I’m not sure whether to recommend this or not…
Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 • Horrorthon Posts
When I Am Legend opened last Friday, I scrambled to see the very first IMAX showing, at one in the afternoon. I was so desperate to see the movie that I considered forgetting about IMAX and seeing the 10:30 AM show, just because it seemed like a better option than waiting two and a half hours, but then I got a hold of myself. When I sat down in the IMAX theater and struck up conversations with the excellent folk around me, the first question I got asked was, “Are you here for Legend or for Batman?“
What?
And then I remembered that there was supposed to be this intense IMAX The Dark Knight excerpt that Christopher Nolan had put together that only a privileged few would get to see. I had completely forgotten about that, and here I was about to see it, inadvertently. (I told my seat-mates about myself and octopunk taking long lunch breaks and buying tickets to Meet Joe Black just to the Phantom Menace preview. Memories…) Anyway, as I posted before, the six-minute Dark Knight prologue is so incredible that it will “make you feel like you’re high even if your’re not.” As proof, here’s the inevitable low-quality handycam bootleg, which even in this totally gelded form has people going bananas. Watch it, or don’t watch it; you’ll see it eventually. I recommend hitting the IMAX to see real thing. What’s that? You don’t have an IMAX theater eight measly blocks (a five-minute walk) from your house? Oh well. Too bad. I guess you live in a concrete-and-cactus wasteland that is magically devoid of snow this time of year. My condolences.
P.S. I feel like the only person who was completely aware at the time of how ridiculous Jack Nicholson’s Joker was. Suddenly everyone’s coming out of the woodwork yelling about how this new version is obviously the “real” Joker done “right” but back in 1989 there were maddenly few objections to Tim Burton’s vision of a fat, mincing, prancing, wax-lips-wearing birthday-party-magician who—gasp—poisons Gotham’s hairspray supply and—gasp—puts on a fun parade. (And dances around to Prince songs; don’t forget that little detail. Remember Nicholson dancing around?) In the permanent candy-coated toy store inside Burton’s mind (where the same capering figure is the protagonist of every single movie, most often played by Johnny Depp in pancake makeup), that’s what a “menacing” supervillian is like. Anyway, it looks like we’ve all (or, everyone else has) wised up.
