I know there's been a lot of hype surrounding Heath Ledger, and this being his last film and all. Everyone has been saying what an extraordinary performance he gave as The Joker, blah blah. Not that I doubt Heath's talent (Brokeback: Amazing!), but I was worried that perhaps they were laying it on a little thicker than normal because of his passing. Maybe the critics were a little too kind, a little too effusive in their praise. After all, who wants to speak ill of the dead? As it turns out, Heath deserved every word. As Carrie put it: "Heath Ledger was sellin' me some Joker, and I was buyin'." Nobody could have done better. He was perfect.
You gotta feel sorry for Christian Bale, though. Rather than sit back and admire his absolute loveliness as I usually do in his movies, I found myself wishing that his scenes would be over so that I could see what Heath was up to. The under bite, the gravelly voice that he assumed while speaking as Batman...it was distracting, to say the least. I thought he was still really good, but I think I prefer Michael Keaton's Batman. It's true.
And Maggie Gyllenhaal. I was disappointed. I can't put my finger on exactly why, but I wasn't feelin' it. I guess in her defense, movies such as these aren't really known for their interesting, complex female characters. Women are basically just asked to do one thing: scream like you mean it. I didn't feel like she meant it, or anything else she was saying. She seemed only partially committed to her lines, which is a shame because when you're surrounded by actors like Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Heath, etc. you gotta step up your game. Otherwise it will be easy to pick out the stinky diaper in the nursery, you know what I mean?
Oh, Aaron Eckhart. You are a tasty piece of man flesh. That hair! That jawline! Those teeth! Leave your apostate ways, come back to church, and let's make you and me eternal. Sound good? I'll wait as long as I have to.
4 comments:
I loved "The Dark Knight"! It was a very Dark movie and that is exactly what it should be. I thought Maggie Gyllenhaal was much better than Katie Holmes. Heath upstaged Jack as the Joker bigtime. Michael Keaton? Are you for real? Next thing you'll say is that Val Kilmer was better too.
I saw it last night too! Can you say study break?
It was great, although dark and sad, which I suppose is what it's all about. Health Ledger was outstanding. I thought he couldn't live up to the hype either, but he was twisted and funny, but in that way that you feel kind of guilty for laughing because it's so twisted (ie, "Excuse me, I want to drive")
In Batman Begins I just could not take my eyes off of Christian Bale and loved his scenes and wished I could take him home and cuddle up with him that night. In this movie, you could kind of tell he was not the focus of the movie.
And Aaron Eckhart - yummy. With a spoon.
Heeeeeeeeelarious!! I love your last paragraph. You kill me.
I will not be seeing this movie. I'm too scared. I'm glad you and your darkness liked it though.
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