugee
Woohoo, I finally saw this. Overall I really enjoyed it and rate it higher than Batman Begins (which gets slightly worse each time I watch it) but don't quite understand the immense reaction it's generated. It's very good, but not great. Where I do rate it highest is how it didn't feel like a comic book / superhero film in it's structure and execution. For managing to transcend it's genre it deserves praise. I've heard many comparisons to Heat and I think they stand, not least in the opening heist and the 'two sides of the same coin' presentation of Batman and The Joker.
Speaking of The Joker, I honestly think that unlike the film as a whole, Heath Ledger deserves every plaudit that's been bestowed upon him. Practically unrecognisable, he truly inhabits the character, as well as completely reinventing the cinematic persona of the character. Although I feel the film had a near constant forward momentum across the generous runtime, I couldn't help but miss him when he wasn't onscreen. Even when his image is merely flicking on a monitor in the background, my eyes were drawn towards him away from everything else.
As for the rest, well Gary Oldman was given a better role to work with and did so admirably. Aaron Eckhart impressed but I preffered him as Dent than Two-Face. Morgan Freeman didn't do much but earned a laugh when that snot nosed punk tried to blackmail him. Michael Caine, as dependable and wry as always. Maggie Gyllenhaal is so much better than Mrs Cruise (like, d'uh) and elicits some real emotion in her final scenes with Alfred and Harvey. As for Christian Bale, he was perfectly adequate. The Bat-voice near the start (i.e. the "hockey pads" line) was so bad though. Luckily it seemed to fluctuate throughout the film.
Gripes? The final action scene in the Joker's building was poorly filmed and not very exciting, unlike the terrific car chase and opening heist. Bat-sonar was laughable. I didn't like how (and I think Lance mentioned something like this) numerous plot threads were introduced and then dropped without explanation. After the Scarecrow scene I thought that we might be getting a "Son's of Batman" story like in The Dark Knight Returns, but no. They just smash one into a window. Two-Face was wasted. Yes, I can see how it caps off the character arc for Dent and it didn't really harm or confuse the story, but it boiled him down to little more than a revenge plot to highlight a couple of themes.
But there was a lot more good. Loads of cool little moments that will be fun to watch again on DVD, especially to pause on what I swore was Joker minus his facepaint during the Mayor assassination scene. Great set up for the next film too with loads of possibilities they can choose from.
As for Two-Face being dead, I think it's very ambiguous. I thought I saw him twitching on the ground after the fall but he looked dead when Batman turned his head over. But it had been established earlier that a two storey drop won't kill a man and the Gotham police department don't have a problem with faking deaths. We'll see, but I can't think what good it will do to bring him back after the story he was given here.
Speaking of The Joker, I honestly think that unlike the film as a whole, Heath Ledger deserves every plaudit that's been bestowed upon him. Practically unrecognisable, he truly inhabits the character, as well as completely reinventing the cinematic persona of the character. Although I feel the film had a near constant forward momentum across the generous runtime, I couldn't help but miss him when he wasn't onscreen. Even when his image is merely flicking on a monitor in the background, my eyes were drawn towards him away from everything else.
As for the rest, well Gary Oldman was given a better role to work with and did so admirably. Aaron Eckhart impressed but I preffered him as Dent than Two-Face. Morgan Freeman didn't do much but earned a laugh when that snot nosed punk tried to blackmail him. Michael Caine, as dependable and wry as always. Maggie Gyllenhaal is so much better than Mrs Cruise (like, d'uh) and elicits some real emotion in her final scenes with Alfred and Harvey. As for Christian Bale, he was perfectly adequate. The Bat-voice near the start (i.e. the "hockey pads" line) was so bad though. Luckily it seemed to fluctuate throughout the film.
Gripes? The final action scene in the Joker's building was poorly filmed and not very exciting, unlike the terrific car chase and opening heist. Bat-sonar was laughable. I didn't like how (and I think Lance mentioned something like this) numerous plot threads were introduced and then dropped without explanation. After the Scarecrow scene I thought that we might be getting a "Son's of Batman" story like in The Dark Knight Returns, but no. They just smash one into a window. Two-Face was wasted. Yes, I can see how it caps off the character arc for Dent and it didn't really harm or confuse the story, but it boiled him down to little more than a revenge plot to highlight a couple of themes.
But there was a lot more good. Loads of cool little moments that will be fun to watch again on DVD, especially to pause on what I swore was Joker minus his facepaint during the Mayor assassination scene. Great set up for the next film too with loads of possibilities they can choose from.
As for Two-Face being dead, I think it's very ambiguous. I thought I saw him twitching on the ground after the fall but he looked dead when Batman turned his head over. But it had been established earlier that a two storey drop won't kill a man and the Gotham police department don't have a problem with faking deaths. We'll see, but I can't think what good it will do to bring him back after the story he was given here.