Ah. The golden child of the Batman movie franchise. Possibly the greatest villain performance ever. Destruction made into an artform. The Dark Knight is the greatest superhero movie ever and is one of the very few that trandscends the genre.
Enough cannot be said about Heath Ledger's performance. It is frightening. It is riveting. It is genious.
The complaints I had against Batman Begins were largely fixed. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a huge improvement over Katie Holmes, and the character actually does more than just preach in this movie, thank god. The fight scenes were also better. Though they still were shot up close, I found them less choppy and could almost always understand what was going on, even in the climax which people complain about. It wouldn't be until TDKR that Nolan would find the perfect way to shoot a fight, from farther back, but it did not detract from the film like it did to a small extent in Begins.
I called the Burton movies beautiful, and they are, with Burton's unique style. But somehow Nolan has made a film that tries to be 'realistic' and 'gritty' into a thing of beauty equal to Burton's vision. When Batman glides over Hong Kong, it is beautiful. TDKR is no slouch in that department, but The Dark Knight remains the king.
While Batman has a great arc and a lot to do, this is the story of Harvey Dent. This, I believe, is the main source of controversy about the movie. If the focus shifts off of Batman, it is understandable that people would consider that a fault. Often I would too. But as I said, Batman has his own arc in TDK and enough focus to share some with Dent. I felt that Dent/Two-Face went through a complete story and did not need any more either. The movie truly was the perfect length for the story it wanted to tell, unlike TDKR, which should have been longer than it was.
The Dark Knight is a true masterpiece and one of the best movies of the first decade of the 21st century.
Lives up to the hype
Ah. The golden child of the Batman movie franchise. Possibly the greatest villain performance ever. Destruction made into an artform. The Dark Knight is the greatest superhero movie ever and is one of the very few that trandscends the genre.
Enough cannot be said about Heath Ledger's performance. It is frightening. It is riveting. It is genious.
The complaints I had against Batman Begins were largely fixed. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a huge improvement over Katie Holmes, and the character actually does more than just preach in this movie, thank god. The fight scenes were also better. Though they still were shot up close, I found them less choppy and could almost always understand what was going on, even in the climax which people complain about. It wouldn't be until TDKR that Nolan would find the perfect way to shoot a fight, from farther back, but it did not detract from the film like it did to a small extent in Begins.
I called the Burton movies beautiful, and they are, with Burton's unique style. But somehow Nolan has made a film that tries to be 'realistic' and 'gritty' into a thing of beauty equal to Burton's vision. When Batman glides over Hong Kong, it is beautiful. TDKR is no slouch in that department, but The Dark Knight remains the king.
While Batman has a great arc and a lot to do, this is the story of Harvey Dent. This, I believe, is the main source of controversy about the movie. If the focus shifts off of Batman, it is understandable that people would consider that a fault. Often I would too. But as I said, Batman has his own arc in TDK and enough focus to share some with Dent. I felt that Dent/Two-Face went through a complete story and did not need any more either. The movie truly was the perfect length for the story it wanted to tell, unlike TDKR, which should have been longer than it was.
The Dark Knight is a true masterpiece and one of the best movies of the first decade of the 21st century.