Dark Knight (reviewed by Dad)

Having seen nearly all Batman movies on opening week since Michael Keaton first donned the cowl in 1989, this repeat viewing of Dark Knight (the second installment of the Chris Nolan series starring Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader) reminded me of everything I love and hate about the Batman film franchises.

On the plus side, you’ve got the greatest villain characterization since Jack Nicholson went whiteface in the aforementioned 1989 Batman with another Joker – this one played by Heath Ledger (right before his sad and early death in 2008).  Ledger’s Joker is the edgiest villain in any superhero film ever, a grisly, scarred clown who destroys not for money or power but for the sheer joy of bringing anarchy to Gotham, a city that still sports 30-million inhabitants despite frequent visits by mass murderers itching to burn the place to the ground.

Apparently Gotham’s mobsters are on the ropes, pressed on one side by a certain black-caped vigilante and on the other by a new “incorruptible” District Attorney, Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart).  And so they say “Yes” to the Joker, who promises to solve all their problems, despite misgivings about allying themselves with a murderous nutcase.

Long-time comics fans knew before the first frame was shot that District Attorney Dent was destined to become the psychopathic Two Face, another Batman rogue, one who makes decisions regarding who will live and who will die based on the flip of a scarred coin.

In an earlier, more innocent era, Two Face was just another themed criminal whose duality calling-card primarily manifest as “two-ish” crimes (like stealing twin diamonds and making his escape on a bi-plane).  But that was another Millennium, which means today the villainous Dent is left flipping a coin in order to determine if he will plug a child (the son of Commissioner Gordon, played stalwartly yet again by Gary Oldman).

Another thing I like about the Nolan Batman oeuvre comes from the hero’s mature sidekicks played once more by Michael Caine (as Alfred) and Morgan Freeman (as Lucius Fox, the Wayne Enterprises exec who provides the Batman with his military-level armament).

But getting back to Harvey “Two-Face” Dent, the introduction of a second villain represents an element that plays a role in many a Batman stinkeroo: too many bad guys.  It was one thing when Adam West faced off against his entire rogues gallery in the 1966 TV-series cinema spin off.  But Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Bane (who cares) squaring off against Batman (George Clooney), Robin (Chris O’Donnell) and Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone) in the 1997 Batman and Robin definitely proved that more was much, much less.

Dark Knight’s doubling up on the bad guys wasn’t as much of a misfire as that, but the extra baddie in this picture definitely lessened the impact of Ledger’s signature Joker and blurred the real duality driving the Batman mythos: that of Batman and the Joker as mirror images of one another.  And why does so much of the drama in this of the next picture (Dark Knight Rises) hinge on maintaining the heroic myth of the incorruptible Harvey Dent?

In any superhero pick, you come to expect a storyline driven by the need to set up the next action scene.  But the most skillful of these (such as the first Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man and Avengers pictures) manage to create enough drama (as well as humor and romance) to make you forget that fact.  Not so Dark Knight where I kept wondering why the characters were doing what they were doing, other than to get everyone where they needed to be for the next big fight.

All that said, Dark Knight is definitely not one of those “I’m going to hate this picture just as much when I watch it ten times on cable” pictures.  Watching it with Ben made me remember what I liked about the picture much more than what I disliked.  So keep ‘em coming guys!  I’ll keep buying tickets (this time for both myself and the boys).

Ben Replies: I’ll start with what you said about this film going with the “Sinister Six” approach, like Batman and Robin or Spiderman 3 (where Thomas Haydyn Church, James Franco and Topher Grace teamed up against our webbed friend). I would say this is not a fair comparison. These films were made for the purpose of making the superheroes look unbeatable, and the Dark Knight is trying to do the opposite. The film brings ideas about humanity to the table in a way no film of this sort has ever done before, and brings out the man in Batman much more than Clooney’s attempt did.

On the point of Harvey Dent, I couldn’t agree more about the storyline being forced. And as for Ledger’s incredible performance, I was just as shocked by the merciless clown. I do however believe that the drama that led up to the action was there, even if it was not as skillfully done as the rest of the film.  

A final thing you may have forgot was that even though the cast was made up of all-stars (Freeman, Oldman, Bale, Ghyllenhal, Eckhart and of course the Brokeback Mountain star who was acting so much his makeup was sweating off) there were so many characters, everyone except for the clown and possibly Dent were uncomfortably underdeveloped, including “The Bat” himself.

Dark Knight (reviewed by Dad)

Having seen nearly all Batman movies on opening week since Michael Keaton first donned the cowl in 1989, this repeat viewing of Dark Knight (the second installment of the Chris Nolan series starring Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader) reminded me of everything I love and hate about the Batman film franchises.

On the plus side, you’ve got the greatest villain characterization since Jack Nicholson went whiteface in the aforementioned 1989 Batman with another Joker – this one played by Heath Ledger (right before his sad and early death in 2008).  Ledger’s Joker is the edgiest villain in any superhero film ever, a grisly, scarred clown who destroys not for money or power but for the sheer joy of bringing anarchy to Gotham, a city that still sports 30-million inhabitants despite frequent visits by mass murderers itching to burn the place to the ground.

Apparently Gotham’s mobsters are on the ropes, pressed on one side by a certain black-caped vigilante and on the other by a new “incorruptible” District Attorney, Harvey Dent (played by Aaron Eckhart).  And so they say “Yes” to the Joker, who promises to solve all their problems, despite misgivings about allying themselves with a murderous nutcase.

Long-time comics fans knew before the first frame was shot that District Attorney Dent was destined to become the psychopathic Two Face, another Batman rogue, one who makes decisions regarding who will live and who will die based on the flip of a scarred coin.

In an earlier, more innocent era, Two Face was just another themed criminal whose duality calling-card primarily manifest as “two-ish” crimes (like stealing twin diamonds and making his escape on a bi-plane).  But that was another Millennium, which means today the villainous Dent is left flipping a coin in order to determine if he will plug a child (the son of Commissioner Gordon, played stalwartly yet again by Gary Oldman).

Another thing I like about the Nolan Batman oeuvre comes from the hero’s mature sidekicks played once more by Michael Caine (as Alfred) and Morgan Freeman (as Lucius Fox, the Wayne Enterprises exec who provides the Batman with his military-level armament).

But getting back to Harvey “Two-Face” Dent, the introduction of a second villain represents an element that plays a role in many a Batman stinkeroo: too many bad guys.  It was one thing when Adam West faced off against his entire rogues gallery in the 1966 TV-series cinema spin off.  But Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman), Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Bane (who cares) squaring off against Batman (George Clooney), Robin (Chris O’Donnell) and Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone) in the 1997 Batman and Robin definitely proved that more was much, much less.

Dark Knight’s doubling up on the bad guys wasn’t as much of a misfire as that, but the extra baddie in this picture definitely lessened the impact of Ledger’s signature Joker and blurred the real duality driving the Batman mythos: that of Batman and the Joker as mirror images of one another.  And why does so much of the drama in this of the next picture (Dark Knight Rises) hinge on maintaining the heroic myth of the incorruptible Harvey Dent?

In any superhero pick, you come to expect a storyline driven by the need to set up the next action scene.  But the most skillful of these (such as the first Superman, Spiderman, Iron Man and Avengers pictures) manage to create enough drama (as well as humor and romance) to make you forget that fact.  Not so Dark Knight where I kept wondering why the characters were doing what they were doing, other than to get everyone where they needed to be for the next big fight.

All that said, Dark Knight is definitely not one of those “I’m going to hate this picture just as much when I watch it ten times on cable” pictures.  Watching it with Ben made me remember what I liked about the picture much more than what I disliked.  So keep ‘em coming guys!  I’ll keep buying tickets (this time for both myself and the boys).

Ben Replies: I’ll start with what you said about this film going with the “Sinister Six” approach, like Batman and Robin or Spiderman 3 (where Thomas Haydyn Church, James Franco and Topher Grace teamed up against our webbed friend). I would say this is not a fair comparison. These films were made for the purpose of making the superheroes look unbeatable, and the Dark Knight is trying to do the opposite. The film brings ideas about humanity to the table in a way no film of this sort has ever done before, and brings out the man in Batman much more than Clooney’s attempt did.

On the point of Harvey Dent, I couldn’t agree more about the storyline being forced. And as for Ledger’s incredible performance, I was just as shocked by the merciless clown. I do however believe that the drama that led up to the action was there, even if it was not as skillfully done as the rest of the film.  

A final thing you may have forgot was that even though the cast was made up of all-stars (Freeman, Oldman, Bale, Ghyllenhal, Eckhart and of course the Brokeback Mountain star who was acting so much his makeup was sweating off) there were so many characters, everyone except for the clown and possibly Dent were uncomfortably underdeveloped, including “The Bat” himself.

The Usual Suspects (Reviewed by Ben)

What a surprise that The Usual Suspects is a great movie!

After all, it only stars Kevin Spacey in one of the most convincing performances ever, has a complex storyline worthy of Quentin Tarantino, gives a ruthless inside look on the life of gangs, and has one of the greatest plot-twist ending ever.  In fact, the shocking scene that pulls the whole film together is just the biggest surprise in a story packed with surprises.

The film begins near the end of the story (after most of the characters have been killed in a boat shootout), at which point the out-of-order storyline returns to the beginning when a group of men from different places in life are hauled into a police station for questioning regarding a truck hijacking. This misfit group of known mobsters includes Keaton, a retiree from “the business” who keeps on being dragged back in, the nutjob McManess, the slippery cliche gang man Hockney, the well-dressed oddity Fenster, and the quiet, low man on the totem pole: “Verbal” Kint (played by Spacey).

Kint is only guilty of wanting to be known in the world of gangs and the police believe he is the best person for questioning about the boat shootout, given that he was always watching, but never really getting in on the action (which may explain why he’s the only survivor to question).

He  tells a story of the team (McManess, Fenster, Keaton, Hockney and Kint) setting up a drug heist on a boat. As this job becomes more and more problematic, it is revealed that a “head of all gangs,” named Kaiser Soyzee, was behind it all, and that the boat shootout which killed off most of the cast was a plot of his.

As Kint tells Detective Kujan his story, he makes it clear that Kayzer Soyzee is almost mythical in the mob world, even if Verbal had never even heard of him before the heist. As the story unravels, we don’t know if we should believe he might have been mistaken about his friend Keaton (who might really be Soyzee) or if there was even a Soyzee at all. At the end of the film, we have heard a crazy story of gangs and heartlessness, and a blameless Verbal Kint (who might actually be one step ahead of all of us the entire time).

The script is organized so cleverly that we are being lead one way until we wonder if everything in the film is just director Bryan Singer’s “trick of the light.” The story is such a mystery that we can barely be sure if any of the story is real

Gabriel Byrne, playing Keaton, gave an impressive performance as a good man being dragged into a life of crime. Chazz Palminteri blew me away with his extreme confidence and acting ability. Stephen Baldwin is convincingly insane, however it is Kevin Spacey in such a convincing performance as a total loser that makes Spacey one of the all time greats. He is impressive throughout the film, and the casting such a good actor in the role might be a clue that Kint is the best actor of the bunch.

I consider The Usual Suspects to be one of the best films ever made. Even if we don’t know what’s real or not, we get an inside view on the gang world that is frighteningly realistic. With these ingredients, who can be surprised that The Usual Suspects is anything but an amazing film.

Dad Replies: Long-time readers of this blog have probably realized that the kids have outgrown Flipper and The Great Mouse Detective.  Usual Suspects is definitely not a “kid flick,” but as Ben noted it is one of the greats.  And given the amount of cartoon violence that takes place in multiplex fodder with unimaginative plots and thinly-drawn characters, Usual Suspects shows how tight and careful plotting anchored with well-drawn characters turns rough language and action into background noise in a film that grips you, pulls you this way and that, and gets you talking about it for years to come.  

Unbreakable (Reviewed by Dad)

I’ve been enjoying watching Ben and his brother getting into the films that made M. Night Shyamalan a star director at the turn of the Millennium.  While Shyamalan’s 1999 surprise blockbuster Sixth Sense still packs a dramatic punch, the film Shyamalan made right after that hit - Unbreakable - has better withstood the test of time.

Like Sixth Sense, Unbreakable builds off a sad-sack Bruce Willis at the film’s center.  This time, Willis plays David Dunn, a security guard at Philadelphia sports stadium whose life is clearly troubled.  Difficulties with his marriage are hinted at as he makes a half-hearted attempt to pick up a fellow passenger on a train.  And then, the lights go out.

For everyone but Dunn, that is.  For the train he rides suffers a hideous derailment, one in which the girl he was hitting on and every other man, woman and child are killed - all except Dunn who survives the accident not just uninjured, but unscratched.

Relief over his survival turns to mystery once David hears from a mysterious stranger, Elija Price (played by Samuel L. Jackson), a collector of comic books and comic book art who proposes an explanation for why Dunn alone survived the train wreck: he’s actually a superhero.

After kicking off with some anthropological gobbledygook, Price gets to the meat of his argument.  For the obsessive comic collector and fan is afflicted with a hideous bone disorder that makes him fragile and thus vulnerable to injury from the slightest jolt.  And if someone as weak and breakable as he exists on one end of a spectrum, might there not be someone powerful and invulnerable on the other?

It takes some time for Dunn to determine whether Elija is nuts and his theory bunk, or if there might be something to this whole superhero thing.  In the process, he manages to drag his son into a search for the truth which (like any activity involving dragging your kids into something) has unexpected consequences.

One of those consequences - where Dunn uses the morning newspaper to show his son the truth (while hiding the news from Mrs. Dunn) - leads to the most powerful dramatic moment in the picture, cementing my opinion that the greatest talent both M. Night Shyamalan and Bruce Willis possess is creating incomparable scenes involving the action star interacting with children.

After Sixth Sense, Shyamalan got stuck having to create pictures with endings that caught the audience by surprise, so expect the unexpected in the final scenes of Unbreakable.  But the things that make the film both enjoyable and memorable are less about the shock ending than the human drama that takes place before then which tries to answer difficult questions regarding what it might mean for an ordinary man to realize that he's an extraordinary superman.

The film’s PG-13 rating probably derives from one brutal scene involving a kidnapping that might scare the 12-and-under crowd. But for 13-and-overs who have been weaned on fully-formed superheroes complete with costumes, armor and back stories, Unbreakable tries to answer a fundamental question never raised in either the Marvel and DC universes, namely, why is it axiomatic that someone with superior abilities must use them to fight for those less powerful than themselves?

Ben Replies: : I agree that Unbreakable had a good story and some good acting on the part of Bruce Willis and others. I get that it was a new take on a superhero movie, but the format and style seemed dull and kind of forced. The idea of turning a superhero movie into a subtle psychological piece of Oscar bait shouldn’t work, so I applaud that the filmmakers tried, and succeeded to an extent. But with such a good cast, it’s a shame that Shymalan felt the need to be so experimental. The dialogue between Jackson and Willis could have been more intense, but instead we are stuck will very average dialogue by two actors who could have acted their characters out of the park. This film could have been brilliant, but M. Night was trying too many things at once, so I finished the film feeling like the whole effort was mediocre.