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July 17, 2008
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Dork vs. Dork: The Dark Knight The reasons to be excited about The Dark Knight are legion. Most trilogies see the middle installment as their strongest, and this movie tacks hard in that direction. By all indications this is an evolving Batman who, after we’ve become familar with his motives, is forced to change by the reaction of the world he inhabits. That’s a pretty impressive subtext for a comic film to tackle and I think Nolan will nail it. The trailers and early footage hinting at meaningful conflict and artful drama have struck a chord with fans who have longed for a return to the weightier tones of the Burton or Bruce Timm outings. Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger, who have proved themselves time and again in their roles, join the stellar cast of Gotham City (minus the shallow smirkery of Katie Holmes) to much applause. Ledger’s preformance as The Joker has been universally lauded and Eckhart’s Harvey Dent/Two-Face finally sees the character rise to its true worth in the Batman canon. I’m not suggesting that The Dark Knight is the superhero Godfather 2, and certainly the cosplayers, conventioneers and spandex fetishists will have nits to pick, but I have no doubt that it will entertain even the most jaded of Batfans. — Glenn Given Dan Responds In the wake of so many excellent superhero blockbusters (Iron Man, Hell-Boy), it’s unlikely that The Dark Knight will elicit anything more than a ho-hum yawn. Obviously, you’d think differently if all you paid attention to was the endless repetitious and deceptive hype that are already smothering the movie in a foul-smelling blanket of K-Mart underwear and fast-food deep-fried bat nuggets. Then, there’s the return of Christopher Nolan, a painfully over-hyped director whose last movie was The Prestige (remember that move, with Hugh Jackman, about competing magicians? Yeah, nobody else remembers either.) This time, he’s sharing a writing credit as well. Great, so not only will the action scenes in Dark Knight be so shoddily filmed that we won’t be able to tell one costume from another, but we won’t be able to understand what anyone is talking about either. Look, it’s sad that this is Heath Ledger’s final role and Christian Bale certainly adds a proper crazy-eyed avenger quality to his performances, but this story is so old it’s starting to stink. A much better Joker story has already been told, and it’s animated. Save your money on this tired retread and buy the DVD of Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. — Dan J. Szczesny Glenn Responds
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07/10/2008 Hellboy II
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