It Didn't Blow My Doors Off

So I went to see "The Dark Knight" last week - even paid full price. I average about one full price movie per year. After reading all the breathless reviews, I almost expected the movie event of my lifetime. I was curious to see for myself if Heath Ledger's performance was worth the hype. Would he prove to be worthy of a posthumous Oscar? Would it be painful to see him onscreen following his untimely death resulting from an "accidental overdose" of prescription drugs?

(The answer to the second question is no - I personally don't know the guy.)

Looking back, there weren't really that many memorable scenes that left you talking afterwards. The Joker's entrance was good, when he makes the pencil disappear. And the scene where Lucius Fox shuts down Coleman Reese was great - one of the few lighthearted moments of the film. Actually, it may have been the only one. Otherwise, it was mostly just violence.

Michael Caine seemed to be having trouble with his accent - but maybe that's how he wanted it to sound.

I went from not liking Maggie Gyllenhaal to liking her after seeing "Stranger Than Fiction" and now I'm sort of lukewarm again after her portrayal of Rachel Dawes - pretty much as blah as Katie Holmes was in the last one. Maybe the problem is Rachel Dawes - why is Bruce Wayne so hot for her in the first place?

Christian Bale smirked and did the gravelly Batman voice (or maybe it was a voice double) through the whole film. Nothing at all memorable about his performance.

Heath Ledger was good - but I kept waiting for some bit of scintillating acting, which never quite happened. He was evil. He was creepy. He ran around sticking his blade in people's mouths. He was the villian. That was his job and he did it well. Or at least he did it better than Jack Nicholson.

But does he deserve the Oscar? I'll say yes, but mostly because we need more Oscar nominations going to movies people have actually seen.

Don't get me wrong - the movie was entertaining - definitely worth the $7.25. And I might feel more positively about it after a second viewing. (Although I'm not paying $7.25 to see it a second time.) But it didn't quite live up to the hype.