Dark Knight Review

The Dark Knight had to have been one of the most anticipated movies of all time. It was a big budget summer action flick, it was a sequel to a critically acclaimed box office smash, the previews looked amazing and everyone was already raving about the late Heath Ledger's role as the Joker. I had to fight through crowds of people to see the movie (it was sold out almost everywhere) and I am left with only one word after two and half hours of this movie, which never dragged by the way:

Intense

This movie is intense. It is fantastic, dark, gripping, action packed and intense. This is a Batman movie, but the Batman/Bruce Wayne character is nowhere near as interesting as Ledger's Joker and Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent.

Let's start with the Joker. Ledger's Joker moves Jack Nicholson's Joker to the backseat. It doesn't matter that Nicholson was portraying a more cartoonish version of the Joker, Ledger is that fantastic. He is well worthy of all the hype he has received, and his scenes are what makes this movie great. He is a brilliant, evil, disturbing and believable villain. He will have you laughing at scenes that aren't funny. He will make you shudder as you think, "Could there really people like this in the real world?". His performance is not overrated, it will be his role of a lifetime. It is a damn shame he won't ever be able to reprise it.

Aaron Eckhart plays Gotham District attorney Harvey Dent. Dent is referred to as the "White Knight" in the movie, balancing Batman's vigilante way of justice with his own, law abiding ways. He is someone even Batman looks up to. I cant remember in a superhero movie where an average person manages to rival the hero in terms of heroic acts. Oh, but here is the beauty of Dent: He is Gotham's "White Knight" but he isn't perfect. Heck, watching the Gotham PD and Dent try to rid the city of mafia and the Joker would be an interesting enough movie, but we also happen to have Batman in it!

This movie is dark, disturbing and at times cruel. The good guys don't always win in this one. And, this doesn't give anything away, I left the movie with the same feeling I got after watching The Empire Strikes Back, I guess the good guys won, but it sure didn't feel like it.

Grade: A

Many Movie Reviews

There is lots going on in this blogger's life. I got a new house, I went on vacation and some other less important stuff happened. But that is for another blog post, I am way behind on my movie reviews. I have six movie reviews for you! Here we go:

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Okay, so I know that Indiana Jones moves are not really known for their believability, but I thought this movie was a little too ridiculous for me. Case in point: The scene where Shia LeBouf swings from vines in order to catch up with a speeding car. Hey, I'm all for a good vine swinging scene, but that was a little too over the top. Since this movie has been out for a long ass time I am not going to care about spoilers. The inclusion of an alien race in the wacky ending just added to the ridiculousness of it. It is an enjoyable movie but I found it much too over the top.
Grade: C+

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The previews to the second installment of th Chronicles of Narnia series looked awesome, like the movie was going to be better than the first. It is hard to top the original when it comes to anything, and Prince Caspian fails to be as awesome as the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I think I know the reason: Everyone read the first book when they were young, so they were excited to see that book become a big time summer blockbuster. Significantly less people have read any of the other CS Lewis books (honestly, you can't tell me you read any more than the first one). Because of this there was less interest in the second movie, just my personal opinion. The movie itself, however, is not bad at all. It is a good adventure/fantasy flick.
Grade: B

Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

This movie should be called: Harold and Kumar make fun of racial stereotypes and the Department of Homeland Security. They only spend about 10 minutes of the entire movie in Guantanamo Bay. Not that the first movie was believable, but Harold and Kumar's crazy adventure in this installment of the franchise is much more over the top (how many times have I used the words installment and over the top in this blog post so far?). The beginning of the movie is very very funny, but the momentum comes to a stop as the movie sort of crawls along to an uninspiring finish. Although Kumar's math poem at the end is actually very clever.
Grade: C

The Love Guru

It looks ridiculous in the previews and it has been getting killed by reviewers. I actually had no desire to see it but I had nothing else to do one night in Iowa. The movie delivers on its slap stick comedy, and it will cause you to laugh more than a few times. That is all you can really ask from a picture like this, right? Think of it as an extra long and intricate SNL skit that happens to have super hot Jessica Alba in it. It's not a terrible movie, is that good enough praise? Ah hell, I'll throw it a bone and give it a . . .
Grade: B-

Get Smart

Let's check the lineup: Steve Carrel is hilarious, Dwyane Johnson is awesome and Anne Hathaway is way hot. What does that add up to? In this case a terrible movie and one of the bigger disappointments I have ever felt at a movie. The plot is cheesy and extremely predictable. Dwayne Johnson is criminally underused and all the funny parts are in the previews. Towards the end of the movie I found myself with thoughts like "are they really going to be this predictable? . . . . yes, yes they are" and "I can't believe I am contemplating walking out of a movie that has the Rock and Michael Scott in it". Avoid this one.
Grade: F

Hancock

You may think of July 2nd-July 5th as when all the 4th of July festivities go down, but to me I think of Will Smith. Go back and look at all the great movies Will Smith has released during Will Smith weekend (and maybe some not so great ones, like Wild Wild West and MIB 2). Hancock interested me because it had a new plot: A superhero dealing with an image crisis. That's what got me into the theater but the movie makes a sudden plot twist midway through the movie that is not even remotely hinted to in the previews, so I was generally surprised when it happened. Is Hancock the black Superman? Maybe he is. Is the movie worth seeing? Sure. What is my opinion of it? None, I am devoid of emotion towards this movie. That is not necessarily a bad thing, nor is it a great thing. I am going to be of zero help to you if you are basing going to see the movie on this review (and I sure hope you are!)
Grade: Incomplete.


Thanks for reading my ramblings