Rewatching The Dark Knight
So I'm rewatching everyone's favorite Batman film "the Dark Knight." It's always been hard for me to enjoy this film because I have a hard time letting go of the logical and practical when it comes to films that want us to take them seriously. The Dark Knight is neither logical or practical. It is cool but in no way could any of this crap have happened as the Joker planned. I could go over it or I could let another lover of all things logical tell you. Here is Gregg Easterbrook's one paragraph review written back in 2009:
"During training camp, Jon Gruden canceled an August afternoon practice so the team could go see "The Dark Knight." That harks back to Gruden's youthful days -- let's blow off practice and go see a movie! The latest Batman installment is a hit, and well-made from a cinematography standpoint, but the Joker character was unrealism carried to an extreme, even by Hollywood's low standards. The Joker has hundreds of obedient, superefficient henchmen, including surgeons and high-ranking police officers, who serve him without question -- even though they know he murders his own henchmen. The Joker knows things no one could possibly know, such as what street the police van carrying Harvey Dent will turn down during a wild chase. (He has henchmen positioned on that street, one of dozens the van might have turned down). The Joker can get poison into the police commissioner's private office without anyone suspecting anything. City officials make a sudden decision to load several hundred people into ferries; in just a few hours, Joker is able to place thousands of pounds of explosives aboard the ferries without anyone noticing, plus rig devices to take over the ferries' engines. Joker is able to move thousands of pounds of explosives into Gotham General Hospital without anyone noticing. Positioning the explosives for the two giant-blast sequences in "The Dark Knight" would have required large trucks and a front-loader carrying multiple heavy objects through places crawling with police officers without anyone noticing. Joker always knows exactly where everyone he wants to kill is in a huge city (how?); he's beaten to a pulp by Batman, yet just minutes later, easily overpowers a huge policeman; Joker steals from the mob, yet no mob soldier simply shoots him. Joker has a bomb sneaked into the jail where he's being held -- somehow he knew in advance what cell he would be in! -- and it blasts open the jail wall, plus kills all the police officers standing around the Joker, but does not hurt him."
Oh yeah and the Joker should have died about 5 different times in this film. Ridonk. My Bat-favorite will always be Tim Burton's Batman. It was both serious and ridiculous, so even when it was illogical, you could say well at least it is fun.
"During training camp, Jon Gruden canceled an August afternoon practice so the team could go see "The Dark Knight." That harks back to Gruden's youthful days -- let's blow off practice and go see a movie! The latest Batman installment is a hit, and well-made from a cinematography standpoint, but the Joker character was unrealism carried to an extreme, even by Hollywood's low standards. The Joker has hundreds of obedient, superefficient henchmen, including surgeons and high-ranking police officers, who serve him without question -- even though they know he murders his own henchmen. The Joker knows things no one could possibly know, such as what street the police van carrying Harvey Dent will turn down during a wild chase. (He has henchmen positioned on that street, one of dozens the van might have turned down). The Joker can get poison into the police commissioner's private office without anyone suspecting anything. City officials make a sudden decision to load several hundred people into ferries; in just a few hours, Joker is able to place thousands of pounds of explosives aboard the ferries without anyone noticing, plus rig devices to take over the ferries' engines. Joker is able to move thousands of pounds of explosives into Gotham General Hospital without anyone noticing. Positioning the explosives for the two giant-blast sequences in "The Dark Knight" would have required large trucks and a front-loader carrying multiple heavy objects through places crawling with police officers without anyone noticing. Joker always knows exactly where everyone he wants to kill is in a huge city (how?); he's beaten to a pulp by Batman, yet just minutes later, easily overpowers a huge policeman; Joker steals from the mob, yet no mob soldier simply shoots him. Joker has a bomb sneaked into the jail where he's being held -- somehow he knew in advance what cell he would be in! -- and it blasts open the jail wall, plus kills all the police officers standing around the Joker, but does not hurt him."
Oh yeah and the Joker should have died about 5 different times in this film. Ridonk. My Bat-favorite will always be Tim Burton's Batman. It was both serious and ridiculous, so even when it was illogical, you could say well at least it is fun.
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