First off, it was awesome. It truly surpassed the first film by leaps and bounds.
- Maggie did an excellent job as Rachel, as expected. One thing I really liked was that she didn't moon all over Bruce. She laid the situation out completely: she wasn't going to be with him while he was Batman, and she wasn't going to kid herself into thinking he would ever stop. It made total sense that she would choose Harvey over Bruce, but it wasn't an easy choice in the least, and I appreciated that they showed it as such. The fact that Bruce would never know (and thereby lose a key motivation in his war on crime) made it even sadder.
- That said, I still can't believe they blew her up. I mean, intellectually, I can understand it. She had to die in order to push both Batman and Harvey over the edge. But still it was a fucked-up scene. And in the middle of her acceptance of his proposal? Even more fucked up.
- Leave it to Joker to add that nice little ironic twist. Switching up the addresses for Harvey and Rachel, putting the hostages in the clown outfits. I fully expected to see that the detonators on the boats were switched so that whoever chose to blow up the other boat would end up killing themselves.
- Speaking of, the prison boat choice (throwing it out, thereby leaving themselves supposedly to die) was a nice story choice. It would have been easy to have the prisoners riot or what not, but for the prisoner (Tiny Lister, whooooo!) to convince the warden to let them die was a nice counterpoint to Joker's supposed message.
- My only complaint: it seemed a bit too heavy-handed with the whole "we are all just monsters in the end" thing. Some of the reactions didn't make much sense as well. Well it was more like the reactions to the reactions didn't make sense. Why didn't they just say to the panicking crowd "This guy is a psychopath, what makes you think he will keep his word"? I mean, Harvey is quite motivating, I am sure he could have convinced the city to calm down a bit better than "The dawn is coming".
- Maggie did an excellent job as Rachel, as expected. One thing I really liked was that she didn't moon all over Bruce. She laid the situation out completely: she wasn't going to be with him while he was Batman, and she wasn't going to kid herself into thinking he would ever stop. It made total sense that she would choose Harvey over Bruce, but it wasn't an easy choice in the least, and I appreciated that they showed it as such. The fact that Bruce would never know (and thereby lose a key motivation in his war on crime) made it even sadder.
- That said, I still can't believe they blew her up. I mean, intellectually, I can understand it. She had to die in order to push both Batman and Harvey over the edge. But still it was a fucked-up scene. And in the middle of her acceptance of his proposal? Even more fucked up.
- Leave it to Joker to add that nice little ironic twist. Switching up the addresses for Harvey and Rachel, putting the hostages in the clown outfits. I fully expected to see that the detonators on the boats were switched so that whoever chose to blow up the other boat would end up killing themselves.
- Speaking of, the prison boat choice (throwing it out, thereby leaving themselves supposedly to die) was a nice story choice. It would have been easy to have the prisoners riot or what not, but for the prisoner (Tiny Lister, whooooo!) to convince the warden to let them die was a nice counterpoint to Joker's supposed message.
- My only complaint: it seemed a bit too heavy-handed with the whole "we are all just monsters in the end" thing. Some of the reactions didn't make much sense as well. Well it was more like the reactions to the reactions didn't make sense. Why didn't they just say to the panicking crowd "This guy is a psychopath, what makes you think he will keep his word"? I mean, Harvey is quite motivating, I am sure he could have convinced the city to calm down a bit better than "The dawn is coming".
We just got back from seeing it. I want to take the movie out back and make out with it.
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I loved the Joker twists as well - particularly the idea that he has no past, no origin (he keeps making up stories about the scars) - he just fucking is. He's more force than person, and it worked perfectly.
Eckhart is the unsung hero, I thought - he got left behind since they had to keep the Two-Face thing quiet, and of course because of Ledger - but he was still incredible.
Just altogether awesome.
This was the best movie I have ever seen...ever! The villains and the fall of Dent were played perfectly. The Joker is a force of chaos, just like he was intended to be. I loved that he kept making up stories of his past, that they never found out who he was or where he came from. It was just too perfect. He was always destined to be tied to Batman, to be his antithesis in every way.
ReplyDeleteMy only regret is Two-Face...I couldn't tell, but did he actually die at the end? That would be disappointing, cuz he woulda made a great recurring small plot hook in subsequent movies.
Rachel Dawes dying was kinda fucked up, especially while she's so calmly accepting of her death and of Harvey's proposal. But that was done on purpose to make the suffering that much harsher on Harvey. It broke him, and then the Joker came along to guide the broken pieces in the direction he wanted. Didn't exactly work...instead of choosing pure chaos like the Joker, Two-Face chose chance...but it still served his purposes.
I saw Dark Knight last night and was completely entralled with it. I loved that instead of becoming a caricature, the Joker had more of a muted kind of mania. He was psychotic, no doubt, but it was controlled and believable. Every second he wasn't on screen I felt the loss of his presence. Love.
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