the dark knight

been looking for an excuse to pan a film for a change
and along it comes in the form of this current blockbuster
the fact that it is setting all sorts of records should have been a deterrent
seems there's a morbid fascination in seeing heath ledger's last effort
that and the power of his performance are the big drawcards
add in there that it's a batman movie and in rolls the cash
i'm also blaming the lack of options in the town of current domicile
but that's just a poor excuse for my own poor choice of film
it opens interestingly enough with a bank heist in progress
but this is all about introducing the sadistic joker (heath ledger)
along the way various baddies get blown away in a ruthless manner
which is about where i realised my mistake - and lowered expectations
there are 6 other main characters played by big name actors
christian bale plays bruce wayne and batman - mr carisma-not
aaron eckhart is the new d a in town and is frustratingly silly
maggie gyllenhaal is the gorgeous love interest of both but appears quite bored
gary oldman hides behind glasses and a mo hoping no-one will recognise him
morgan freeman continues to oblige with his vununcular (thanks wm) roles
michael caine does his usual role as the happy-go-lucky geezer
then there's a cast of thousands of other ubiquitous vanilla characters
the whole thing is built on the premise that batman is now redundant
the new d a has taken a tough approach and cleaned up the city
but the joker is not going to have anyone spoil his fun
and somehow manages to outsmart everyone and keep at it
appearing all over the place and setting up large and complex traps
in one scene we see a complete building (an empty hospital) blown up
no computer animation here so that explains a few million in the budget
with little in the plot (a generous word) to explain the need for this
though typical of everything that happens throughout the film
there's the mandatory car chase with armoured cars and trucks
huge vehicles upended, flipped, rolled, pranged, drowned, destroyed
technology as expected is used to impress and confuse us
batman has eyes (or fittings) that see through walls (move over superman)
so the director has fun putting us behind those eyes and laying it on
many sequences of computer animation depicting such views
another scene with a bank of computer screens used to track down the baddy
with a very dubious explanation of how they are used to do this
but hey it looks impressive enough so forget the technicalities
in the end it's just too silly to be taken seriously
which is another mistake considering it's comicbook origins
but i was hoping for some darkness, edge, scary reality-possibility
everyone is raving about heath ledger's oscar-likely performance
he really is the most credible thing about the whole film
his blackened eyes (and pupils) making for a convincing evil-doer
i'm sure i could detect other actors squirming in his close presence
though i'm not sure that his few excellent scenes are oscar material
but given that universal studios are rolling in the cash based on it
it seems only appropriate that hollywood lays on an honour
cause it would be a stretch to give it to best film, director, etc
and there is no oscar for the biggest box-office success
so go heath - your performance at least warrants it
not like the rest of this very silly film
what a waste of time
damn