I was blessed to be able to see four of the newest films out this month. They were well done and each had memorable scenes and actors, but I hated all four. My reason for disdain is the movies now are extensions of what entertains us and what holds our interest. To me, it means we are in trouble as a people. Here is what bugged me the most. In one movie, the son of Satan was a hero. In another a person with superhuman strength and abilities was ugly on the inside. And in the best of the four movies, assassins were the good guys, murder had a purpose, they believed in Fate and suicide was a solution. The Dark Knight was true to the original comic but this one should have been called “The Tale of Two Sociopaths”. The Joker was not funny, he was homicidal. He was not entertaining he was a nihilistic anarchist. The late Keith Ledger will probably get a posthumous Oscar for his role as a serial killer. All that applaud him should find easier fare on the evening news. The world has many murderers in it for “laughs”.
I think I have had my fill of these movies for awhile. There is no middle ground. The choices are murder, death, kill (Demolition Man) or something soppy from Disney and Pixar. SpongeBob Squarepants is looking better to me every day. The world is looking very dark to me and I don’t like it. Where is the beauty? I still love Angelina and a good shoot’em up but I hate reminders of “the evil that men do”.
2 comments:
I can't comment as to Hellboy, Wanted, or Hancock as I have not seen them. As to the Dark Knight, I understand your thoughts, but I think part of the point of the movie is that in a complex world, the heroes aren't always sporting the white hat and that they have to do somethings that are questionable. Michael Caine's parable of the bandit in the forest was particularly relevant in today's times.
I found the basic theme of the Dark Knight to be that society can and will persevere in the face of pure evil, partly because there are men and women willing to sacrifice their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in order to defend society. Orwell's quote of democracy being safe because of rough men willing to do violence in their stead comes to mind.
Ken-
you do get that the Joker was never intended to be funny, right? There are Batman novels that explore the depravity of the character, and how he uses the social unacceptability of the Batman as the warped justification for his own existence.
That campy 60's Batman stuff with West & Ward was fun, but it was not typical vigilante/antihero stuff.
I had other issues with the film, but the premise and the characters were not it, so much as Bale's delivery.
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