Buoyed by a brilliant performance by Heath Ledger as criminal mastermind The Joker, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (B) is a complex superhero movie that posits that people dressed as bats and harlequins could really be in the realm of political theater and then asks what would happen if they were. The addition of Aaron Eckhart as Two Face, a villain #2, causes Christian Bale’s hero to recede a bit from prominence, and that always hurts a Batman movie in my book. The political machinations are also not quite as interesting as Nolan would like to believe. Still, it’s a pretty good drama that just happens to be a superhero movie. The part of Katie Holmes is now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, and I still don’t know what that character does.
Tag Archives: Batman
“Batman Begins” a Glorious Reboot by Nolan
Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (A-) is a thrilling reboot with Christian Bale as the caped crusader. I loved how it began unexpectedly in the Himalayas before settling in Gotham City. Nolan’s particular talents fit nicely with labyrinthine plot devices, elaborate inventions and double-crosses. Cillian Murphy is ok as The Scarecrow and Katie Holmes barely registers as a love interest, but overall the supporting cast is outstanding: Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Liam Neeson, to name a few. This is a highly recommended superhero movie that saves the franchise from the clutches of Joel Schumacher.
“Batman and Robin” Gets the Tone Wrong
Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin (D-) is a cluttered cacophony of hardware and hardbodies, of mechanical merchandising mayhem, madness and magnificent men in their flying machines. But there’s nary an ounce of human connection in a comic book adaptation that all of a sudden got too cluttered and silly for its own good.