A Tale of Two Viewings

Rating: 3/10 (4 January 2012)

I've seen this movie more than twice but I felt like I needed to in order to prove that I wasn't just in a horrible mood the second time I watched it. So I did see it a 3rd and even a 4th. Same opinion, but more solidified.
Let me back up. I saw this movie, opening night, out at the IMAX near Dulles Airport, and I was absolutely BLOWN away. The effects! Heath Ledger's psychotic Joker! The IMAX! WOW!! I walked out saying "that was freaking awesome!! I can't wait to come back and finish it!!" Yes, you read correctly. Finish it. This girl I took, decided to tell me in line that she doesn't like "Dark" movies and asked if it was "Dark". She walked out mortified 30 min into the movie.
I went back, same theater, a couple days later, as about as excited (even more so now) as a movie fan could ever be, and I watched intently. The longer the movie went on, the more frustrated I became. I didn't want to be disappointed but how could I?? It is just simply a bad movie! This is one of the greatest examples of Hollywood putting a TON of money into a film (Actors, Special Effects, Marketing, etc.), without ever making sure the whole thing made sense! How does a director as experienced as Nolan, not shake his head and go "wait guys, hold up, we can't have Batman jump out of a 4 story window and land on the concrete without opening his cape or firing off one of his 'wonderful little toys', or something. I mean c'mon do we think these movie go'ers are dumb?!". I dunno Chris do you? Few things that really got to me. Firstly, Maggie Gyllenhaal, is a great actress, and this is no shot at her or her ability, but she was horrifically casted in this movie. I feel like her current up and coming status in Hollywood is what landed her this role, not if she was the right fit for the part. And by the way, where is Katie Holmes? Did you think we weren't going to notice? I mean, this isn't a minor, couple line role here. Nor do Maggie and Katie look at all alike really. I mean this is about as noticeable as Ashton Kutcher replacing Charlie Sheen on 2 1/2 Men! No attempt at saying it's her sister, or cousin, or maybe just write her out of the script? "Oh, so sad Master Bruce what happened to young Rachel Dawes in that trip to Breckenridge last spring. Just awful. I'm so sorry." BOOM. Done. No mystery. Let's move on with the story! It was hard to look beyond really, and just shows what lack of thought went into the whole movie in my opinion. Either negotiate KH's contract or don't include her character. No thought is for the viewer, just "Ohhhhh theyy won't even notice". BAD.
Secondly, Heath Ledger. The man did an awesome job and deserved that Oscar, here or hereafter. He brought an element to that role that didn't exist with Jack, and Jack was phenomenal. He made the character sadistic almost. Like grown men were afraid of him like Javier Bardom in No Country For Old Men. Just a frightening S.O.B. Jack was a bad dude and you knew he was bad but he was also a little humorous, and you kinda liked him. You didn't like Heath's Joker. You were mesmerized but couldn't love him. He did this all while having a bad script, no character development, and, what seemed like, 45 min in the middle of the movie where he's MIA. Also, he's got the most "makes no sense what so ever" scenes, where he's doing things that if you stopped for 2 seconds to be like "where'd he get that?!" or "how'd he do that?!" or "wait, where'd he come from?!", your frustration factor would have been increased ten fold. But, you didn't, and why? Because he performed above it, and as much to his credit for that, is to the discredit of the makers, for short siding him on an amazing final performance. Imagine how much better it could have been if he actually had something to work with! Lastly, yet.......I saved this one for last because it is by far the most irritating aspect of any movie I've maybe ever seen.....Christian Bale's voice when dressed as Batman. He clearly liked it so much that he carried it over into Terminator Salvation (which was appalling too). But what in the heck? He was taking multiple breaths in the same sentence because of how much effort he was putting into that low growl of a voice/accent/whatever. "I........ONNNNLLLYYYY HAVVVEEE.........ONNNNEEE RUUULLLLEEE". So dumb. Which is why his line's were all 3 words long.
Overall, extremely disappointing and I point out my two experiences for a reason. All that was wanted from the movie go'er here was to be mesmerized by the costumes, effects, and their excitement for its release (relentless marketing), would blind them from the slop job they paid to see. And what's so frustrating is that the slop job was done before anyone ever showed up on set, before "Action" was ever yelled, before one growl of Bale's voice was ever moaned. It was lost in the planning, the writing, the brainstorming, the overall thought process behind a story. There was none, and thank god for Heath Ledger because without him, this movie wouldn't have been so blinding.
Not excited for the next one. Gotta say. But Nolan did do Inception, which is one of the best movies of all time, so maybe I'll give him another shot.