Exciting, tense, beautifully crafted, and—–best of all—–an actual adult film in the summertime. This is the blockbuster those of us deprived of mature action-films have been waiting for, and it’s just a shame one asshole in Colorado had to overshadow it this weekend (but more about that later in the week). I don’t think any of that should be talked about 24/7 (how does that exactly discourage the next fame-starved psychopath? and why is it never this big a deal when somebody shoots up their office building? Oh, I see, this isn’t about right vs. wrong, this is about a new type of tragedy to make people afraid of) and so now let’s just discuss the best summer blockbuster I’ve seen since District 9.
What Works: Like District 9 (the aliens as illegal immigrants story), this film starts with a very real undercurrent (income inequality, starving poor being forgotten in a “crime-free” city now that they’re no real threat to a different sort of corporate corruption) of events and then adds the superheroes and villains. Everything comes together beautifully from the opening action scene, a hijacking that’s too awesome to spoil, to the climax—–which is the equivalent of a third-world coup on “Gotham City” (New York, for the most part). Tom Hardy will never be Heath Ledger’s Joker, but he has an exciting ruthlessness to him, and a terrific backstory.
He’s a very different kind of psychotic, not one thriving on chaos, but on discipline. He’s the first villain to really rival Batman’s money, organization, technology, and physicality. It’s interesting that in all the Batman movies, he’s really the first villain that can equally match or beat Batman in not just a mental battle but in a physical fight, so that in itself is a new dimension worth exploring. [You realize how most of the Batman movies have been an unmatched battle between a gangster with limited street resources and an expertly trained billionaire.] And, of course, Anne Hathaway is smoldering hot as “Catwoman” (she’s actually never called that in the movie), easily the best female character Christopher Nolan’s ever had in one of his movies, with the arguable exception of Marion Cotillard’s Miranda Tate, also in this film for an added bonus of sex appeal the first two Dark Knight movies didn’t have (sorry, Katie Holmes).
What Doesn’t Work: The film isn’t as good The Dark Knight, which was nearly perfect and propelled by an exhilarating wickedness (in Ledger’s Joker as well as the pop-viscious action sequences) that I have seen nearly a dozen times, and is actually a little bit closer in quality to Batman Begins, the slightly clunky, less satisfying first installment which I have seen only twice. It’s still a lot better than Batman Begins—–more realistic, more mature, more skilled and accomplished filmmaking—–but fans should prepare themselves for a final film more in the middle of those two than rivaling The Dark Knight. And some of the teenage boys that so loved The Dark Knight will be especially frustrated with the double dose of feminine energy in this movie (Hathaway and Cotillard get plenty of screen time, maybe more so than Bane) and particularly the slow-going first half.
But all minor quibbles aside, please, for the love of God, see this film. Because if a Batman movie can’t become a blockbuster by also working as an actual movie, then what hope does darker cinema have? Not everyone wants to be treated like children by the increasingly childish Marvel universe (The Avengers? no thanks) and I’m afraid that this Colorado nutcase will only make studios more hesitant to embrace edgier, darker, but infinitely more interesting projects.
What I Would Have Done Differently: Could you cut out ten minutes? Sure, but I personally wanted this movie to be a ten hour miniseries lol. Could it be a bit less dark? Fuck you, it’s called The Dark Knight. All these critics saying the movie is “too dark” or “not that much fun” make me sick. They bitch and moan about Hollywood treating audiences like children, but when a blockbuster attempts to be about something more (like Ang Lee’s underrated Hulk film), they shit on it. I think they like being treated like kids at a carnival, and only pretend to want more from movies (they know the latest Iranian subtitled micro-drama is going to be seen by exactly a dozen people, so constantly pushing that boulder uphill while crapping on more adult blockbusters is farce). But if you want more, see this.