The Dark Knight
By Marshall Fine
Rating:
Who’s in it: Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger
What’s it about: Batman (Bale) must confront a new villain – the Joker (Ledger).
Overreaching: Why do comic-book movies want to be serious literature? That’s the problem with this movie the same way it was with 2006’s “Superman Returns.” Instead of being exciting pop-culture entertainment that forces the viewer to take it seriously, the movie takes itself too seriously – and misses the fun in the process. Well, almost – the late Heath Ledger seems to be having a great time as the tongue-flicking, homicidal Joker, played as a mad dog with a sense of humor. Whenever Ledger is on the screen, even when the script tries to slow him down, he barrels through with more gleeful evil than you can imagine.
Otherwise, this long (2-1/2 hours!!), overplotted movie never misses a chance to hammer home what a tortured hero Batman is. Bale plays him as though his boxers are too tight. And there’s far too much of straight-arrow District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and not nearly enough of his transformation into the crazed Two-Face (one of the movie’s best visual effects). Though some of the action sequences will drop your jaw, there’s too much gab between chases and too many generic battles to keep the movie from grinding along instead of flying. A tip for the future: The best tragic heroes don’t spend the movie talking about their own tragedy.
Long story short: This movie is too in love with itself to make you love it.
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