Margy and I took five or six kids to see Batman the other day. We were too tired to do anything else.
Everyone enjoyed the movie.
It's long, but not too long when you realize it's really two stories that overlap. The first half is all about the Joker and then two thirds of the way through, Harvey Dent becomes TwoFace. It's a fun filled, blast fest from beginning to end.
Christian Bale has never looked better. I like my Batman with a slight lisp. As for the legal trouble with his moms, it's only verbal assault and as Molly said "She's probably ugly."
Morgan Freeman is his impressive self and gets to deliver the funniest line in the movie.
Michael Caine is a great Alfred, who in this iteration is not just Batman's right hand man but his merlin, as well. The scene where he tried to explain the Joker to Batman was one of my favorites. The Joker himself is a perfect metaphor for terrorism. One of the most horrific things the Joker does is blow up a hospital. Today, terrorists detonated multiple bombs in India, including two at hospital emergency rooms. Some men just want to see the world burn, indeed.
Heath Ledger is awsome.
I couldn't help but wonder how much of the buzz about his performance was just a combination of wishfull thinking and ghoulishness, but he really is good. His Joker is completely scary and nuts. If he gets nominated for this role, I think it'll be far more deserved than his nomination in Brokeback Mountain.
That movie sucked.
I don't care what anyone says, it was dull, the "love story" was lame and the acting was unimpressive. "Oh, it was so brave!" people said. Yeah, cause playing gay can really tank your career in Hollywood? Come on, he made out with Jake Gyllenhall, not Seth Rogan! You want brave? Go see what Pierce Brosnan does in Mama Mia. Now,
that's brave! And don't think I'm all down on the boy on boy action either. When Mulder and Krycek got thrown into a Russian prison together in Tunguska, I wanted them to make out so bad I almost cried. Mmmm...Mulder and Krycek...
um...
Oh yeah. Heath is actually outstanding as the Joker. He takes the simplest lines and makes them great. There's one scene where a mobster asks the Joker if he really thinks he can pull something off and the Joker answers "Yes." He fills the syllable with madness and menace. I haven't seen an actor imbue lines with so much meaning since Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday.
Kilmer was ignored by the academy. I don't see that happening here. Ledger will be awarded a posthumous oscar unless someone gives the academy a very compelling excuse not to.
