The Dark Knight

It's good, but it isn't great. And I was hoping for great. I thought - by the preview - and the look crafted for the Joker, maybe this was going to be something special. There are elements - Heath Ledger is as good as they say he is - but the script and pacing of the movie doesn't match him or the ethos he expounds.

His violence is primitive and chaotic - and the movie isn't. It is full of technical stunts and ridiculous plotting devices where the Joker is 30 steps ahead of everyone else. His most terrifying moments are when he wields a small knife and lies to victims about the way he became "scarred." Those parts are awesome.

But why the reliance on frantic pacing? Are they afraid we'll get bored with something more thoughtful and menacing? Why the silly plots? Why not keep it simple? The Joker has great lines - "look at what I can accomplish with a few bullets and a little gasoline." I like this idea. Why not delve into it - why not restrict the Joker for the entire movie - why make him so powerful and with a collection of people behind him? Why not be one guy with a gun, a few knives, a some cans of gas...and just the naked will do go crazy?

I thought this would be a Dogme-inspired Batman movie. Or at the least, a crime movie and not a super hero movie. It started out as if it were a crime film - but the bus crashing through the wall, let the cat out of the bag. The system can't help itself - it can't make anything but a super hero movie, even though the audience longs for something much more exciting - movies about characters vs. an amusement park ride.

Lastly - the filmmakers clearly "get" the mayhem and anarchy of the Joker. They capture it brilliantly. But what they lack is a response to it. There is a philosophy in the mayhem, but no philosophy about Batman and what he represents. Sure, there is something in there about being a knight and an anti-hero, maybe philosophy is the wrong word. There's no poetry about it. Nothing new. Nothing interesting. Nothing really human.