Finally saw the new Batman movie - wonderful!! But unrealistically bothersome at times. (spoilers)

[Rabrrrrrr]

I know, it's a superhero movie - and I'm willing to take in a lot of suspension of disbelief.

But given the overall level of incredible writing and creativity, I think the writers could ave handled two scenes far, far better than they did. I think they got lazy in two spots:

1. The cellphone-as-ultra-sonar machine - talk about lazy writing. Jesus. "I don't know what to do!!" "Go for the deus ex machina, you can do it in five minutes!" "Okay, thanks!"

2. The scenes on the ferry - while I appreciate that the writers were trying to set up a situation showing that people are still generally good, I could not get into the scene at all because I was thinking the whole time, "Who holds a detonator out in front of himself, in a box, exposed and easily grabbed by anyone, on a ferry full of violent criminals?" And also was thinking, "Who holds a detonator out in front of himself, in a box, exposed and easily grabbed by anyone, on a ferry full of terrified civilians?"

Other than those two quibbles, though, the movie is fucking excellent. And Heath - WOW! He really pulled off an over-the-top psychotic without letting the acting go over the top. The Joker can so easily be poorly done. Heath pulled it off. I think Nicholson also pulled it off, but not quite entirely - but I think that was more a mix of Burton's directing and Nicholson's effort.

The Joker is the most important and luscious villain in the Batman lexicon, because he's the anti-Batman. Beautiful psychological stuff between those two, and I am very glad and happy that Chris Nolan went for the dark psychological duality in this one, and didn't just make the Joker out to be a psychotic loon with no psychological mirror to Batman.

4.9 stars out of five stars. I just have to deduct a tenth of a point for the deus ex machina nonsense, and the lazy ass writing on the ferries.

[JCMach1]

1. Total Crap without Heath Ledger

He rescues it with just his performance...

Just imagine the movie without him!

[Orrex]

3. :eyes:

Yeah, well. Just imagine his Joker performance without the movie. Total crap without it.

I'm not in the camp that has declared this the best film in the history of cinema, but it's still a darned good flick, and probably the best superhero film to date. To call it "total crap" is kind of an cheap and easy criticism IMO.

YMMV, of course. I, for instance, think (nay, assert with confidence) that Tim Burton is total crap, but others disagree...

[JCMach1]

7. Perhaps typical superhero trip would have been better than 'crap'

The plot was well... not great
The other acting performances... barely adequate to bad (for Bale).
Effects... been there done that.

So yes, not very good AT ALL!

[bridgit]

2. I have comps to go see it but no time...

:(

[YankeyMCC]

4. I saw it yesterday too

really a fantastic film and story. I think playing Joker for film actors is going to become like playing Hamlet for stage actors. The character is (has?) become a cultural archetype that demands a great deal of skill or rather can bring out a great deal of the actors skill when the script is done well, as this one was, and I guess that's the only separation, that as long as the play follows Shakespeare well then Hamlet will be the choice part, but each Joker story will depend on the quality of the writing, but the character lends itself well to good work by writer and actor alike.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. That sentence made me tired. Whew!

But I agree - the role of Joker could become a sort of Hamlet for film actors.

[YankeyMCC]

6. I'm in training for the 2012 olympic run on sentance event

it'll just be exhibition but with hard work in promotion and practice and demonstrating the skill and effort, both mentally and egotistically and physically - there's a lot of key pressing of course or lots of pencil or pen pushing if you're old school - required we'll make it as a medal event hopefully in 2016 or no later than 2020, of course 2012 is in London I believe and since most of us are native English writers that fits in nicely.

;)

[DS1]

8. They could have dropped the entire Harvey Dent plot, and still

had a great movie. Maybe an even better one, tighter and less distracted.

[SeattleGirl]

9. I couldn't agree more, Rabrrrrrr!

I was blown away by Ledger's Joker. He couldn't have done any better in that role!

I saw it at the IMAX, which was really an amazing experience. I was ready to turn around and see it again right away.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: