July 22, 2008

TDK and Hellboy II

I had an entertainment filled weekend.

To kick start it all, I had tickets to see The Dark Knight on Friday night. The movie was great! I love the direction Christopher Nolan has taken this franchise. After Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, the series was in the gutter, getting away from the darker theme Tim Burton established in his previous two efforts and heading towards the cheesy, campy fare of the 60's tv show. Arnold Schwarzeneggar as Mr. Freeze? That has to be up there as the worst casting choice in movie history!

But Nolan has brought the series back to where it belongs. He has taken Burton's darker version of Batman and injected it with a heavy dose of reality. He has tried to keep the series as plausible as possible and the results have been stellar. The Dark Knight is even better than the excellent Batman Begins. The Joker, played brilliantly by the late Heath Ledger, is a much more terrifying adversary than what Batman has faced in previous movies. In fact, the Joker as portrayed in this movie might be the best villain in a comic book film ever. Much has been said about Ledger's interpretation of the character and the final results are spectacular. In fact, in some ways, Joker is the star of the show. I do not know if it is because he shared practically equal screen time with the Capped Crusader, or just the fact that you look forward to his scenes more than any other character, but he carried this flick much the same way that Jack Sparrow carried Pirates of the Carribean. The movie just wouldn't have been the same (or as good) without Heath's Joker.

The rest of the supporting cast was also stellar. As is expected. The "supporting" cast usually receives top billing in other movies. Michael Cain, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman . . . that is A-list material right there folks. Maggie Gyllenhaal takes over for Katie Holmes and I felt she did a bang-up job (Jeanette disagrees). Aaron Eckhart also did great as the new D.A., Harvey Dent.

Christian Bale once again is a fantastic Bruce Wayne. In fact, I feel he is a better Wayne than he is Batman. Just like in the first movie, I REALLY don't like his Batman "voice". It is too raspy and it seems forced. I thought it would grow on me by now, but it hasn't. In fact, in one of the finals scenes, in which he is speaking with the Joker, his voice is so bad I can't believe Christopher Nolan didn't yell "cut" and consulted with Christian on his performance, "Cut! Hey Christian, great job, just, umm, regarding the voice, maybe tone it down just a bit?"

Other nitpicks can include the movie being a tad too long. 2 ½ hours is a long time and I think some of that could have been shaved off. I also felt that maybe Harvey's turn to the "darkside" was a bit too fast and not fully believable, considering how his character was portrayed to that point in the film. That wasn't a spoiler right? I mean, everyone knows that Harvey Dent is Two-Face right? Hope so . . .

Overall, the movie was great and a giant step forward for comic book adaptations. In fact, I see it as the staple to which all future adaptations will be measured against.

All that and I managed to go back to the movies for a second time this weekend, something I have not done in years. On Sunday I saw Hellboy II and it was fantastic! Once again Guillermo Del Toro shows that he is extremely comfortable handling the fantasy genre and pulls no punches while taking the audience on a roller-coaster ride through his imagination. For a movie about a big red demon who thinks he's just "one of the guys" and goes around with his team of other-than-human teammates fighting other nasty creatures, I was completely sold on the premise and never once began to question how far fetched it all really is. Del Toro executes it all perfectly.

Ron Perlman again carries the movie with his absolutely fantastic portrayal of Hellboy. He is as likable a character as you'll see on-screen, never mind the fact that he is big, red, has a tail, a giant stone arm and shaves down the horns protruding from his forehead. You just want to hang out with him and have a beer. The special effects are spot on and I applaud Del Toro for again sticking with plenty of tradition animatronics and make-up effects, rather than just taking the easy way out and making all the creatures CG (I'm looking at you Mr. Lucas!). The scene of the Troll Market would not have been as visually engaging if instead of top-of-the-line prosthetics and make-up you would have had dull, lifeless, CG creatures. Good job Guillermo.

The movie was also extremely funny. One scene in particular, which I do not want to spoil here, had me in stitches. All I will say is: Barry Manilow.

Overall, I had an ear-to-ear smile for 85% of Hellboy II. It was just a fun, fun time. I really hope it picks up in the box office (why some idiot studio execs decided to release this on the eve of The Dark Knight is beyond me), because I want it to make a ton of dough so that we can see a Hellboy III. Pretty please!!!

2008 is now officially the year of the comic book movie. With Iron Man (great!), The Incredible Hulk (heard it was great), The Dark Knight (fantastic!) and Hellboy II (stellar!), I don't think a comic book fan can ask for much more.

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