Deviating

I only go to the theatres when I am about a 90% certain that I shall enjoy the film I am going to see. It’s too expensive. So what do I do? Rent DVD’s of course! Consider it snooty but I don’t seem to care for any other theatre since INOX came along, and it almost seems like propaganda, but they keep raising their prices, as if in knowledge of this fact. 300 bucks just to sit in a chair for what’s basically one-eighth of a day… And that’s the lowest possible price per ticket! Inflation, you say? Ah, inflation-shinflation! Anyways, so it’s either INOX or ATHOME.

I tried another theatre recently (only because I really wanted to see the film and it wasn’t being screened at INOX - shocking!). If it hadn’t been for the movie itself, I would’ve walked man! Everything, from the parking access to the ticket counter was a pain. Hence, I have reiterated to myself in my head over and over since then that selective movies will get the benefit of my presence at INOX and the others just have to be on DVD... Which isn’t so bad actually…

Just to digress, the movie was ‘The Dark Knight’ and, while almost fabulous, I sincerely believe that the death of its brightest shining star has more to do with it’s gigantic success than the content of the film itself, which falls drastically short, when compared to its predecessor ‘Batman Begins’ (even though one had to put up with Katie Holmes in the latter).

Simply put, it’s too long. If it weren’t for Heath Ledger and the fact that I was sitting in the first row, (which was deceivingly far from the screen on the computer monitor when I was buying the tickets by the way) I could have fallen asleep. I didn’t though because Ledger shines as The Joker, and you can’t take your eyes off him when he’s in the frame. He has the exaggerated belligerence of the anti-hero, but more than that, he seems to be completely in sync with the pain and darkness that has possessed this absolute villain. His energy seems to come from a real place, and the effect is mind-blowing. Hats off!

The rest of the cast is pretty good too, though I’d pick Christian Bale any day in ‘The Prestige’ and ‘Batman Begins’. Maggie Gylenhall is too drastically different from Katie Holmes (who played the same character in the previous movie) in body language and also sort of ‘flip-floppy’, so again, the choice of the damsel in distress leaves much to be desired. As for Aaron Eckhart, I doubt he’ll find anything as path-breaking as the irreverent and sexy pro-tobacco campaign leader type from ‘Thank You For Smoking’ for a while. That was a once-in-a-lifetime thing! Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman demand too much respect on screen to do any wrong, even is supporting roles. So that’s that.

I’m afraid I’ve digressed a bit too much. Oh well, there’s always time for another entry.