 |
| Picture taken from here |
Hey! It's been a while!
(As always, apologies for the bad english ahead)
I have a confession to make. I thought that The Avengers was going to be the most epic action movie that I have ever seen this year. But I'm happily surprised to see how The Dark Knight Rises also presents some epics for my entertainment. I have so many things that I love about this movie. Let's talk about the director first. Since Batman Begins, I always in love with the dark tone and moody atmosphere that Chris Nolan brings into his Batman Trilogy, including the Dark Knight Rises (although personally I think this last movie is not as dark as its predecessors. But still dark enough compared to other superheroes movie, say The Avengers). I also love the realistic potrayal of every characters' complexity in this movie. Nobody is portrayed in a simple black and white manner (The character Rachel Dawes is probably the only exception, because somehow she always looks like the little damsel in distress in my eyes. So thank God, she's dead?). Each of the portrayals has its roots on basic human psychology - whether it's fear, greed or love - and that is what makes every characters in this movie have interesting little details that adds value into the story, instead of being jokey or mere filler for the movie plot. Every potrayals (especially the villanious ones. Heath Ledgers takes the cake as Joker) give me creeps. They make me put aside the thought of ever living in the City of Gotham, regardless of the presence of a sexy city guardian.
Speaking of city guardian, hello hot older guy!
 |
| Picture taken from here |
You know, I will always love Robert Downey Jr. immensely but if I ever had a desire to help some broody hot older guy who misunderstood and lonely and needs some guidance in life, I'd pick Christian Bale any time of the day. A lot of people might have said this before but he is perfect as Batman. I'd argue that his best version of Batman is during the time of Batman Begins when he portrayed the insecurity of a hero beginner, but here he does a great job playing the weary hero who wants to start thinking about his future as well. In loveline department though, I still think his chemistry with Anne Hathaway, who takes on a role as Sellina Kyle aka Catwoman in this movie, needs a little bit more work because they are not as sizzling as I wanted them to be. Which is a shame, because both of them are wonderful actors and two equally hot human. They should be burning the scene! Anyway, they still manage to give me one sweet hair-grabbing inducing moment, when all I ever wanted is scream out this words at both of them: "How come you still have time kissing like a pair of loverbird?! You only have minutes, I repeat, minutes to toss that atomic bomb somewhere! You can make out later!!"
Moving on to the Catwoman. I must get this out of my chest: I sincerely think that Anne Hathaway plays better Catwoman than Halle Berry, who annoyed me so much with her purring voice whenever she talked as Catwoman. I am not going to argue who has the best acting chop between Hathaway and Berry because both of them are great actresses. But in the case of acting as Catwoman, it appears that Berry took a relatively more literal interpretation of the word 'cat'. Hence, the purring and the catwalk on the beam thingy. Hathaway does not resort to that kind of purring sound to portray her character (and she walks normal as well), but instead she puts on a persona of an elegant, agile and witty superheroine. What impresses me more is that, although the character of Catwoman is arguably has some major sex appeal, I can see that Hathaway decides not to depict Catwoman as overly sexually seductive as Berry did. I mean I get the reasoning behind Berry's version of Catwoman. She has an excellent body (an understatement, actually) that needs and should be put on a good use. But her kind of bitchy Catwoman who went around whipping everybody who stood in her way, really irked me since it reminded me so much of a dominatrix rather than a superheroine (and clearly, the revealing costume did not help to shatter the masked dominatrix image in my head).
Moving on to the Catwoman. I must get this out of my chest: I sincerely think that Anne Hathaway plays better Catwoman than Halle Berry, who annoyed me so much with her purring voice whenever she talked as Catwoman. I am not going to argue who has the best acting chop between Hathaway and Berry because both of them are great actresses. But in the case of acting as Catwoman, it appears that Berry took a relatively more literal interpretation of the word 'cat'. Hence, the purring and the catwalk on the beam thingy. Hathaway does not resort to that kind of purring sound to portray her character (and she walks normal as well), but instead she puts on a persona of an elegant, agile and witty superheroine. What impresses me more is that, although the character of Catwoman is arguably has some major sex appeal, I can see that Hathaway decides not to depict Catwoman as overly sexually seductive as Berry did. I mean I get the reasoning behind Berry's version of Catwoman. She has an excellent body (an understatement, actually) that needs and should be put on a good use. But her kind of bitchy Catwoman who went around whipping everybody who stood in her way, really irked me since it reminded me so much of a dominatrix rather than a superheroine (and clearly, the revealing costume did not help to shatter the masked dominatrix image in my head).
 |
| Picture taken from here |
IMO, Hathaway did more than that: she imbued elegance as a part of her character's sexual attractiveness so we can see a different kind of Catwoman in this movie, a kind that is mature and also the one who will immediately crush you under her heels if you ever make her annoyed. I believe if Berry version of Catwoman and Hathaway version of Catwoman ever cross into each other's path one day and somehow decide to get into a catfight, Hathaway would be the last girl standing, leaving the fight with a dignified victory walk, while still keeping that enviable hair smooth all the time (But seriously. How does she have such a beautiful hair? Me want!)
 |
| Picture taken from here |
Furthermore, what makes the Dark Knight Rises is even more great is the twist. Such a cool twist. I love it when a film gives me surprises that I didn't see coming (I'm not going to give any spoilers here). And as the cherry on the top for the already amazing cake is the perfect ending and closure for both this movie and Nolan's Batman Trilogy. It feels satisfying to see how Nolan neatly ties the end of Wayne's discovery journey as a hero, giving the audience the happy ending that everybody needs to see (well, I need to see) while on the same time still providing enough room for us to explore and wonder the endless possibilities of Wayne's future, both as an individual and as Batman. I also appreciate that Nolan's conclusion to his Batman story is not by showing a hero that is everlasting and knows no limit in fighting the crime and injustice. He prefers to underline the concept that the importance of having a hero in our society is more than just its physical existence per se, but more to the noble values that a certain hero carries and passed on to the future heroes. Thus, in Nolan's story, Batman might not be running around protecting the Gotham City to infinity, but it becomes a symbol of hope and a role model for those who wish to become his successors as city guardian, while each of them walk on their own discovering journey. And in this movie, it appears that the next Batman is going to be ... (beware. Spoiler ahead)
... Detective Blake aka Robin John Blake aka Robin!!! (I totally had the urge to fistpump the air when the movie finally revealed that Detective Blake was indeed Robin. I knew it!). It's a different take altogether on this Batman-Robin story because here, Robin is more like Batman's successor, rather than his crime fighting partner. And I love it to the bits. Did I say I love it? So uhm Mr. Chris Nolan, can we have Robin Trilogy now? Please? Give me more excuse to watch Joseph Gordon Levitt. He is one gorgeus man and has single-handedly restored my faith on the existence of hot good guys.
In the meantime, I will just drool over Levitt's pictures now. Y So Hot?
 |
| Picture taken from here |
0 comments:
Post a Comment