Rating of
3/4
Better than Expected
FourEyedPandora - wrote on 06/15/10
The Dark Knight - another title adding to the long list of Batman movies in existence. Now, I'm not much for superhero movies, and I was never really a fan of Batman, so I thought watching The Dark Knight and enjoying it would be like a nun watching a porno and actually liking it. Then Heath Ledger died and, somehow, I just couldn't say no. So, despite the fact that I told everyone I knew that I would never see the film, I spent the money on a ticket to see the movie with my friends when it was still in theaters. Now, after seeing the film about six times, despite the length, I can easily say that The Dark Knight was, at the least, enjoyable.
The Dark Knight takes place in Gotham City, which really shouldn't be a shock to anyone that knows anything about Batman. Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, starts the movie catching the villain from Batman Begins, which I wasn't aware of until I watched the prequel. The Joker, played by Heath Ledger, started his spree of crime, stealing from a bank in the very first scene of the film. As the Joker's crimes escalate from stealing to murdering innocent people, Bruce Wayne grows more intent on finding him. With each crime, the Joker voices that if the Batman doesn't turn himself in, he will kill more people. Since that was the case, the people in Gotham City started to voice their hate for Batman, making the search for the Joker much harder and giving Bruce the largest guilt trip that he's ever had in his life.
At first, I was surprised about how much I actually enjoyed The Dark Knight, given it's rather unoriginal idea for the film, but after learning that the director, Christopher Nolan, also directed The Prestige, then the surprise sort of drifted away like a leaf on the wind. In addition, there was a great cast of actors, from Christian Bale to Heath Ledger to Morgan Freeman - I just could get enough of the great acting in the film. Gotham City was easily brought out by the great angles, colors, and settings that The Dark Knight cinematography offered. The action scenes, from jumping buildings to exploding cars, were well orchestrated and really helped bring out the terror that could happen within the city limits of Gotham. Instead of watching a movie, it was like being sucked into Gotham City and watching as a bystander, but still giving me enough space from the action to let me know that I was safe.
Now, that's not to say that The Dark Knight is perfect - it isn't. As I said before, the length is a bit long, to the point where it's a little on the ridiculous side. Because of the length, some of the scenes in The Dark Knight seem a bit tedious, and it got to the point in my later viewings of the film where I just wished it could jump to something a little more thrilling than watching Commissioner Gordan and Batman talk for the millionth time. Along with the length comes the side helping of rather interesting dialogue, and by "interesting", I don't mean good. Sure, The Dark Knight had its moments, especially in the scenes which Bruce and Rachel, but when it came down to Batman putting on his tough guy image, some of the dialogue really just feel on it's face. The long stream of, "Where are they," yelling in Batman's interrogation of the Joker really brought out the humor aspect of the dark hero, and made the entire scene seem like a poorly written comedy. Along with that yelling came the throwing of the table and beating up the Joker, which didn't really help the scene at all - just made it seem more over acted than it needed to be.
Thankfully, some of the crappy dialogue was hidden by the layover of music which, interestingly enough, was really good. Like the cinematography, the music really helped bring out the terrifying aspects of Gotham City that it needed, along with pushing the emotions of the film. From fear to love to anger, the music really did make the entire movie worth watching, despite the length and poor dialogue.
In the end, I guess the question remains - is The Dark Knight worth watching? I would have to say yes - despite the length and bad dialogue, The Dark Knight brings a fantastic display of cinematography, along with a great set of action scenes and good actors. Although I couldn't see The Dark Knight being a favorite film of mine, I'll still give the movie props for being one of the best action movies I've ever seen, and by far one of the best superhero movies ever. Easily recommended to anyone looking for a thrilling action movie that won't scare too much.
