In relation to plot of the movie: What Bush and Batman have in common. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121694247343482821.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

-umaa-
http://umaamy.blogspot.com

1. In terms of pacing, one of the things I loved about the movie is how well it maintained my interest for 2.5 hours, and I think that in addition to just being action-packed, it did a fair job of creating false endings so that you really didn’t know when it would come to its conclusion. Notably, in most superhero movies, there would still be loose ends before the next big plot twist, e.g., the Joker would come close to being captured but somehow escape, so that if you knew he had to end the movie in captivity, you knew there was more to come. Here, the movie “tied up” the loose ends and then completely unwound them again, leaving me surprised a couple of times that there was more still going on.

2. I loved how much the people of Gotham were a focus of the movie, and how their reactions to events played out and shaped what was going on.

3. I disagree completely about Maggie Gyllenhaal. Sure, she’s no Catwoman, but the character isn’t meant to be beautiful. I was skeptical of her in the role when I first heard the casting, but I actually liked Rachel much better as the the sort-of-plain girl next door. It makes her a contrast to the models and starlets that Wayne is hanging out with all the time, and that contrast helps to emphasize why he is still carrying a torch for her. Also, it keeps our image of Dent as an ordinary guy, the “anti-Bruce Wayne.” I don’t know if I would have believed the purity of his conviction as much if his woman had been really hot. Neither of the men have a very sexual relationship with Rachel, it is much more emotional and intellectual. Then again, maybe I just give Maggie extra credit because I have the image of her masturbating to a red pen burned into my memory from Secretary . . .