Finally.

That first word totally sums it up for me…finally. After all of the waiting and anticipation, I got to see The Dark Knight and it delivered, it truly delivered. After nearly 3 years since the first *NEW* Batman, I finally was able to see The Dark Knight. Choosing to wait out the massive crowds on opening night and weekend, I ventured out on a bright Sunday afternoon to experience this epic movie. With expectations as high as ever in tow, I watched The Dark Knight…

…and it was absolutely fantastic. I walked out of the theater mesmerized and a little short of breath, and in fact, I needed time to sit and recollect on what I just experienced. There was so much in the movie and it was such a BIG movie that there was no way I could even express what I felt or thought until I had a chance to sit down and actually verbalize what I thought. I was overwhelmed by the movie, by the shear mass of it I was taken for a loss. I had waited so long and had such high hopes and had talked about it to nearly everyone I knew, and wrote countless news pieces and insights into the movie that I nearly didn’t know how to even start this review.

I was afraid going into the movie that the hype would outlast the reality of the screen, though I wasn’t as freaked out about it as some other film bloggers, I was at least wary of the fact, but it seriously and utterly lived and surpassed the hype following it. So much goes into the marketing of a movie and many were calling TDK an “over-marketed” movie with all of its viral sites and teasers and trailers debuting here and there, and I am here to tell you, once again, that you will totally forget that fact once you see this movie. I thought that the movie held up great against its “image” that was created prior to its release, there’s never a point where you feel like you were cheated by the amount of information and games that the studios made you play in order to find out anything about the movie. It just adds to the overall phenomenon surrounding the movie.

I think I am going to devote an entire blog to Heath Ledger and why I think he is the best comic book villain to-date to ever appear on screen. His performance ALONE is worth seeing the movie multiple times in the theater. I have never, well, maybe not since Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, forgotten about an actor and legitimately believed I was watching a real person like I did watching Ledger portray The Joker. In most cases, I see the ACTOR portraying a character, I see Christian Bale as Batman, I can see Michael Caine as Alfred, but with Ledger, I didn’t see him AS The Joker, I just saw THE JOKER!! I was totally frightened and amazed at The Joker. His evil was unexplainable, which made it all the better, and he seemed to really and truly embody what The Joker should be…someone who is pure evil, not made evil by some abusive childhood or turned by a tragic event, but someone who just IS evil for evil’s sake. Watching Ledger become Joker was true magic, and to be honest, a little disheartening to think how much he would have had to do to prepare for that role mentally, how depressed, low, insane, lonely he had to become to wholeheartedly become Joker. I read that he spent an entire month in a small run-down apartment in a dangerous and shabby part of New York to learn what that kind of loneliness felt like…hindsight in that situation makes you think a little.

Trust me, don’t believe the hype or the stories you read, Ledger makes this movie stand out on its own. Yes, he was SO GREAT that it did expose how just GOOD Christian Bale, Michael Cane, Gary Oldman, etc. were, in that he absolutely OUT SHINED his costars, but not so much as to ruin the movie. It just reminds you how GREAT Ledger was. You can tell that he put everything, literally everything, into this role and sadly enough, from what I have read, the added stress of preparing for a role as dark as this one may have been too much in the end.

One of the things that bothered me about this movie (I know, half of you just gasped, but hear me out) was the splotchy and fidgety editing. I was really bothered by how at times the scene would cut way too fast to the next scene that was already in progress, and it just really distracted me. At multiple times, there were action scenes that were cut too tight and seemed to end too quickly without any resolution at all. I felt like they had SO MUCH MOVIE to cut and edit that in the end, I think they spent too much time slimming the movie to 2 and a half hours and didn’t concentrate enough on how scenes flowed together. The transitions didn’t match at times and it just seemed a little robotic in its flow.

The Nolan brothers’ script I thought was very well put together and flowed nicely. The story really moved quite well in my opinion and never left you guessing. One of the elements of the story that I didn’t quite like and noticed right away was the “over-villain-izing” that was going on. Like the debacle that was Spider-Man 3 with all 3 of their MAJOR villains trying to split time in a 2 hour movie, I thought the inclusion of Two-Face (Dent), The Joker, Gamble, The Mob, AND the Scarecrow (though his was a small part) was a little much to try and cram into the movie, even though it was 2 and a half hours long. I know that Joker was the MAIN villain and most of the movie revolved around him, but I felt like they tried too hard to show all of the villains on one screen and in one movie.

This was a fantastic movie that I will see again this week. It lived up to its hype and it kept me thinking about it and discussing it days after, which is what a truly great film should aspire to do. This movie will make $300 million in 3 weeks, mark my words!

Content Warning: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace. The Joker is an evil guy and the kind of darkness portrayed in this film is not for the younger kids. Adults, don’t miss it, but find a sitter.

Armed with that experience, I walked into Hellboy II, sans my wife as she later told me that she didn’t like it THAT much to see a sequel, with open eyes and expecting to enjoy myself and behold another visual explosion from the now-famous Del Toro. I went on opening night with a couple of buds and we were the first in line. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a “waiting-in-line” movie, but after about 10 minutes of waiting, the line quickly built and I was glad that we arrived early. It was evident that I was not the only one that enjoyed the first movie or Del Toro, and after a few awkward social “what-do-I-do” situations involving overly-excited-older-Hellboy-fans, we made our way to the perfect seat.

Just like the first movie, Hellboy II was a visual masterpiece of effects, creatures, colors, and artistry that we’ve all come to love from Del Toro. I love the different worlds he creates within his movies, worlds that were probably realized out of some crazy dream. Seriously, the world of Hellboy is like nothing else I’ve seen visually in a long time. Sure, it has cities and cityscapes like every other set, but it’s when Hellboy walks into the troll market and exposes the real world behind the curtain, that we get to really digest all of what Del Toro wants to feed us visually. I don’t want to try and overstate how beautiful his films are, but even if the story, for me, fades a little, I am still have been blown away by what he brings to the table. I want to be a fly on the wall when he’s brainstorming!

One of the surprising aspects of the Hellboy franchise is the humor. I think a lot of comic book movies miss the mark when it comes to humor. Sure, most of the comic book movies blow me away with their imagination, story, character, effects, just shear immensity, but there are times when I think they can take themselves too seriously and try to shove a soap-opera-esque drama down our throats, when all I really would like to have is a bit of humor. I laughed quite a few times out loud. I like Ron Perlman’s take on Hellboy, the cigar-smoking, “crap” saying, fight first ask questions later superhero who says what he thinks when he thinks it. I think Guillermo does a great job of not taking himself too seriously and worrying himself with creating a comic book movie that is supposed to based somehow in reality. Especially in this installment, I really felt that he allowed the characters to develop more and he gave us more insight into who they are as opposed to just leaving us with an “action-figure” knowledge of them. He showed more of their personalities, their fears, their passion, their sacrifice, their convictions, and ultimately, their humanity. (I know they aren’t exactly human, but you understand what I mean)

I didn’t think the movie was as good as the first one, in story and in the overall feel, but to me, it’s always hard to compare the “first” of any series of anything to the rest. One of the highlights to me from the first movie was Abe Sapien’s character. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Dan, he’s in this movie as well, he’s the same guy” and I would agree, but the one difference between the first movie and this one is that in the first Hellboy, Doug Jones portrays Abe Sapien as the actor, the literal body for Abe, but David Hyde Pierce actually voiced him. This go around, Del Toro opted for Doug Jones to complete the character by letting him not only be the body of Sapien but he also voiced him. To me, that was a mistake. David Hyde Pierce added a cynical but sweet humor to Sapien’s character the first go around and I don’t think Doug Jones totally pulled it off. To me, not having his wit and sarcasm weakened Sapien’s character and his whole persona. It wasn’t enough to ruin the movie for me, but it’s definitely a noticeable difference in the two movies.

Del Toro is quickly moving up the movie ladder and with the recent news of him helming the next two Hobbit movies, his stock is surely to rise sky high. There wasn’t much left unanswered to garnish a third movie, but who knows. In this day in age, they can make a trilogy out of anything, heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Norbit 2 and Norbit 3. Either way, if you knew nothing about Hellboy and walked into the movie, you don’t have to worry, they do a decent job of providing some basic background story to lay the foundation. It’s a great summer movie to sit back and enjoy with some popcorn and candy and be glad that you don’t fight goblins, trolls, or evil mystic princes who need haircuts.

Content Warning: Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language. There are some big fights and action, but hardly any blood, and the language is pretty sparse. The creatures may be too much for the little kids though.