My one-word review of The Dark Knight: meh. It’s too long. It contains too many action sequences filmed too closely, with quick cuts, in low light. Famous dead person Heath Ledger was fine as the Joker but I don’t know if it was enough to combat Christian Bale’s Batman, which was boring and brooding. (Say what you will about Michael Keaton’s Batman, I liked that as Bruce Wayne he was a goofy, quirky-eccentric. Bale’s Bruce is a brooding, cocksure grump, a combination of emotions I didn’t even think possible.) And his gravelly, seemingly digitally lowered voice is distracting. Worst, for an action movie, none of the action thrilled me; I felt floaty and detached from the fights and chases.
The standout moment of the outing by far was the extended cut of Barkin’ Marty Scorsese’s "Silence your Cell Phone" PSA from Cingular buried amid 20 minutes of already-forgotten trailers and commercials. His speed-freak direction is hilarious.
- Marty
- [interrupting mom tucking her son into bed while having his Dad say good-night to him via cell phone] No, no, no, no, no, no... look, the plot of this phone call just isn’t working for me. I’ve seen it a million times.
and
- Marty
- [to mom] You: you’re trapped in a loveless marriage. Totally loveless, okay?
It was the first time I’d seen it and I laughed a lot. And compared with emotions elicited by The Dark Knight: 0.
