I wanted to like this film more than I did. Really. I wanted to love it like everyone else. But how can you love something so dark? I admit to liking root beer barrels and chocolate covered candies and anything sweet over Sour Tarts any day of the week. This movie, while well made, is the ultimate Sour Tart.
There have been many well written reviews of this film and I can honestly say that they are all true. Because like all incredibly well made films there is no question that what you are watching is quality, top-notch, maybe even epic film making. In that way, the only aesthetic one can choose to evaluate a film of that type is to describe what you took away from it. I get all the Joker is the Devil explanations and I thought the writing to be quite astounding. But in the end, what I took away from this film, was darkness - way too much darkness.
Batman is a troubled character. Harvey Dent is a troubled character swimming in a troubled sea. Joker is Trouble. Period. So, what are you supposed to do with a film that is filled with three dark figures swimming in ever tighter circles around each other - go down the drain with them? No, you throw at least one of them a life vest. There is no life vest in this film and that is perhaps what has gained the film so much well deserved attention. We follow these characters down the drain, into the darkness, into the black hole of their existence. And that's where the film goes. It doesn't come out the other end in some nice pond somewhere. No. It stays in the dark sewer of mankind.
And so, ultimately, that's why I couldn't get into this film as much as I wanted. I could have stayed at home and watched CNN or picked up a copy of No Place Like Home - a documentary on the Iraq war - or tried my hand at figuring out how much money I owe and how long its going to take me to pay it all off - all equally as entertaining as this film. You see, that's what I want for my entertainment - some entertaining. Some humor in places, some romance in others, some ray of hope, some beacon of humanity, some sign or signal that in the end all will be good once again. This movie was The Return of the King without the last half hour or so - it was ROTK with Sam and Frodo being immolated on Mt. Doom by a volcano and the audience wandering out thinking, "Wow... that whole mission was pretty pointless!" I wanted some damn eagles at the end of this movie. But they never came.
And that's why I gave it 3.5 Wigs. A great movie, but too damn depressing in the end.
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