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So … I’m glad I held off on the reviewing this one. I knew deep down there was a reason I was waiting, and as the opportunity to view it a second time came closer, that reason became clearer. I initially felt plainly too bogged down by the mass acceptence of the thing; like Wall-E, that, “what else is there to say?” feeling that pretty much describes my year in movie watching lol. But it’s kind of more than that. I knew the movie was as perfect as everybody was saying the moment I saw it, and that’s important as to my own opinion on the thing; don’t get me wrong, I know where the good reviews are coming from. There’s very little to complain about.
BUT.
It doesn’t stand on its own.
Christian Bale’s voice is ridiculous.
… and great as Maggie Gyllenhaal may be, it’s still a cast change that I can do without and that in contrast to the otherwise flawless continuation of Batman Begins is just plain too distracting. I am not of the ilk that believe comic books are the revolutionary future of cinema; I find the concept ridiculous, it’s an entirely different artform I just really don’t think this movie will endure even a decade. That, and I really believe that people who think comic books are the revolutionary future of cinema should be taken out and BIFFed.
Umm .. that, and despite how I will probably still shed a tear if it happens: I really think that if Heath Ledger wins for this when he didn’t win for Brokeback would be kind of an insult – because though he’s great, it would never have been one of his best remembered performances were it not for what happened. It’s a practically perfect movie, don’t get me wrong … but there are just too many niggling drawbacks for me to go with the masses on this. Batman Begins is a much more complete and assured production, and I’m pretty sure I’d say the same of at least two of the 80s/90s movies on a repeat viewing too.
At the same time of all this, of course, it’s gotta be said as I value it in considering a movie’s quality: it gets people talking. One feels the need to argue exactly why you did or didn’t like it. And to me, that in itself makes a movie better than it otherwise might be.
In the disappointing collection of releases outside of the Oscar season this year, it’s no surprise that people latch onto “The Dark Knight” … I just can’t wait for whatever finally snaps them out of it (sigh – Watchmen, I imagine …)
The ending, on the other hand, is fantastic.
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The main thing I’d forgotten about this movie is Claire Forlani and Shannon Doherty. Throw in the short Joey Lauren Adams appearance and I think you’ve got at least the sexiest Kevin Smith movie if not the funniest. I didn’t exactly bring the house down on this viewing like the one below but there are tons of moments that still make me laugh out loud more than a lot of Smith’s output, which more often than not I like more for the emotional content than the humour. This one on the contrary is pretty much all about the funny – the ending is stirring in that cheesy Eighties way that it’s going for, but it’s not the deeper territory that Smith has, I don’t care what anyone else says, touched in his other movies. I still haven’t seen Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back since the review below – I seem to be avoiding it – I really don’t think it’s as consistently on the nose as this one, though. The Jay and Bob storyline here alone is worth seeing the movie for, Kevin Smith doing the cartoon acting, playing to the camera completely, arguably better than he’s done anywhere else. It’s often spoken of as a somehow lesser work of Smith’s but I think it might just be the most essential companion to any given one of the others.