Accismus

I’m unable to appreciate comic-book genre movies or books. I have tried, again and again, but (other than my weird obsession with TMNT) I wasn’t into superheroes or comics as a kid, and so I have no nostalgia for them and don’t understand the appeal. The dialogue is overblown, the plot nonsensical, the characters predictable and repetitive. What’s the draw?

I never saw Batman Begins, so it’s possible I missed some stuff essential for understanding The Dark Knight (for one thing, Gotham is pretty widely agreed to be New York City, yes? Why is this movie set in Chicago?), although it all seems pretty cut-and-dried. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a millionaire playboy who secretly fights crime with the aid of many (admittedly very cool – particularly the motorcycle) complicated gadgets. When he’s Batman, he speaks in a really stupid sounding low, growly voice that makes you want to punch him in the throat. Heath Ledger plays the Joker in his Oscar-winning farewell role. He is great – although, it’s a really odd casting choice (particularly, they should never have put the Joker in a nurse’s outfit, as Ledger’s tanned, healthy young limbs entirely broke the visual). The Joker wants to fuck shit up for no real reason, other than that chaos is entertaining. Meanwhile, Aaron Eckhart is Harvey Dent, the fresh-faced young white hope (I think they actually refer to him as precisely that) DA, who is good, then turns bad, and Maggie Gyllenhaal (who is usually awesome, but sucks in this movie) is Rachel Dawes, Dent’s girlfriend and Wayne’s great love.

This movie, basically, was not nearly as good as it thought it was. It felt as if the entire movie was in italics, which I realize might be a stylistic choice, and that’s just one of the examples of how comic-book genre things don’t resonate with me. There was a certain image (that I won’t mention, because it’s kind of a spoiler) that was meant to be disturbing, and so was slowly revealed and then filmed continuously, but it just looked cheesy to me. All the various tics and motifs, from the Joker’s tongue flick to Dent’s coin toss, were repeated over and over to the point of chafing – this movie would be tops for a drinking game. Worst of all was the long, ponderous ending sequence, in which a voiceover (or some character; I don’t remember) goes on and on and on, elaborating on the thin, obvious symbolism and cliched platitudes that make up the “substance” of the movie, and introducing the inevitable sequel – I half expected it to sell me a souvenir T-shirt while it was at it.