Batman: Dark Night review

Here’s my review:

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

WOOO–HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Wow!

This movie was so good that my wife and my niece both thought it was fantastic. (I don’t think Melinda even watched the first one!)

Melinda was actually swooning over Heath Ledger…which just made her sad, of course. She, too, thinks he gives an Oscar-caliber performance, so that isn’t just hype.

Beyond Heath, the biggest difference is the plot. Remember how the first film had a rather contrived plot about an underground society of Asian assassins who want to destroy an American city on the opposite side of the world, and to do so they export a fear toxin to a local nutball who dresses in a scarecrow mask and arrange to have it put in the water supply so that they can rig up a stolen device on an elevated train hoping to drive the city to madness? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great movie, but that is the plot, right?

This movie? Far fewer contrivances. It is a little “24″ at times, where just when you think they’ve bested the Joker it turns out that this was all prelude to his next big thing (and this happens about a dozen times). However, the drama is incredible and this story would work if instead of Batman and the Joker you had generic characters, which means it will have far more appeal than to just the comic book fans. (Again: neither of the women in my life are comic book fans!)

I’m reminded of Chuck Dixon’s favorite complaint about “Batman Forever”: the Riddler was an idiot whose idea of a great mystery is giving clues that spell out his name…and meanwhile, there is a perfect Batman vs. Riddler movie, except that it is called “Die Hard with a Vengeance”. Batman films have always had sucky plots that were mere frameworks for cool set piece ideas and movie star villains demanding screen time and scenery-chewing. Until now.

No complaints. I repeat: NO COMPLAINTS. This is a four-star superhero film.

Well…no complaints aside from how distractingly unattractive Maggie Gyllenhaal is. There is something just wrong with her nose. I know, I was about the only defender Katie Holmes had in the last movie, but here she is sorely missed. Maggie may have better acting chops, but at least Katie didn’t look like a victim of a loose I-beam. What is up with her nose?

That’s not really a “complaint”, more an annoyance. Kinda like Bale’s Batman voice, which sounds like a bulldog. That’s great if you’re tormenting someone in an alley but there’s a lot of conversations in this film and then it just sounds like a total fake voice. You’d think Gordon would say, “That’s clearly an act. Why can’t you talk like a person, ya poser?”

Oh, and I think I caught a goof. I could swear that when Bruce Wayne first comments on Rachel and her new boyfriend, Bruce calls her “Rachel Spencer” or something like that. For a while in the movie, I thought they’d changed the character to go with the actress change, but I guess not.

TRIVIA: The mayor of Gotham is played by Nestor Carbonell, who played Batmanuel on “The Tick”.

Also, notice how Gordon’s daughter is never shown in full face. This is so that someday they can cast a name actress to play her, I would imagine.

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