The Dark Knight (A-)
Like Iron Man, Chris Nolan's movie works because it's being played straight, no ironic winks, no over the top designs, no melodramatic set designs. And no nipples on the costumes. That kinda helps. The story, well, it's Michael Mann's 'Heat' only Al Pacino's in a Kevlar suit, and he's really a Welshman with pneumonia. (Notice the 'Heat' homage by the cameo of William Fichter as a banker for the Mob...) Really, Bale's 'Batman' voice is so phelgmmy, I half expected Commissioner Gordon or Lucius Fox or Alfred to offer him a throat lozenge.
And in this case, what gives it the 'A', is Heath Ledger's Joker. Hell of a way to introduce your bad guy, what with that 'pencil trick'. Ledger's Joker is such a walking bag of decay, I almost expected a tooth to fall out of his mouth as some point. If Ledger does get an Oscar next year, it won't be just out of posthumous pity. When you watch this Joker, it's like watching a homeless guy without any pants taking a long shit along the sidewalk, just shuffling along with a trail of poo behind him like a snail. It's funny and creepy at the same time. Note the amount of nervous chuckles in a theater when he appears.
What gives it the 'minus' in my rating is Christian Bale. Oh, yeah. I went there. First off, the mock-Clint Eastwood voice he's using as Batman gives his part a more comic edge than either Nolan or Bale intended. (Couldn't have Nolan re-dubbed Bale's voice?) Also, Bale needs to take layabout playboy millionaire lessons from Robert Downey Jr.
The only question is, where is Nolan going to go for the inevitable third movie? The remaining villians in the Batman universe are so camp, (The Riddler, The Penguin, er, Catwoman...) the current franchise is in danger of losing its 'gritty, realistic' tag. Maybe establish the Penguin as a Dick Cheney-type businessman? I suspect they may bring Two-face back, though I don't envy the actor who has to follow Heath Ledger...
No comments:
Post a Comment