why so serious

Rating: 8/10 (17 August 2008)

I wouldn't have written this review highlighting the weaknesses of this movie if it was not this highly rated. Personally I think 9+ is very much on higher side.
The director has made his intentions clear in earlier movie, to make batman realistic. Batman is a fantasy and it is better kept that way, no amount of realism can make batman believable. Agreed, batman is not superman yet...
Then the joker, who is joker, what is his origin? how come a deadly criminal like makes a sudden entry into crime world? Most important, what makes him so formidable? Why does it take only a batman to deal with joker? How does he manage to plant bombs at will? When did he develop his wide network and found so many assistants?
The script writers solely relied on disturbing scenes and extremely violent nature of joker to show him off as a formidable villain. Joker's character is not as well developed as many viewers seem to think, because most of this is narrated by joker himself or Caine in explicit words.
It would have better if Joker strength was attributed to his ability to convince and manipulate people. But this is shown in only one occasion.
Then some thing that seemed out of place was Batman turning American. For the first time batman movie indulged in Russia and china bashing though it is shown in a very subtle way. Batman turns James Bond, respects only American law and throws away international laws. Batman is better confined to Gotham city and away from these politics.
Lastly this is definitely not a movie for family unlike batman series. With a background that implies violence its more disturbing than other gory movies.