Friday, July 20, 2012
The Dark Knight Rises
First blush: Probably the most consistent of the series, solving the fractured plot issues of the first two films. Beautifully constructed and acted, thoroughly engrossing. But issues of muddled subtext persist, which remains a problem for films that take themselves so seriously. Not a triumph or a disaster, but a gripping experience with many individual sections of greatness but also some undeniable flaws, mostly having to do with the underlying silliness of the whole conceit.
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If I may, I think the issue with the muddled subtext was not an issue of the film taking itself too seriously but rather of the director, the dear Mr. Nolan, taking himself too seriously.
ReplyDeleteAlso... WHY IS YOUR BLOG ENTIRELY IN WEST COAST PACIFIC TIME? ARE YOU A WEST COASTER NOW?
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen it yet, but if it's like THE DARK KNIGHT, I think the "muddled" subtext isn't so much muddled as it is, to use a nice film school phrase, "strategically ambiguous." It wants to give off the air of being an important film with something to say, but it's also a $200 million studio blockbuster that can't afford to alienate any subsection of the American (or international) population.
ReplyDeleteSo DK seems to bring up heavy themes about terrorism and how to fight it, about the morality of government surveillance, etc etc. And then it doesn't really take a stance on any of those issues. That's how you end up with a lot of people on the internet with wildly varying opinions on what the supposed political message of DK was.
So based on that, I'm guess DKR does something similar with it's treatment of Occupy Wall St and the 99% and all that jazz.
Yep, so Dan just said what I've been trying to say for days.
ReplyDeleteMind you, I'm agnostic about the whole "strategic ambiguity" thing. You guys have probably talked with me about art enough to know that the "message" is a lot less important to me than the style, the craft, the emotional experience, etc. I loved THE DARK KNIGHT despite the fact that I don't believe it has anything to say of value about most of it's major themes, and I imagine it won't hinder my enjoyment of RISES whenever I get around to seeing it.
ReplyDeleteBasically a confirmation from Nolan himself:
ReplyDelete"We throw a lot of things against the wall to see if it sticks. We put a lot of interesting questions in the air, but that's simply a backdrop for the story. What we're really trying to do is show the cracks of society, show the conflicts that somebody would try to wedge open. We're going to get wildly different interpretations of what the film is supporting and not supporting, but it's not doing any of those things."