journal features

movie review - The Dark Night Rises

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Toronto, 2018.12.04

This is a thoroughly unpleasant Bat Man movie with an absurd story line even by the standards of Bat Man. We're supposed to expect that after a villain breaks Bat Man's back and dumps him in a primitive prison in the Middle East that somehow Bat Man not only recovers but comes back stronger than ever and defeats his rival. And speaking of the rival, he's a man who wears a face implant where his mouth should be because of a terrible injury, and yet somehow speaks. While I've learned to mimic that pretty well (to entertain my kids) it's a gimmick and doesn't adequately flesh out a character who acts just for the hell of it. I feel like they wanted The Joker but a guy who could beat up Bat Man. The plot devolves into a collection of scenes with nominal connections, with a mix of "wouldn't it be cool if-", to "remember to bring back this minor character".

Not recommended. I honestly have no idea what all the fuss is about.

rand()m quote

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

—Roald Dahl