The new Batman movie

There is so much hype around the new Batman movie, Dark Knight. The first day that the movie came out, tickets for the 3 and 6am showings were sold out. Yes, people were taking a vacation day or calling in sick to see Dark Knight! This movie has been projected to pass the 400 million dollar mark by next Tuesday. The reviews also seemed to be good. So I just had to check it out.

So here are the good and the bad about this movie...

The good: Great special effects. The action sequences were amazing. The city of Chicago was beautiful on screen as Gotham city. Heath Ledger's performance was probably the only memorable performance in the movie. Christian Bale as Batman, did not seem that great in this movie even though I have liked his performances in other movies. Heath Ledger was so psychotic and freaky that it was hard to believe that it was him. So I guess it was a great performance from Heath Ledger for being able to transform himself into such a monster. I am wondering if it is his unexpected death at such a young age that made this movie so big. There are of course talks of him being nominated posthumously for an Oscar this year for this role.

The bad: The plot became very convoluted in the 2nd half of the movie. I thought the movie would never end because it was a 2 and 1/2 hour movie. This movie suffers from too many twists and turns that in the end made the plot rather incoherent. There were just too many far-fetched explanations given in fast dialogues over why someone did something. The movie was also a bit dark and violent. I read that the director was trying to make certain "intellectual" points through this movie. One of the points was whether the presence of Batman really makes the world a better place or does it create more chaos and criminality as a result -- probably a metaphor for America's position in the world. Anyhow, while I can appreciate "intellectual" points in movies, they do need to be backed by a coherent and intelligent plot. Otherwise, I wished that the director would spend more time on making the movie better rather than making the points.

Unless you are a huge Batman series addict or an action movie junkie, I probably would not recommend this movie for you. But I do understand if you do go to see it because you might be curious or want to see for yourself (like I did) what all the hype was about :-)

If you are looking for a good movie that is also based on history, check out Mongol, which is about the early life of Genghis Khan. Unfortunately, this is only the first of a trilogy and so you and I will all have to keep watching.