Darknight

I went to see The Dark Knight again last night. I think I'm more prepared to make a final judgment on the film now. Well maybe not final, but at least more thoughtful.

I think I liked Heath Ledger's performance even better this time. Before I was wary of getting caught up in the post-death fuzzies. But he really did do a fantastic job. The Joker is probably one of the best film villains ever. And while most villains have things to say which are meant to be insightful, but are pretty dull, the Joker seems to have this wonderfully astute perception, even if he is crazy. And Ledger pulled off what was a well written character and just added whole new layers of depth to him. He's funny, he's scary, he's quite insane but quite brilliant. It's great.

Harvey Dent is a good character, but Two Face is a little bit of a leap. The transition from Harvey Dent to Two Face happens too quickly and isn't all that rational. I like the addition of Two Face, but they could have done that better.

Batman is cool as always.

I think the biggest let down of the film is the technology. While the technology in Batman Begins isn't too far fetched, the stuff in this film is just dumb. Like who could get a fingerprint off a shattered bullet? And as if you could turn all the phones in a city into sonar devices and then rig up a 3D rendering of the city from it. Dumb. The whole technology thing just seems lazy. Because the two pieces of technology that are vital to moving the plot along are unbelievable the whole film seems flimsy at the seams. Had they worked harder the film would have been a lot better.

My favourite scene in the film has to be the one with Batman and the Joker in the the interrogation room. It's beautiful to watch. The Joker just dismantles Batman without laying a finger on him. Special.

I did like that this was a darker film, with no happy ending. But all up I think Batman Begins was a better film. It's tighter, more believable, and more consistently cool. Parts of Dark Knight are brilliant, better than the first film, but as a whole it doesn't hold together. Still it's a damn good film, so I'll pay that.