Tweet
MY SPOILER-FREE MINI-REVIEW:
I have never seen a film like this. There has never been a film like this. This isn't about Internet hype -- as in "ZOMG! It's teh best movie ever made!!!1!!1" -- because it just isn't that kind of movie. It isn't about spectacular shots and jaw-dropping action set-pieces. It's a given that a Batman movie has those, and this one has its share.
But this is film is not about superheroes and water-cooler moments. It's a crime thriller -- a psychodrama, a detective story -- that happens to have jaw-dropping action set-pieces. Even that meager attempt at categorizing this thing falls hopelessly short of the mark. One word that comes to mind is "immersive". For 2 1/2 hours you enter the world of Gotham City, and it seems utterly real.
The plot -- about banking and corruption and chaos and fear -- is complex but readily intelligible. The surprises, the twists and turns, are numerous, especially in the second half. The amazing thing is you do not see these surprises coming. It isn't like most films, especially superhero films, in which this incredibly obvious thing is being set up, and then -- yep, thought so! -- it comes to pass. Even Iron Man, as entertaining and well-made as that movie is, suffers from this problem of forecasting itself in really broad and cliched ways.
But in TDK -- hey! -- it's anyone's guess as to where this film is going, much less how it's going to end. "How can they possibly resolve this?" I kept asking myself. "What's the way out of this mess?" And then the ending is so note-perfect, so beautifully right, that I wonder why I didn't see it. Of course it would end that way! How could a movie called The Dark Knight end any other way? It almost made me cry it was so brilliant.
This film represents everything I love about the character -- from light humor to the depths of an angry soul -- and treats the material with intelligence, and a degree of verisimilitude, that have never been attained in a so-called superhero movie. Batman Begins came closer to the ideal of smart, articulate realism than any film of its kind before it, and now this one has excelled even that highwater mark.
When it was over, at 2:45 in the morning, my wife turned to me, bright-eyed and said "That was amazing! I want to see it again!" Truer words have never been spoken.
I have never seen a film like this. There has never been a film like this. This isn't about Internet hype -- as in "ZOMG! It's teh best movie ever made!!!1!!1" -- because it just isn't that kind of movie. It isn't about spectacular shots and jaw-dropping action set-pieces. It's a given that a Batman movie has those, and this one has its share.
But this is film is not about superheroes and water-cooler moments. It's a crime thriller -- a psychodrama, a detective story -- that happens to have jaw-dropping action set-pieces. Even that meager attempt at categorizing this thing falls hopelessly short of the mark. One word that comes to mind is "immersive". For 2 1/2 hours you enter the world of Gotham City, and it seems utterly real.
The plot -- about banking and corruption and chaos and fear -- is complex but readily intelligible. The surprises, the twists and turns, are numerous, especially in the second half. The amazing thing is you do not see these surprises coming. It isn't like most films, especially superhero films, in which this incredibly obvious thing is being set up, and then -- yep, thought so! -- it comes to pass. Even Iron Man, as entertaining and well-made as that movie is, suffers from this problem of forecasting itself in really broad and cliched ways.
But in TDK -- hey! -- it's anyone's guess as to where this film is going, much less how it's going to end. "How can they possibly resolve this?" I kept asking myself. "What's the way out of this mess?" And then the ending is so note-perfect, so beautifully right, that I wonder why I didn't see it. Of course it would end that way! How could a movie called The Dark Knight end any other way? It almost made me cry it was so brilliant.
This film represents everything I love about the character -- from light humor to the depths of an angry soul -- and treats the material with intelligence, and a degree of verisimilitude, that have never been attained in a so-called superhero movie. Batman Begins came closer to the ideal of smart, articulate realism than any film of its kind before it, and now this one has excelled even that highwater mark.
When it was over, at 2:45 in the morning, my wife turned to me, bright-eyed and said "That was amazing! I want to see it again!" Truer words have never been spoken.
Tears of utter Joy My Friend...thanks for the AWESOME review!!
-Tallahassee 
My stuff on facebook
Comment