Other Things

[liralen]

Jet read "Boulder Running Company" on the side of a store, and asked what it was for.  We asked him what he thought it was for.  "Hmmmm... a company that runs Boulder?" he said, quite reasonably.

We all thought that would be a better company for the name than a running equipment store.

On Sunday, after church, Jet went to the pastor's house to play with their three boys for the afternoon, so John and I went and saw The Dark Knight. It was fantastic. Everyone had such great reviews of it, and it was everything I'd wanted of it and even more. Heath Ledger's Joker was just... perfect. Utterly, ravingly perfect. I loved Morgan Freeman in his part and Michael Caine as Alfred was probably the most perfect match I've ever seen for that character.

As for the plot, I needed this story, the way it was in this movie, now. For lots of reasons, perhaps some of which we all share. But it was really, really good.



And ross_teneyck was right.

It was fun to watch the initial vectors be exactly the same as it was in the book. The same building of the pressures against Batman's integrity as the Joker escalates and escalates and escalates because he had no rules, no sense of what should or shouldn't be done. The scenes were different, but the texture, the taste, the frustrations were all the same. The feeling of being pushed to a breaking point was utterly fantastic.

And then it KEPT GOING. Where the old story just shattered, this one... held.

And the ending, oh, gods the ending was utterly perfect and enforced by the regular people in the two ferries and the one convict (I watched the credits and the guy's name is Tiny!! It's so perfect!!) that did what should have been done at the very beginning.

THAT was the heroic moment for me, that convict's words and actions. The rest was just the black icing on the Batman cake. *laughs*

Comments

[rasetsunyo.livejournal.com]

:D Yeah, that was a really cool moment.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

XDD

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

Yeah.

After having had a couple of days to ruminate on it, I think the thing that I like most about the movie is the way that it asserts that Batman is not a hero. In fact, arguably he isn't even one of the good guys. The heroes are the ones who, like Dent, work visibly and legally to bring down the bad guys through due process of law. Batman is, at best, a tragic necessity in a city grown too corrupt for the system to work properly; at worst, he inevitably sabotages his own efforts to do good because his methods are wrong. He may hold a hard line against killing, but that's about the only line he doesn't cross in this movie. Torture, kidnapping, wiretapping... compared to the last movie, he's taken more than a couple of steps down that slippery slope.

The reason for Batman to exist is because he can do things that the good guys won't... but by doing them he ceases to be one of the good guys.

This is the first superhero movie I've seen that makes a compelling case against vigilantism. Watchmen took the tack that anyone who dresses in spandex and goes out looking for crime to fight must be at least a little bit of a psycho, and that's probably true... but this movie looks at it from a social and civil angle, not a psychological one, and I think it makes a stronger point.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Amen, over and over, too.

I have to agree about the coolness of that assertion. And that it's a really neat backbone to the whole movie.

Watchmen's coming. And it looks cool.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

also, i assume that each detonator was actually triggering either the ferry it was in or probably both.

because that would be much much funnier, for the joker.

[ross-teneyck.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think Heath Ledger's Joker would have preferred to let the passengers of the "winning" ferry live the rest of their lives knowing what they'd done. That would be the punchline for him.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

I was wondering that, too. :-)

[crimini.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more. :) Yes, an awesome movie. I'm really very impressed with everyone involved in this and Batman Begins with how they're really telling a story and not just adding to the fleshy flashy franchise extravaganza the Batman movies had become.

In the end, for me, if the story is weak and ridiculous, none of the special FX or CG or fancy costumes will make an impression. And this movie met my expectations. One to buy on DVD when it comes out.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Amen to all that.

Yeah. I need a strong story to carry the rest... not the other way around.

[ai-ici-lover.livejournal.com]

I watched that movie last Friday and it was amazing...and so true to the comic unlike the previous Batman movies.

Harvey Dent's fall from his pedestal was probably my favorite part of this movie. It was excellent depiction of how the honorable and innocent can be marked so savagely and Dent was scared literally and figuratively.

Rachel’s death was a real surprise…but it was appropriate.

Batman…He’s one of the best examples of an Anti-Hero. He definitely doesn’t fall into the hero persona. Its one of the reasons why he’s my favorite Superhero~ X3

All in all, great movie, my only problem was Batman’s voice…it sounded like he needed a series of cough drops …>>;


Also, did anyone else got leg cramps after the end of the movie? Cuz I needed to message my calves before I can walk again…

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Mmm... oddly enough... for me Rachel's death was... inevitable. I think I have really odd taste for what a story should be. *grins*

I didn't get leg cramps... Cool that you were so involved in the movie!!