I love movies. I love comic books. It is no surprise then that I can barely contain my excitement that The Dark Knight opens next Friday. There were three movies coming out this summer that I had to see during opening weekend. The first was Iron Man, a fantastic movie that finally made Robert Downey Jr. the superstar he deserves to be. He played Tony Stark perfectly. The sequels should only get better now that the origin story is out of the way. Sequels are often lambasted and rightfully so, but I find that sequels to comic book movies are often better. X-Men 2 is far superior to the original. Unfortunately, I can't think of anymore off the top of my head. I'm not good at supporting my claims. If you can think of other examples, post them in the comments. But don't bring up Spider-Man. Lame superhero and the awful Tobey Maguire? What a winning combination.
The second movie I was eager to see this summer was Indiana Jones 4. The original three Indy movies are in my top twenty five movies of all time. They were a staple of my childhood along with the original Star Wars trilogy. Harrison Ford is the man. It made me very happy that Ford was great in Indy 4 after so many years. The movie as a whole was entertaining, but not nearly as good as the originals. The large amount of CGI effects irked me. Shia LeBeouf swinging through the jungle on vines with monkeys was ridiculous. The plot is convoluted and has something to do with aliens. That's right, aliens in Indiana Jones. Give me the Ark, the Holy Grail, even those Hindu stones that get really hot a million times over aliens.
Neither Iron Man nor Indiana Jones got me as riled up as The Dark Knight has. I've been waiting to see The Dark Knight since last year when I saw the teaser trailer that showed nothing but the Batman symbol with dramatic music and dialogue. That's all I really need to get excited for Batman. The closer it comes to opening, the more trailers I see, which raises my excitement and impatience at the same time. Reviews are starting to come in, and every one has been exceptionally positive, praising the movie as more then just a superhero flick. Some have gone so far as calling it a masterpiece. It's unbearable! Thinking about Christian Bale's Batman taking on Heath Ledger's crazy, sadistic Joker gives me goosebumps. Friday night I will be in the theater watching possibly the greatest comic book movie ever. I'm willing to pay the excessive ten dollar admission price. I'm ready to sit back in a dark theater and watch director Christopher Nolan work has magic. Mark it down: The Dark Knight will be the best movie of the year. If it's not, I owe you a Coke.
1 comment:
Also super excited about The Dark Knight. Unbelievably excited.
I agree completely with your statement that these types of sequels are better because we don't have to worry about the hero's character development. I think the third of the new Star Wars illustrates that as George Lucas couldn't get in the way of himself as much with that one because the characters were mostly developed. Same with the Lord of the Rings (although maybe I just really, really liked the last two way to much).
I take offense to your Spiderman comments though. Not a lame superhero.
I'll have to wait to read your blog again until I see the movie so that I don't get any spoilers.
Post a Comment