Thoughts on The Dark Knight

[wendyzski]

Somewhere in the back of my head there is a scholarly essay comparing the end of the film with the symbolic concept of the scapegoat, but that's for another day.

Someone pointed out that this was perhaps not the best film to go see while going off an antidepressant. I agreed with post_toastie that this is best seen in broad daylight with friends.

Some expressed surprise that it was pretty damned twisted for a movie rated PG-13. I think ashtalet hit it on the head with his take that it's an excellent example of how screwed up the move rating system really is. The thing is, aside from a couple of bank robbers, you never actually see anyone get killed You see the setup, you see the aftermath, but in general you don't see them actually getting shot/impaled on a pencil/blowed up. There is one poisoning, but again you see him drink, fall to the floor and writhe, and then cut back to the glass. But in this case PG-13 stands for "Pretty Goddamned fucked up - with 13 exclamation points. Sadly, they don't rate for "moral concepts".

I very much enoyed it. Ledger's Joker was totally ....well, 'believable' isn't a good word, but maybe "consistant" is a better one. He has his own twisted logic ("do I LOOK like a guy who makes plans?") and it's a brilliant take . I particularly like that you DON'T know where he comes from. He tells differing stories about his origin, his DNA and fingerprints don't come up with matches, even his clothes are custom with no labels (and I expect there is a dead tailor somewhere). Things are much scarier when they aren't explained (see Cloverfield).

I also liked Harvey's journey. You can see how his passion can be turned to bitterness, and how "the best of us" can fall. Brilliant performance.

I was personally annoyed that they really didn't bother too much to disguise Chicago in this one. In the last film they took a lot of known buildings and put CGI tops on them. Now, part of this is that I WORK in downtown Chicago, and spent half of last summer detouring around trailers on Lake while they were filming the Lower Wacker Fifth chase scene. But when they go right past a banner for the Lyric Opera? Or clearly stand in front of 123 S LaSalle so you can see the sign? Yeah.

Now a lot of people won't notice that the big chase scene skips all around between the West and Southwest Loop and the NW Loop near the River. But when you go "wait, that't the stage door of the Chicago Theatre?" it kind of gets in the way.

BTW - here are the places I recognized:

• Wacker and Wabash - the coptor shots of the "bridges" out of Gotham


• The Old Chicago Post Office - the bank that gets robbed in the beginning


• Union Station - the restaurant


• Chicago Theatre - the theatre where the "ballet" gets canceled. That's where I come up from the Subway every weekday morning.


• LaSalle Street Corridor - where the Mayor's Speech scene takes place, against the Board of Trade at the south end. That's also where the the Batman does not run the Joker down.


• The Chase - N Wacker going south bound, then they go onto Lower Wacker going south. They magically switch to northbound and then back at several points, and the van goes into the river going west. The they teleport back to the section west of State for when everyone peels off back above ground. (right by the KFC nearest to my office)


• The Ferry docks - Navy Pier and the ajacent water treatment plant. At least they shot so as to not show the big Ferris Wheel!


• Bruce Wayne's apartment is in the Sears Tower (which conveniently has a LOT of empty space these days)


• and I'm pretty sure that City Hall was the Daley Center - because I recognize those marble walls from jury duty.

But the part that annoyed me the most? The whole SWAT Team/Batman/hostages thingie. Jeebus, Bats? You couldn't make a )&^#(&%&^ cellphone call? "Hold your fire - the "clowns" are the hostages". End of story. Sure Gordon had already left the scene, but you can't tell me that he wouldn't have forwarded the call? Or that Lucius couldn't have patched him in? Sloppy.

We got a nice set of trailers. 'Watchmen' looks great - they seem to "get it", which is crucial. It's been about 18 years since I read the book, so I'm trying to decide if I want to revisit it before or after the film comes out. 'The Spirit' trailer told me nothing about the film or give me any reason to see it, but I did rather like the line "Shut up and bleed". 'The Blindness' looks really good, and DEFINITELY not one to see with unstabilized meds. I seem to be entirely over the whole "Terminator" thing, and 'Quantum of Solace' is perhaps the stupidest movie title ever.

Pepper's not the only one sneezing right now - I started cleaning/packing the sewing room. The die for my grommet setter fell under there somewhere and I NEED it to finish a couple of pieces. But how sad is it when you can pack a box and label it "ironing and mending"?

Comments

[ashtalet.livejournal.com]

this is best seen in broad daylight with friends

On further reflection, I am inclined to disagree with this. I would instead say this is _easiest_ seen in broad daylight with friends.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

After the Disappearing Pencil Trick (FTW!) I spent every Joker scene going, "This is PG-13, right? We can't see anything too awful, RIGHT?" And yet I didn't want to look away because he's so entertaining. THAT'S how you do it.

Didja see my post on the Joker as a trickster huh huh didja didja?

Also, WRT Spirit: it's Frank Miller, so SCREW IT.

[petronivs.livejournal.com]

I think you missed the batcycle running through Millenium Station.

They do skip between locations alot. I definitely noticed when a vehicle went from a ramp onto the interstate to the street under the el. Love that magic teleportation.

I wonder if anyone's made a map of Chicago downtown, detailing where the vehicles teleport between.

[ashtalet.livejournal.com]

This isn't quite it, but certain scenes are listed in the discontinuous locations where they were shot:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/reviews/critics/chi-dark-knight-location-map,0,5523854.mapmashup

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I have never been inside millenium station.

I did, however, walk last evening across the intersection where the Lamborghini "accident" takes place.

[post-toastie.livejournal.com]

I found this to be a very *squirmy* movie. As in, every scene with the Joker made me squirm in my seat. You had no idea what was going to happen, other than it was going to be very unpleasant for someone, but it was impossible to look away.

[petronivs.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it beautiful? *squee*