I saw The Dark Knight last night. In my opinion, it was a fantastic movie, full of great performances (yes, plural, more than just Heath Ledger's), cool shots of the city (Look, Marina Towers!) and excellent gadgets. For as behind as I am in my own technology - my cell phone has an external antenna, my iPod is a mini, I've been without cable for almost 5 years (for real), my camera is about 6 years old - I love movie gadgets. The imagination the creators of the movie must possess to create these things (yes, I know they don't really work...yet) is impressive. Imagination is a highly under-rated asset in today's society, and that saddens me. I think it's important to be able to think of things that might not be feasible or possible, cause that's how some of the greatest inventions came about. I bet you friends of the Wright Brothers thought they were crazy.
One thing I noticed as we settled in to our seats for the big show was the previews. Well, the previews and the fact a group of people brought a BABY in to the movie. Like under 6 months old. Back to the previews, they were for various movies I cannot remember the names of and none of them looked very impressive, although the Disney movie with the dog looks cute. The defining characteristic of the previews was that each of them had maybe 10 spoken words in them, the rest of the preview consisted of things being blown up, hot chicks walking seductively, gunfire, people jumping through windows, car chases and crashes, and other action shots. Has it really come to this? Are we desensitized to stories that take time to develop? Most of the movies that perform well at the box office tend to be "shoot-em-up, bang bang" or "potty humor" movies. Nothing really smart or clever. I guess that explains why when the Academy Award nominations come out, most people haven't seen a single one of the five Best Picture nominations. They are usually complex stories that weave characters in and out of each others lives, not the usual instant gratification fare we are used to.
After the previews, I felt completely overstimulated and knew I was in for another 2.5 hours of that kind of material. After sitting through The Dark Knight (which I said was good, remember?), I felt like I needed to watch my back, that someone or something was lurking around, with intention to do damage to me, or at least steal my purse (go ahead, there's not much in it). If this is a common feeling, no wonder people get road rage so easily.
Do you ever feel a bit uneasy after seeing a movie? I'll admit, my feelings toward little monkey's has not been the same since "Outbreak".
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