Sunday, July 22, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) dir. Christopher Nolan

All of the theatrical posters kinda sucked for TDKR and this is sadly the best one, I think.
Spoiler free review!

I knew going into this movie that it would be a bloated, overstuffed mess. A nearly 3 hour super hero movie, are you friggin' kidding me, dude? My expectations were high, but tempered. I was expecting plenty of flaws, but plenty of thrills. At first blush, it's actually less flawed than I was expecting. I'm sure repeated viewings will lead to more head-scratchers, but watching the whole thing unfold for the first time is just an absolute blast. A big ol' thrill ride made even more thrilling in the IMAX format.

One thing I can talk about without getting all spoiler-y is that Nolan basically just completely ignored every major criticism of "The Dark Knight." Most people felt like the third act was too bloated and hectic, tons of people can't stand Bale's glowering Batman voice and lots of people hated the wacky bat cycle wheel spinning trick. Well, Nolan pretty much said "Fuck y'all" and did all those things bigger, bolder and more in your face. The result is a glorious spectacle that I can't wait to watch again.

I mean, the third act goes so far over the top that it comes back around the other side again and you're like, "Oh, okay, I suppose that makes sense?" It's completely mental, but it's also the work of an incredible directer pulling out all the stops and bringing the ruckus like few can. This is why I can forgive many of the details that don't hold up under scrutiny. Like "The Dark Knight," this is an ambitious, risky and emotionally-charged super hero movie. "The Avengers" was good and fun, but lacked any weight or consequence. "The Dark Knight Rises" has real emotional weight and yet manages to keep a sense of humor throughout.

There is one particular criticism about how Nolan portrayed Batman throughout all three movies that holds water for me. There is major difference in how Bruce Wayne/Batman is depicted in the Nolan Batman films and how the character has been written in the comics historically. The most well known, popularized Batman comic canons have him starting off rough and clumsy in his early days as a crime fighter, but then with experience he becomes a world class crime detective and an unstoppable, ass-kicking force of nature.

With Nolan's films, we get plenty of Batman's unsteady beginnings. Even in "The Dark Knight" he's still fucking up left and right, working out the kinks in his bat gadgets and being really moody and stuff, which he has every right to be. But Nolan never makes him out to be this incredibly intelligent and skilled detective that he becomes in the comics. Comic book Batman is constantly analyzing his options and is almost always one or two steps ahead of his opponents. Nolan's Batman is a well-trained fighter and has every ounce of passion in the world for fighting evil, but he's kind of flying by the seat of his pants when it comes to everything else. He relies a lot on his gadgets and comes across as unprepared far too often.

This depiction continues in "The Dark Knight Rises." It makes sense at first because Wayne has gone into seclusion for 8 years, so when he first gets back in the suit he's a bit rusty. But then he just kind of keeps under estimating things and keeps fucking everything up. You know how Batman got completely upstaged by The Joker, and even Harvey Dent and Commissioner Gordon in my opinion, in "The Dark Knight"? Yeah, that totally happens again in TDKR. Bane, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Gordon, old ass teary-eyed Michael Caine and even Anne Hathaway as Catwoman; all of them outshine and upstage Bale's Batman. And it's not even Bale's fault. Bale kills it yet again in every way possible. But, it's almost like Batman isn't the main character of Nolan's Batman movies because there are always so many other things going on all at the same time.

On one hand, it's a much more realistic take on a super hero like Batman, and it definitely melds well with the real world aesthetic that Nolan's version of Gotham City conveys. It's not a deal breaker for me at all, just a very different take on the Batman character when compared to over seven decades worth of comic book canon.

Anyways, go see this on IMAX as soon as you can. I was hoping this movie would be the end-all for super hero movies, and I think when you take the trilogy as a whole, it pretty much is. I think it will be a long while before there's a superior take on the super hero narrative in movies, and as always, I look forward to whatever Nolan comes up with next.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Summer Blockbuster Progress Report Numero Uno

4 words: Come. At. Me. Bro.
  Here we are, smack dab in the middle of July and 4 days away from the release date of "The Dark Knight Rises." I wanted to do a lil' posting of thoughts since I haven't updated for a while now and because HOLY SHIT DKR COMES OUT IN 4 DAYS.

So, I've been trying my damnedest to remain spoiler free for DKR, to the point where I don't even try to watch any trailers...which are fucking everywhere now. Now, I fully realize that my expectations for this movie are way, way too high. Like, I want it to come out and just fucking demolish movies as we know them. I want people to see it and just be like, "Well shit, man, that's pretty much it for super hero movies. Time to find something else to make movies about." Because man, the market flooded for super hero movies and it will continue to be flooded until they stop making boatloads of cash. All the news coming out of the San Diego Comicon this last week has been like 90% super hero movies, 5% Del Toro's wacky live action version of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (what in the fuck, dude) and 5% new stuff from Edgar Wright and crew (WOO!).

We're already fatigued and sick of the super hero stuff, guys. Let's just let Christopher Nolan blow our brains out our assholes one last time and be done with it. Please?

Okay moving on, what else is new....oh yes, "Prometheus".............(huge sigh).

Listen, you may have noticed (you didn't) that I never wrote a review for "Prometheus." Well, it's been over a month since I saw it and I still don't really know what to make of it. I need to see it again. But not the theatrical version, although the IMAX 3D version looked absolutely sublime. No, I need to see whatever the fuck Ridley Scott took out of this movie to make it more ambiguous or shorten the run time, whatever the hell his reasons were. It felt like a whole reel was missing and lo and behold, there will apparently by 20+ extra minutes put back into the DVD release version. Wow, nice job guys.

Anyways, Ridley is batshit crazy but can still make a visually incredible movie. I basically blame everything I hated in this movie on Damon Lindelhof. Seriously, fuck you, dude. Get a real job and stop writing fan fiction.

Okay, enough ranting on that subject. What else do we got here? (looks over previous blockbusters post) Oh man! So, "Battleship" totally fucking bombed, but no one really cared because it was a movie based on fucking board game. For those of you keeping score at home, that's 2 back-to-back box office bombs for my boy Tim Riggins. He may be down, but he's not out as his third, yes THIRD, movie of the summer movie season, Oliver Stone's "Savages," has gotten decent reviews and didn't have much to lose in the first place. I think he'll be okay, folks!

Bad news for fans of THE ROCK aka me, "GI: Joe: Retaliation" is getting post-converted into 3D (bogus!) and has been pushed back to March 2013. My only solace is the fact that the 7th Fast and Furious movie is currently in production with THE ROCK bringin' the pain yet again.

I have not seen "The Amazing Spider-Man " yet, but my trusted film advisers Keith and Tyler put their stamp of approval on it. Read Tyler's review here as well as some hilarious thoughts on the 3 previous Spider-Man flicks.

"The Expendables 2: Expend Harder Y'all" doesn't come out for another month or so, and I'm still not holding my breath for anything good, but I found out VAN DAMME plays the bad guy so I guess that's cool? It's not? Whatever, dude. BLOODSPORT. Fuck yeah, dude.