Batman: The Dark Knight
Aug. 23rd, 2008 07:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackI think I need to see the 89 film again for comparison, as that was pretty good, and I saw it a long time ago, and my impression was coloured by the sequels (which had more people in tights, but also were more ridiculous). But Dark Knight was indeed excellent.
It does a marvellous job of showing people with the batman characters' histories, but real, intriguing personalities, and is funny, and shows dark things, making gotham seem filthy, but also with uplifting moments, and neither seem forced.
The joker particularly was great, it didn't seem arbitrary that he was so, you know, odd, but like he was for a good reason (viz. being crazy). And enjoyable.
And I liked Harvey Dent. At first, how supposedly upright he was he just seemed annoying, but you quickly get to appreciate that he's doing good things, and really is a hero, and Bruce comes to like him. And only when you're finally convinced, is he ruined by the joker. It says very very good things about the characterisation that it seemed natural he would go on a half-faced killing spree, and I always thought of him as Dent, rather than, "ah, flick the switch, now he's arbitrarily the other character". (Indeed, I didn't even know about the two-face character, and it was a good sign I didn't immediately say "Ah, things that don't make sense. That'll be to fit in with the comic", but rather "Oh, that's an interesting take on Dent.")
It does a marvellous job of showing people with the batman characters' histories, but real, intriguing personalities, and is funny, and shows dark things, making gotham seem filthy, but also with uplifting moments, and neither seem forced.
The joker particularly was great, it didn't seem arbitrary that he was so, you know, odd, but like he was for a good reason (viz. being crazy). And enjoyable.
And I liked Harvey Dent. At first, how supposedly upright he was he just seemed annoying, but you quickly get to appreciate that he's doing good things, and really is a hero, and Bruce comes to like him. And only when you're finally convinced, is he ruined by the joker. It says very very good things about the characterisation that it seemed natural he would go on a half-faced killing spree, and I always thought of him as Dent, rather than, "ah, flick the switch, now he's arbitrarily the other character". (Indeed, I didn't even know about the two-face character, and it was a good sign I didn't immediately say "Ah, things that don't make sense. That'll be to fit in with the comic", but rather "Oh, that's an interesting take on Dent.")