BatChrist: Born (and Re-Born) in Hell
Depending on how you choose to count, there are either three or four Batman resurrections in The Dark Knight Rises.
Batman
The Audacity of Repetition, Reinforcement, and Clarity
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises is an incredibly ballsy movie. I don’t mean its scope and ambition, both of which are indeed impressive. I mean the audacity of choices that could have easily backfired: following Heath Ledger’s nuanced, razor-sharp Joker with the nearly blank thug Bane; recycling Batman Begins’ sinister plot, doomsday machine, and League of Shadows; inserting teenage-boy masturbation fantasy Catwoman into a universe largely devoid of sex appeal and camp (and non-Rachel Dawes women, period); crafting a lengthy, convoluted first act made even less comprehensible because of the sound design and score; and relegating Batman to captivity of one sort or another for the vast majority of the movie’s first 115 minutes.
Needed Scars for a Better Dark Knight
How about a magic trick? I shall transform Christopher Nolan’s 144-minute The Dark Knight into a significantly better movie by trimming eight minutes from it.
Tagged: Batman, Christopher Nolan, Reviews, Superheroes, The Dark Knight
Box Office Power Rankings: July 18-20, 2008
Just how powerful a force is The Dark Knight? Aside from winning this week’s Box Office Power Rankings, it’s breaking a ton of box-office records. But these sorts of milestones are often meaningless because of ticket-price inflation and a record-obsessed movie economy that floods the market with prints. But looking at Box Office Mojo’s comparison of “all-time openers” is instructive.
The Knight’s Armor
It’s become apparent with The Dark Knight that dissent will not be tolerated by the movie’s fans. But contrary arguments, even if they’re wrong, serve an important purpose, assuming they’re thoughtful and supported; they can help opponents question themselves and ultimately develop better cases.
Tagged: Batman, Christopher Nolan, Reviews, Superheroes, The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight: Haiku Squared
Yet, while absorbing,
the movie is troublesome,
lesser than Begins.
The former – patient,
its arc elegant. This? A
relentless straight line.
Tagged: Batman, Christopher Nolan, Haiku, Poetry, Reviews, Superheroes, The Dark Knight
Don’t Disappoint Me, Freak
I’m starting to get worried about The Dark Knight.
Why the World Doesn’t Need This Superman
Superman will soon be leaving us, and not a moment too soon. After racking up an impressive opening week with his latest adventure, Superman Returns, he got his ass kicked by some dead men’s chests or somesuch. So let the man go away for a while. Five years at least, maybe forever. We don’t want him around. Lois Lane got it right in her Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial the last time that loser left Earth: The world doesn’t need Superman, or at least this one.
(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Grief, Strife, and Vigilantism?
In Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan uses the superhero mythology to create an epic study of ethics, evil, fear, and justice. It’s a bracing, dark, provocative, and serious work that at last transcends the juvenile roots of the comic-book genre. It’s not just the best superhero movie ever made, but likely also the best mainstream film of 2005.
