I realize that in continuing my discussions on The Dark Knight in such a manner might seem like I have a personal vendetta against the movie, but my intentions with this ongoing discourse are of a more speculative nature. It is somewhat of a quest for a reevaluation of the film while trying to figure out just what has made the movie so irresistible for audiences...Except for audiences in Japan! And yes, I will openly admit that I say those words in a slightly "so there!" tone.
Apparently, The Dark Knight has not done incredibly well there, pulling in just under $9 million in the three weekes it has been in theatres in that country.
Slash Film provides a possible reason for the underperformance abroad:
The story is very pessimistic. It has a dark and gloomy texture that Japanese movie fans do not find appealing in a ‘comic hero’ film… Japanese movie fans expect such films to be fun and action packed, for the hero to be attractive, for the villain to be loud and outrageous, and for the movie itself to be easy to understand and light.
Indeed, I did not feel titular character in The Dark Knight to embody the notion of the "comic" nor a "hero."
Although, Christian Bale is definitely attractive (see: American Psycho if you have any doubts), so there's one big check-mark going for it.
2 comments:
I love the final sentence of this post - and it's funny because I recently said to one of my friends that I wanted to watch American Psycho but thought that I should read the book first.
We'll see how the book part goes...
I would say that Bale's beauty really is the most redeeming aspect of that movie.
More than slightly disturbing.
I'll have to check out the book. Let me know how it is!
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