The Dark Knight
I saw this on opening weekend. It’s taken up until now to recover from the hot villainy goodness that is Heath Ledger’s Joker. I predicted immediately that Ledger will replace Brandon Lee as tragic goth hero who died before his darkest role was unveiled (if not necessarily Ledger’s last – it remains to be seen if that other movie will show him at all). At least people under 20 years old have heard of Heath Ledger. If I had ever wanted to deliberately hunt down a spirit, I think he takes first place on the list. He was brilliant in this role.
The rest of the movie was incidental in comparison, but it was a deeply serious cinematic experience. I only wish I could’ve seen it on IMAX. Grade: A-
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Casting Maria Bello as Evy O’Connell was a mistake. From the moment she appeared onscreen with her snooty high-class accent and haughty air, my regard for this series plummeted. Now to be fair, I am a big fan of adventure movies, which makes me a sucker for summer blockbusters and empty-calorie entertainment. I’m not one to go see a 4-star drama, but you’d have to tie me down to keep me out of a Harry Potter film or the above Dark Knight. I loved the other Mummy movies, and even enjoyed The Scorpion King. But this just fell flat.
There was zero chemistry between Brendan Fraser and Maria Bello, and I swear I could feel him thinking, “How did I end up here? Who is this woman?” every time he had a scene with her. She overacted the role and was completely void of Evy’s playfulness. Jet Li, fantastic martial artist that he is (and I know that he didn’t want to do any more fighting movies, but he does fight in this) is underutilized and in my opinion, his role could almost be considered a cameo.
There is one good thing about this movie: the yeti. They were awesome. Mom, can I have a pet yeti? Please? I’ll be good. Grade: C
See my full-length Iron Man review here.
About Sheta Kaey
vics (very important clicks)