The Dark Knight Falleth

Before I proceed to review the movie which has been catapulting me into frenzies of delight and anticipation for the past, oh, I dunno, 2 months, let me first state:

1) I have spoiled myself multiple times with reviews by almost every Yahoo! Movies and Rotten Tomatoes reviewer out there.

2) I have been in a frenzy of anticipation, and hence I anticipated a GREAT movie, a movie of epic proportions.

3) I have heard nothing short of glowing, raving, almost gushy reviews of the movie, and hence further spoiled myself.

Now that that is done, let me say my verdict is:

I am disappointed, somewhat.

(please also keep in mind statement number 1 and 3)

Yes, I am.

Disappointed. Not disappointed like I was disappointed with Shrek 3, oh no, but disappointed that I felt nothing but numbness throughout the movie.

After the movie had passed the 1 and a half hour mark, I started feeling my brains numbed from sheer too-much-ness.

Allow me to elaborate, and state:

4) The Dark Knight was in no way a bad movie, no, far from it. It was, by any measure, a friggin' good movie, but it wasn't GREAT. It wasn't life-long remembrance worthy.

The story begins easily enough; Batman, aka Bruce Wayne (delicious, delicious Christian Bale), caped and masked crusader of justice in Gotham, has been able to put away a nice number of criminals, with the help of one Detective Gordon and the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart).

But Batman has still got some problems piled up: imitators, impostors and a whole truckload of cash by the Mob, floating somewhere, dirty, drug money just waiting for Batman to swoop in and dispose of.

Fastforward a bit (timeline is sketchy in this movie) and suddenly this new, nasty, scarred villain called The Joker has been creating a nice ruckus. Batman see, Batman pissed, Batman cannot, unfortunately, defeat because hey, the Joker is a madman.

Throw in bombs, explosions, gunfire, and all manner of things blown up every five seconds and some really, really nifty action and you pretty much have it.

The plot, really, is too MUCH too explain here. Too much going on in 2 and a half hours.

I liked the movie. I didn't say I hated it. I also am not saying it was bad. Or mediocre. It was, in fact, bleeding good.

But.

BUT.

What with all the hype, I'd come to expect something epic. All I felt was numbness.

First of all, the acting.

Some really good bits by Freeman and Bale, but the highlight is still Heath Ledger in his Joker role. While I admit it was superb, yes, no doubt, I shall also say that I had seen better. From actors such as Daniel Day Lewis (In Thy Name of the Father), Will Smith (Pursuit of Happyness), Sean Penn (I am Sam), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd, Pirates). He's not quite UP THERE yet. XP

I actually thought Heath had actually done a fantastic job, but Oscar-worthy? Not so sure. Oscar-nomination worthy, but not Oscar-winning. And certainly not up to the major, MAJOR hype surrounding his role.

Next, the plot.

All I can say is: If you like explosions, then this is THE movie for you. 2 1/2 hours of loud explosions, gunfire and bombs. Every few seconds...


KA-BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

Then

KA-BLOOOEY!

Ah well. It was too much all at once, and man, my neck was sore when I was done. Good seats though.

My final verdict is simple.

This is a movie that, with all the hype, is still pretty darn good. Lots of cool gizmos, cool motor-powered stuff (can't call 'em cars) lots of good acting and darker than you think.

However, there is that too-much storyline, there is the overloading of action, and the lack of development of any of the characters. It felt like IF it were a 5 hour movie maybe it could have been stronger plot-wise.

In the end, I say maybe a B+. (Gasp) I know, lower than Hellboy. But Hellboys' got something Dark Knight doesn't. Cool monsters. XP. And it was superbly entertaining. And besides, I expected not too much from Hellboy because the reviews were not practically IDOLISING the movie.

Dark Knight did not fall short from the hype, but neither did it fully live up to it.

Ah... how we expect so much only to have it fail us, time and time again. Such is life.


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Failing. I have seen that.

Failure. I've been there.

Somehow failure is so infinitely chaotic in its immensity, and how it can be done in so many different ways. There just isn't really a limit to how much you can fail or be a failure.

And most of the time, I stay defeated. Stumped. What can I do? Nothing. Nothing because the failure to say the things I want to say is a problem I do not see solved in the near future. Failure to take courage to speak for me.

Resignation+defeat = failure

Perhaps I should just crawl into a hole somewhere, and close my eyes. Maybe this will all go away.

Or I could try, and realise it will fail, and end up splattered on a road somewhere.

How nice. How very, very nice.