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Last Updated: Aug 15th, 2008 - 11:05:24 |
Holy daylight Batman!
The newest Batman, “The Dark Knight,” continues to strip away the comic book mystique from the caped crusader—and maybe too much has been stripped away. With the same director, Christopher Nolan, as the 2005 “Batman Begins,” this most recent sequel presents much of its action in broad daylight or under a fluorescent glare. It may be the first Batman movie where Batman in real life, the secretive billionaire Bruce Wayne, actually makes a daytime crime-fighting call without his mask and gadgets.
The two most recent Batman films have stood in stark contrast to the stylized 1989 production directed by Tim Burton. In those days, Gotham City was seemingly always dark and Batman and assorted villains squared off at night or in shadow. This new Batman movie is more in-your-face, is more about Bruce Wayne and includes scenes that may better connect with today’s generation weaned on video game fights and graphics. There is even more emphasis on Batman as a brawling crime-fighter who will use has fists and feet to beat down criminals, as opposed to using his special tools. Morgan Freeman also reprises his role as Lucius Fox, the man in charge of Wayne’s business empire and assorted high-tech toys.
One aspect of the film that makes it in-your-face is the frenetic performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker. (Ledger, who made a name for himself in “Brokeback Mountain,” died of a toxic combination of prescription drugs in January of this year.) Unlike the fiendish, insane clown of yesteryear played by the likes of Jack Nicholson, this Joker has a certain nasty edge more befitting two-dimensional video game villains. With his blonde, stringy hair framing a face painted chalk white, with red lips and black-circled eyes, the joker looks like a refugee from a Marilyn Manson band, or like he is on some kind of drugs. (Sorry, Ledger fans. No disrespect intended.)
But even with all this action and edge, “The Dark Knight” seems lacking in imagination, heart—and at least a few jokes. In “The Dark Knight,” Batman journeys though a somewhat convoluted plot that does not allow the story to achieve a larger-than-life drama. One segment takes Batman to China and, in another, he is forced to battle both the Joker and the city’s entire criminal syndicate. To top off matters, when the Joker requires that Batman reveal his identity in order to stop a series of murders, the ploy manages to turn much of Gotham City against the caped crusader. Poor Batman! While contending with an ungrateful public, he must defeat a master criminal who can rig, seemingly in matter of minutes, an entire warehouse full of dynamite and flammable liquids.
On the one hand, this film seems to ask fans to swallow too much in one film. But on the other hand, maybe it can be seen as updating Batman for today’s audiences.
But what happened to imagination? What happened to all the things that transported us, for a while, to a place of semi-fantasy? What happened to our moment to cheer for the hero? There are plenty of gadgets that make you ooh and aah. But there are also plenty of moments that are a downer. Not to mention that the movie seems to go on for longer than it should.
What happened to the fun?
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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