It does not. It's vignettes building to the final resolution, but they're just replaceable plot devices. Don't tell me there's actual tension in the 'which ferry is going to get blown' situation. It makes for nice philosophical mumbo-jumbo (dirtbags have values, y'know), but take the scene away from the movie, you'll see it has no bearing on the outline. What's even worse, it actually demeans the Joker's character. Once he sees that these fine folks don't blow themselves up, he's faced with his own incompetence:
1- his great plan has failed
2- his backup plan of blowing the boats up himself is thwarted
So maybe they should edit the scene next time TDK plays on TV?
Don't assume people watch movies on TV just because someone posts a comment about a movie playing on TV all the time. I enjoy the online chit-chat, but I don't need to be lectured on where and how I should view movies. You don't see me point out that you enjoy
Avatar and
Dirty Dancing (oops
)
I'm not ashamed to say that I enjoyed
Avatar and
Dirty Dancing, there's plenty going for those two movies.
Avatar is the highest grossing movie ever, so the hate it gets is very shallow, mostly stupid arguments like "dances with smurfs" as if it's the only movie in history to borrow from other works. Actually Avatar is a lot more original than the majority of hollywood blockbusters, since it not only borrows from previous works, it also contributes new plot elements, principally the character of grace augustine, a character who is historically motivated by human terrain systems and their ilk in afghanistan and iraq. Avatar also stimulated discussion in the popular media and in the public consciousness. It is getting not one, not two, but three sequels.
Dirty Dancing had a compelling two leads, good soundtrack, and tackled a social issue (abortion) that is virtually never tackled. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other Hollywood movie where a prominent female character had an abortion and it was portrayed as the right decision. Most people, I'm sure, prefer
Juno, because the baby is given up for adoption and not aborted. Whether or not it's "fun" depends on whether or not you can dig chick flicks. I have no problem with chick flicks, I don't seek them out but I enjoy them when they're there.
But aside from all that, not everything I like is high art
I can enjoy french fries, soda, pop music, avatar, etc every so often. The very fact we're on a hockey forum means we can appreciate trashy pop culture.
The boat scene has significant bearing on the plot of
The Dark Knight. The whole point of the movie is an exploration of the soul of Gotham. The boat scene lets us know, that at that point, the soul of Gotham is not corrupted, though it is at risk of being corrupted and does get corrupted in the following movie due to The Dent Act.
I can understabd you feeling that way. You're right about the switched settings. I wouldn't go as far as calling it 'bastardized', though I'm sure Alan Moore did
I don't think that a straight-up adaptation of the 80's setting would have worked. And while I can understand Moore being protective about his work (and can't anyone in Hollywood come up with an original story anymore, FFS?), I don't buy this 'US liberal fantasy' bullcrap. Fact: history shows that fascist/totalitarian regimes CAN and WILL take control of any given society if you let them. The Wachowski siblings (now brother and sister
) took the ball and ran with it. It was their choice to set the story in a more 'actual' world, and they made the most of it: a compelling, visually stunning movie that I enjoyed a lot more than Moore's books.
They actually made it less actual by stripping the story of all of its original meaning to tell a cheap allegory for Bush. They set the movie in a fascist society made to look like Bush's 5th term, and they don't do anything with it.
FYI, fascism doesn't come to power if "you let them", that has nothing to do with history, that's just... an American liberal interpretation
It's not about the people in power at any given moment in time, nor is it about other people being vigilante in directly fighting fascism beforehand.
Definitely out of
Dirty Dancing,
Avatar,
TDK, and
V for Vendetta... all four movies have "messages", however, the message of V for Vendetta is the least satisfying since it's based on an flawed reading of historical forces. Watching
V for Vendetta is like listening to a condescending lecture defending young-earth creationism.
