A few days ago, I stumbled upon a few movies that many people consider to be early contenders for Best Picture. One of them is True Grit, a Coen Brothers remake of a classic John Wayne western. The King's Speech is a British historical drama about King George VI and his stuttering problem (something I was not aware of). And then there's The Fighter, a biopic of tough-as-nails blue-collar boxer Micky Ward. All three of the movies look fascinating and I'm definitely interested in seeing all three of them.
While I was watching the trailers, however, I was reminded of how cheap and goofy the Best Picture award is now. Personally, I blame it all on the fact that now, ten movies are nominated for the most prestigious award in American entertainment. Some claim that the ten movie extension was done to help encourage more independent films in getting nominations. Last year's nominations of films like Precious and the eventual winner Hurt Locker certainly give credence to that fact.
But the bottom line is, this stupid 10-nomination rule is thanks to one goddamn movie. And that movie is The Dark Knight, one of the MOST OVERRATED MOVIES OF ALL TIME.
When The Dark Knight was not nominated for Best Picture back in 2008 (eventually won by another ridiculously overhyped movie, Slumdog Millionaire) everyone and their mother were crying afoul. I remember getting lectured about my "lack of refined movie taste" from my own sister, (YES MY OWN SISTER) because I was mocking the idiots who honestly thought The Dark Knight was Best Picture quality.
Now that the hype of the Batman sequel has died down, I think a lot of people will agree with me that this movie was not and will never be considered one of the greatest movies of all time, which is what a Best Picture movie is supposed to be. At its best, it's a mildly entertaining continuation of a FAR SUPERIOR movie in Batman Begins.
So why do I think that The Dark Knight is not that great of a movie? Well for starters, the only actors who really stood out in the film were Gary Oldman, who once again gave a strong performance as a wise and psychologically exhausted Jim Gordon, and of course the late Heath Ledger. I will admit that he deserved his posthumous win as the Joker.
Christian Bale is normally a terrific actor. Before Batman Begins, he didn't get the credit that he probably deserved. He does a great job as Bruce Wayne but his Batman is meh. It's not bad and it's certainly better than Val Kilmer, Michael Keaton, and yes George Clooney (excuse me while I suppress the urge to vomit), but it doesn't really carry the movie. The voice was definitely distracting and I could not sympathize with his character at all. When he mourns the loss of Rachel Dawes, in my mind I just wanted the scene to end as fast as possible. You're supposed to feel sorry for him because he lost his love but because there was ZERO chemistry between the two characters, I just couldn't care less.
The worst. The ABSOLUTE WORST was from Aaron Eckhart. Granted, it wasn't as bad as Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever, but that's not saying much. The last hour of the movie, his character became UNBEARABLE. I would rather get slowly skinned alive by a million rabid sea urchins then listen to his incessant crying about the death of his stupid girlfriend whose name he just had to scream A MILLION TIMES. Honestly, did somebody tell him to just holler every line as loud as possible? It was like he was trying to talk over everyone in the movie, which was stupid since it's not like Maggie Gyllenhaal or Gary Oldman were bellowing their lines like jackhammers.
That scene in the hospital where he talks to the Joker. Watch it again. It STINKS. The Joker just rambles like some idiotic punch-drunk anarchist while the Eckhart as Two Face just stares at him with about as much hatred as you would give someone you suspected of farting in your face. Sprinkle in a few instances of "RACHEL!!!!!!" and PRESTO, you have a slow and distracting scene.
Maggie Gyllenhaal. I don't know wtf happened here. She's normally a pretty decent actress but in Dark Knight, she just really had no energy or enthusiasm. The scene with the Joker where she "confronts" him at the gala, you could have put an ancient mummy in her place and it would have carried more emotion. It was like someone told her to get high as a kite before they shot every scene with her character. She was so wooden throughout the film that I was THRILLED when her character was killed off.
The acting was not great but another problem with the film was just the terrible final act of the movie. Two-Face starts crying, wetting his diaper, and after that really drawn out scene talking to the Joker in the hospital, he just randomly goes on a killing rampage. The Joker devises some plan to blow up two boats. Sounds okay but those scenes DRAGGED. The movie is about Batman goddamn it, not two freaking boats and the bumbling morons on them arguing with each other about blowing up the other one.
What was the deal with the Bat-sonar or whatever the hell that thing was that made his eyes go white? The film gave the most half-assed explanation and then we were forced to watch it and try to make sense out of it for the next 10 or so minutes. The whole time, I was convinced I overdosed on acid and powdered donuts. Everything was white and wavy and downright disorienting.
Perhaps my biggest beef with The Dark Knight is not against the film itself, Christopher Nolan, or the actors in general. I think it has a lot to do with the audience themselves, the people who after watching this movie reacted like they had just seen Elvis come back from the dead. So many little stupid niches, things like the "disappearing pencil scene" "Why so Serious?" were the reasons why people heavily overrated this movie, which to me was just dumb as hell.
It was style and not substance. Seriously, what was the deep theme of this movie? That's right, THERE WASN'T ONE!!!!!!
Now that I think everyone has fallen back to reality (hopefully), I would love to hear the reactions people have towards this film now. Do they still think it's the best movie ever? Do they still think that The Dark Knight is the solution to all peace in the world? Do they honestly still think that The Dark Knight is a film that challenges us and makes us do some considerable soul-searching?
Well if you think otherwise today, it's a little too late. Thanks to your whining three years ago, the Academy Award for Best Picture is a joke now with its dumb 10 nominations rule and all because people honestly thought this movie deserved an Oscar nod.
Live Free or Die Hard was a more profound movie
Cheers,
DC
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