I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the prices in London. Sure, it costs $2 to buy £1. But £1 actually goes a long way — a small bottle of water, for example, costs about 60p. You can often find a sandwich or an Indian food buffet for £3.50. Our hotel costs £60, or $120, and it’s much nicer than some of the shabby places we stayed in Greece for the same price.
But we made one major financial mistake.
Going to a movie in London costs £10. But last night, we were tired of walking around so we decided to go see The Dark Knight. According to all our friends and most reviews, it would be The Best Movie Of All Time Starring The Best Actor Of All Time Heath Ledger. If any movie is worth $20 per person, this one, we were sure, would be it.
To think of all the things we could have done with that money — not to mention the time. We can earn more money, but we will never, ever get that three hours back.
Honestly, what was all the fuss about? If Heath Ledger hadn’t died, would The Dark Knight have been nearly as popular as it is? Yes, Heath Ledger was impressive, and so was Aaron Eckhart. But Christian Bale repeated the wooden performance that made the last Batman so forgettable. Maggie Gyllenhaal was far superior to Katie Holmes–but that’s not saying much, is it?
Warning: if you keep reading, there will be spoilers. But the movie is so predictable it doesn’t really matter. The movie’s brilliant twists included “the Joker tricks a cop,” and “the Joker escapes from prison,” and, “the Joker tricks a whole bunch of cops.” Rachel’s death was a bit of a surprise, but they glossed over it so quickly, my guess is she’ll reappear in Batman III: Two Face, Shock Of Shocks, Comes Back To Life.
But all of this would be forgiveable if the characters had any personality. They had values – some were good, some were bad, some were corruptible. But that’s it. Unlike Iron Man, which had a likeable hero, or the Hulk, which featured real people having what felt like real relationships, Batman was flat. As I watched the movie, sometimes I was startled and sometimes I was afraid, but I never felt any real emotion. I didn’t even cry when Rachel “died” — and I cry at anything. I cry watching Everybody Loves Raymond. Heck, I cry during commercials for Everybody Loves Raymond.
I wish we spent that $40 seeing The Incredible Hulk a second and third time. Now that was a good movie.
5 Comments
August 4, 2008 at 7:21 pm
did you feel an overwhelming sense of social responsibility?
August 29, 2008 at 1:12 pm
You know, I find it a bit mean that you would say that about my boyfriend Cristian Bale.
Although, I have to say the bloom is off the rose for me too, handsome as he is…I mean, who is from a family where they assault each other and then sue? True, it could never have happened, but the fact that his sister and mother publicly accused him of assaulting them is both bizarre and ugly. Hannah, however much you might irritate me in the future, I promise not to sue you. You too Jon. XO Your Sister/Sister-in-Law
September 11, 2008 at 7:50 pm
i LOVED that movie so i’m sad to hear you didn’t like it. i thought heath ledger did great and he was so CRAZY in that movie and couldn’t believe the stuff the joker did.
oh well, to each his/her own…
September 13, 2008 at 9:00 pm
[...] which I pay $45 to see The Dark Knight, and it [...]
October 16, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I found that with The Dark Knight but went to see it the again (I work at the cinema so it’s free yays) and I enjoyed it 10 times more.
I think all the hype first time round ruined it for me.