Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers Offers First Review of The Dark Knight
In case you haven’t heard, the first review of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight has officially hit the web, and it’s a very positive one indeed. Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers is one of the lucky few who got to see an early screening of the film, and he seems to think that it will blow most of the other summer blockbusters out of the water. I only quickly scanned the review because I want to go into this movie fairly blind, but here is a short excerpt:
“There’s something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system.”
He also goes on to refer to Ledger’s performance as “mad-crazy-blazing brilliant”. I’ve been secretly holding out a lot of hope for this film, but I’ve been trying not to follow the marketing machine too much for fear of building unfair expectations. I know a lot of people think Batman Begins is a masterpiece, but I think it had a lot of flaws. The Dark Knight, however, looks to be taking things in a very gritty, noir-esque direction. Although darker is not always better, in this case, the farther they can take it from feeling like a comic book movie, the better it will be. And, if Ledger is as good as Travers is saying, I think that will be the key, because all of these damn comic book movies have such lame villains lately. Are you excited about The Dark Knight? Do you think this will end up being the best movie of the summer? You can check out the full review via the link below.
» Related Link: Rolling Stone: The Dark Knight Review
Comments (13)
I’ve purposefully strayed from the marketing. I saw the trailer and I’ve seen a few still, but all the TV spots that came out I avoided. Why have the movie ruined with a half hour of stuff you’ve already seen online or on TV?
But the stuff I have seen of Ledger is pretty damn fantastic. I have no doubt of Travers’ take on Ledger’s performance. I’m sure it’s gold.
Posted by Andrew James on June 26th, 2008I read the full review…not really any spoilers there. The problem is that the film is two and a half hours which Travers says is fine, but knowing how overblown Hollywood likes to make everything these days that scares me a little (I’m really looking forward to this!). A Batman movie the length of There Will Be Blood!?
Travers also talks posthumous Oscar for Ledger. He was a good actor, but if that cat hadn’t died people wouldn’t be obsessing over him.
Now that the weakest link (Katie Holmes) is gone, I only have great expectations.
Posted by Ryan on June 26th, 2008I won’t be reading the review as I want to try to go in fresh but it is good to hear that the review is very positive.
Posted by Stephen on June 26th, 2008In response to Ryan’s post… Myself and some friends have been obsessing over Heath Ledger’s performance based on the trailers long before he died. After they released the second trailer last Fall, we actually said out loud “Holy Shit, Heath Ledger is awesome, I never thought he could pull it off” To say the attention is just because he died is frankly unfair. Yes, none of us have seen the movie yet, but just based upon all the footage I’ve seen it looks amazing. The fact that he died just makes it more of a tragedy that we won’t see more of him in the future.
Posted by Dane on June 26th, 2008@Ryan: I believe Batman Begins was also 2 1/2 hours, so it’s nothing new.
Posted by Aaron on June 26th, 2008I’m still only partially looking forward to The Dark Knight. I’m more excited to see Hellboy 2 at the moment.
Posted by Rian on June 26th, 2008If this summer’s blockbusters are anything like last years, I’d say this has an excellent chance of being the best one!
My feelings towards Batman Begins are similar to Sean’s I think. I liked it, and it had so many good ideas, but on second viewing I didn’t think it was the sensational movie that so many people hold it up as. But I am really looking forward to this.
Posted by Liney on June 27th, 2008I could see it being the best this summer. I’ll skip this guy’s review and wait for the filmjunk podcast on it.
Posted by joe on June 27th, 2008I read the review. It’s very positive with no stated flaws. But still he only gave it 3.5 stars. Very strange. I’m even more psyched to see it now.
Posted by Matt on June 27th, 2008Sean…can you tell us specifically about the flaws you saw in Batman Begins? I think it holds up everytime I see it… probably the finest comic book film ever made.
Posted by pete on June 27th, 2008Ryan: “Now that the weakest link (Katie Holmes) is gone, I only have great expectations.”
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I’ll pretend you didn’t say that
Posted by Baychuk on June 28th, 2008John Campea also reviewed and loved the movie
Posted by Drew on June 29th, 2008I know when this comes out, all anyone will be able to talk about is how amazing Ledger was in it. I’m already preparing for the massive amounts of hyperbole and critical fellatio that will be given to his performance. It’s actually tainting my opinion of the film.
But I’m still dying to see it.
Posted by Jon Rocks on June 29th, 2008Leave a Reply