Saturday, July 19, 2008

The Dark Night


It's been heralded as the greatest superhero movie ever made. It's been compared to "The Godfather II." It's received praises from every corner of the movie-viewing globe.

And tonight, I saw it.

I thought it was a very well made movie. It was certainly the most complex and philosophical of all the superhero movies I've seen. There are so many quotable lines that after the first dozen, I decided to stop trying to repeat them in my head for later enjoyment and just appreciate the movie as it played out before me.

This movie contains every facet of a great blockbuster. It has the guns, the explosions, the villians and the heroes. But even more importantly, it has great character development, stunning twists and turns, and brilliant acting, all rooted in a lively discussion of deep philosophy. Much like "Batman Begins," the movie seeks to uncover and examine the boundaries between morality and criminality, good and evil.

However...

I feel like it was missing something - that elusive peice that would have turned this from a movie I enjoyed watching, to a movie I would rant and rave about. There is something that doesn't quite complete the movie for me, and I can't quite figure out what it is. And it's really killin me. (Which is why I chose to leave the "k" off of Knight when I titled this blog.)

Don't let my thoughts deter you from seeing the movie, though. It's certainly worth $8.75. Heath ledger's performance is worthy of the Oscar buzz. Yeah. And the messages in the movie are both intriguing and intellectually stimulating. Plus, the audiovisuals are simply astounding.

Lemme know what you think when you see it, and I'll let you know what it is that it's missing when I figure that out. *sigh*

-Barry

3 comments:

  1. Some part of me feels the exact way that you do. That there was a missing piece. Don't get me wrong I definitely loved it, and perhaps I built it up too much in my head to be virtually the greatest movie I would ever see. Who knows, but it was a visually stunning movie to see.

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  2. It may be worth $9.00 there... but is it worth the $18.00 we would have to pay to see it here?? (Can you believe we actually spent that kind of money on "Don't mess with the Zohan"? What were we thinking!?!)

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  3. Loved the movie! My only complaint was the character Rachel Dawes! Seriously, could she be any more winey? And the guilt trips! But it wasn't her fault I guess, that's just how the character was written. I don't know, I never read the comic books. So needless to say I kind of liked the result she got in the end. Ewwwww, that's such a bad thing to say! Ha! But I agree that Heath Ledger will be honored with an oscar, no doubt about it.

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