Dark Knight; more questions than answers

[triadruid]

FINALLY got to see it Monday night. Not as good as all the hype, but overall very solid. I still liked Iron Man better for this year's crop, and probably liked Batman Begins better as well (though it had its own flaws).

1. Kudos for a wonderfully misleading trailer; several things that I thought would happen one way or be some particular character's responsibility are something entirely different.
   
2. Despite being long, I really can't think of any scenes I would have been okay with them cutting entirely. Some of the action sequences went on too long, but there were a few points where I wanted a bit more exposition (I can't think of them 36 hours later, of course).
   
3. Bats' voice was abysmal. Did they address the vocal-masking in Batman Begins? I assume that's what it was supposed to be, but it just made him sound like an orc. Much like Ed Norton's Hulk, I enjoyed him much more when he was out of costume.
   
4. I didn't get the scene in which Gordon was supposed to be dead. Wasn't the cop who discovered his body one of the two crooked ones? That scene stretched my credulity far more than the tunnel-chase.
   
5. I liked that the ferry detonators were left ambiguous as to what they would have done if pressed (and that the "surprise for the tunnel and bridge crowd" was that there was nothing there). I figured that the ferries were rigged to blow each other up, as advertised - the Joker wanted to create murderers and anarchy, not just death. And it didn't work because Gotham is recovering from its long night (i.e. where it was under Carmine Falcone).
6. Didn't we already see that 'crooks and hostages are switched' trick in Die Hard?
7. Am I crazy, or was Dr. Crane wearing a tan guard's uniform and hat on the prisoners' ferry? Maybe it was just the "asylum outfit" rather than the orange prisoner jumpsuit, but I'm 97% sure he had a police cap on.
   
8. featherynscale pointed something out that I'm not at ALL sure was her peculiarity, mine, or the theatre we were in. At several points, she said the sound became impossibly, impenetrably annoying; not in a sound-system-is-failing way, but in a subsonic-or-harmonic-soundtrack-trick way. The only time I noticed her cringing was (I think) during the scene where Lucius and Bruce are watching the sonar system compile data on 800 video screens. I didn't hear anything, though - maybe a very soft hum, but that was it. I have to wonder if that sound, for those who could hear it, helped contribute to the amazingly unsettling nature of the film. And if so, neat trick.
9. Ledger was very very good, but not Oscar-worthy. The "magic trick" was amazingly in-character though, and I very much would have liked to have seen more references to that (someone suggested a throwaway scene where he walks up to a little kid and says "Wanna see a magic trick?"). The multiple origin stories for his scars was a nice nod, too: "Sometimes I remember things one way, sometimes another!"
   
10. If Two-Face isn't actually dead, I'm going to be pissed. Despite the fact that he got too little screen time, his arc was pretty much perfect, and ended the right way for this version of the mythos.

Comments

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I didn't know the Batman voice was processed. I always assumed it was Bale making his voice gravelly - which is what you would do if you were under a mask and didn't want to risk being recognized.

I don't know if Ledger was Oscar worthy either, but my golly he was the best Joker I've ever seen. I can't imagine the role being played by anyone else, or even remember why I thought Jack Nicholson was so great.

I actually think Aaron Eckhart deserves a supporting actor nod. His transformation into Two-Face was believable and he was just very good all the way around.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I could not agree more with your last statement. It's not a film about the Joker, it's a film about how the Joker creates Two-Face.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Hence the complete lack of origin story: he arrives, fully formed, like a force of nature to counterbalance what Batman is doing to/for Gotham.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it *was* processed (I actually agree with you that it was probably just C. Bale gargling rocks). But it's a comic book conceit that nobody recognizes the hero/villain as long as he wears at least a domino mask, so I don't know why they chose to take away one of Mr. Bale's strongest characteristics.

Ledger was definitely impressive, and he's grown on me since that night (somehow everything that came after it made me forget the simple, pure violence of the "magic trick" until I did my writeup). I'm no fucking judge of Oscar winners, though, I just expect more than I saw here. On the other hand, the entire scene of him in the nurse costume was brilliant.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

But it's a comic book conceit that nobody recognizes the hero/villain as long as he wears at least a domino mask,

Or in Superman's case, glasses. I actually really liked the fact that they try to make everything about the character more plausible and have him take the kind of precautions that were a person really to do this, they would have to take.

Not that this series is any great paragon of verisimilitude, of course. I *still* don't quite believe that the roof of a decrepit old church could support the weight of a Bat-tank...

I tried not to buy into the sentimentality surrounding Ledger's death in regards to this role, so I actually went in with no great expectations. I think that's why I found the Joker absolutely paralyzing.

[celtic-elk.livejournal.com]

Admittedly, I'm not widely versed in Bale's filmography, but I understand from those who are that he prides himself on creating distinctive voices for his characters, so it's entirely in keeping with his approach as an actor that his Batman voice be different from his Bruce Wayne voice. Given Bruce Wayne's high media profile, it makes sense in-world as well. Whether or not you *like* what he's done, of course, is another matter entirely.

The drag-Joker scene was brilliant. I find myself wondering if it was in any way inspired by the original script for Grant Morrison's Arkham Asylum, which depicts the Joker in drag. (DC apparently made him change that presentation. Wankers. Still, a brilliant story.)

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Arkham Asylum: I wouldn't be surprised. Nolan has made specific reference to multiple Batman arcs in talking about how he made the film...

Bale's voices: Sure, that makes sense on some level. But I don't remember him doing that in Batman Begins, yano? On the other hand, he's the ONLY reason I'm looking forward to Terminator: Salvation!

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

6. And a number of other movies. V's escape from the television station near the beginning of V for Vendetta comes to mind. It fools people, so crooks keep doing it, without regard for the cinematic cliche.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if you don't live in a world with cinema, it only has to work once...

[mischevousblend.livejournal.com]

Wow! Now that is a Super-Dog! :)