Dark Knight, The: Rise and Fall of Harvey Two-Face

kboy930 aug 4 2009

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

brauventura1 dec 16 2009

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

20emp05 feb 4 2010

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

nov 17 2011

*This rating was given before reviews were required*

dwight fry may 8 2012

As soon as I saw that the hockey pads line had been cut, I knew that Harman and myself were pretty much on the same page regarding The Dark Knight. And we are, mostly. What people remembers the most about the movie is Heath Ledger’s Joker, which, while certainly a fine psycho performance, shows that there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing, as it overshadows the heart and soul of the story: Gotham’s two knights, white and dark. So, by cutting Joker back, Harman reveals that Dent was more than the glorified piece of furniture wasted that I thought he was in the theatrical cut. The original is a Joker movie, this is a Batman and Harvey Dent movie.

It is, however, not perfect for my tastes, particularly because of three things (outside redubbing Bale’s Bat-voice, but obviously I won’t ask for that much):

-Joker’s scars stories. I like both of them in the theatrical cut, but if you cut out one, you must cut out the other too, as if it’s the only one it instantly becomes true, which is not only much less interesting than making them up all the time, but puzzling that Joker is willing to share his tragic past story with anyone he just met. How I would cut the party bit: have Joker ask Rachel “Do you wanna know how I got ‘em?” implying he’s about to “show” her by cutting her face, then she kicks him.

-I wish that at least some of the speeches all along the movie that have characters (mostly, but not exclusively, Alfred) explain out loud the morals/psychological thoughts/philosophies of the story and the intentions of the characters to the audience. This is an annoying trait that’s in all Nolan movies and which makes me appreciate them a lot less than most people seem to. Show, Chris, don’t tell, and let us fill in the blanks with the brains you seem to think we lack.

-Please credit the real Batman creator, Mr. Bill Finger, alongside Kane.

I don’t know if Harman is still around, but since he never uploaded the promised DVD/HD, maybe when and if he comes back he’d consider some of this. Still, as it is, this gets a 9/10 from this lifelong Batman fan.