the dark knight- 8/10
Hype and forming of pre-conceptions are often a recipe for disappointment. I was disappointed when I left this film. However, as a film, it was very good and, for the most part, highly entertaining with some real moments/scenes of magic, most belonging to Heath Ledgers Joker. Yet, to me, it just felt like an opportunity to make something of real depth and brilliance, a true, resounding piece of art, missed, or rather, frustratingly, not fully grasped, the ingredients there but full cohesion and conviction danced around. As an adult, an example of this for me, would be the unwillingness to explore itself as darkly and realistically as it was trying to project and otherwise felt. To give a film, aethetically, such a dark underbelly but then gloss over it with quirky, comic-booky sheen didnt work for me, instead it detracted from the end-product and the experience. I wanted it darker, moodier, more threatening, more real, as opposed to the inherent shallowness of comic book, as it suggested it wanted to do, both it and the first film. This batman universe indicated it wanted to take itself very seriously and thus be totally believable and real, however, Nolan et al seemed to shy from fully delving into their creation and immersing themselves in the fantasy and I felt this reflected in its conviction and believability. Stemmed in my aspirations for the film, undoubtedly, but thats how I feel. The second act- the alliance between harvey dent, gordon and batman/bruce wayne and the plan to catch the joker- was poorly construed, in all honestly. It was just very confused and detrimentally hazy and unclear. It meant the big car chase scene was not as meaningful and thrilling and impactful as it could of been, if the audience had understood the events building up to it more, as they should of done. Finally, I felt batman/bruce wayne was somewhat abused in this film. To have had more screen time devoted to him and his coping with harvey, the joker and rachael dawes, his struggle to get his head around all this and come to terms with it would of really added a new depth to the film and would of added to and complimented other aspects of the film so much more, eg his confrontation with the joker in the interrogation room, the weight of that scene where an integral character is blown up etc. Oh, and what a cheap way to tie up the scarecrow character! I felt his character warranted a more worthy conclusion than that. Definately a bittersweet result for me but still highly enjoyable.
