This is one of the rare occasions where the movie lives up to the hype.  Few dull scenes, few illogical decisions, few bad characters and few appearances of bad acting.  Every Heath Ledger scene was phenomenal, especially the “magic pencil” trick…that was pretty funny.  Solid performances by Bale and Eckhart.  Watching some of the action scenes on an IMAX screen was a little difficult b/c it was hard to see what was going on.  I couldn’t tell who was who and what the hell Batman was trying to do.

The good: great characters, none of the cheesiness of the Joel Schumacher era, great action scenes and great make up…Eckhart was pretty grisly for a portion of the movie.

The bad: Not sure if the Harvey Dent angle was necessary due to the limited screen time he had toward the end of the movie…and a running time of 142 minutes.

All in all, can’t expect much more out of a summer blockbuster.

8 out of 10 CRs

In order for me to truly explain the suckitude of this film, I’m going to have to spoil it, so if you have any desire to actually see this movie, don’t read the rest of this post…

First of all, the characters in this movie are detestable: the commercial artist (hero) and his 5-yr old son, the argumentative neighbor, the town drunk, the bible thumper, the gutless soldier, the ignorant bagboy, etc.  Secondly, this movie breaks cardinal rule #1: in situations of great crisis, don’t have the characters turn on themselves unnecessarily.  These people are confronted by a serious, life-threatening situation, yet they all turn into idiots, arguing amongst themselves, having silly debates.  I hate it when movie characters act in an unbelievable manner.

Here is a list of idiotic plotholes:

- The mist establishes itself as a severe threat that could possibly kill people.  So what does the bagboy and town drunks want to do?  Go out and check on the exterior of the building.  Why?  Because the generator is clogged.  How about you just shut off that generator for the time being.  Of course, the bagboy gets killed…by some tentacled creature no less. (What?)

- Confronted with the death of said bagboy, the argumentative neighbor doesn’t believe the witnesses to this gruesome event.  Why would they make this up?  They even have a piece of the tentacle as proof, yet no one thinks they should show this as evidence?  The neighbor goes out of his way to be annoying.

- The bible thumper arc.  She’s a real nutcase.  She hems and haws about the coming of armageddon and initially has no support.  However, after a few death, she turns nearly the entire grocery store into Lord of the Flies, willing to kill and sacrifice anyone who doesn’t believe. (What?)  Why didn’t someone just shoot her before she infected the entire store?

- Speaking of shooting, when they find a gun and wanted to find someone who could use it, why didn’t they ask any of the three military personnel that was there?  And what was with that soldier’s eyebrows?  WTF?

- The feeble attempt to break into the neighboring pharmacy to find drugs to help some guy who is obviously not going to make it.  Of course, a few people die on this journey, I don’t think they grab the drugs, and that dude dies anyway.

- In the face of danger, people decide to scream at the monster instead of running away from it.  Fuck you, Stephen King.

- So after the hero, his son, and two old people escape the grocery store (and the mob), drive miles and miles only to find out that the mist is everywhere and that the monsters are everywhere, and run out of gas, the only viable solution is to commit mass suicide?  Huh?  So they agree that the “hero” will kill the two old people and his son.  Unfortunately, he does not have a bullet left for himself.  After killing everyone, the mist subsides and he notices that the army has come to the rescue and has thwarted the attack.  He killed everyone unnecessarily.  That’s the ending.  Fuck you, Stephen King.

The entire movie is about people doing stupid things.  I know, it’s a movie about a mysterious mist and monsters that come through some porthole and attack the US.  But that is more realistic than the actions of the characters.  This movie sucks in every way imaginable.

2 out of 10 CRs

The film shows the same scene, the assassination of the President during an anti-terrorism summit in Spain, from various…er…vantage points, with each perspective adding another piece to the overall puzzle.  The first hour of this movie is probably my favorite hour of a movie in 2008.  No boring character development, interesting characters,  up-in-your-face action, and questions that keep you interested in the movie.  However, the climax of the movie is a little forced, predictable, and illogical.

The good: Rashomon-style. This movie in a straightforward, chronologically-told manner would be your prototypical action thriller.  Nothing new.  However, this device works for me and tells a familiar story in a unique way.  Having William Hurt die over and over again doesn’t hurt either.

The bad: the terrorist plot is overly complicated and works without a hitch.  Who could come up with something like this?  Too many moving parts.  Too much technological magic.  The POTUS acting too ethical and moral.

The ridiculous: After coming up with this elaborate plan that works PERFECTLY, the brilliant terrorists get tripped up by…well, you’re gonna have to see it to believe it.  I certainly didn’t…

8 out of 10 CR’s for the first hour, 4 out of 10 CR’s for the remainder, for a total of…

6 out of 10 CR’s

As I waited in line, I looked down and noticed a Jesus Christ action figure.  There was someone there actually considering buying one of these.  Imagine getting one of these when you were a child.  I would rather get a pair of dirty socks.  What kind of Bible thumper do you need to be to be so deluded into thinking a child would actually want this?  And what does one do with a Jesus action figure?  He seems too big to intermix with GI Joe’s.  Barbie would probably flirt with him and Ken would kick his ass.  Do they even make Barbie’s and GI Joe’s anymore?  Have I dated myself?  If my child wanted a Jesus action figure, I would probably get into a lot of trouble.  During Christmas, I like to take my sister’s baby Jesus ceramic figurine and place him in inappropriate positions with the miscellaneous manger fauna.  Thankfully I do not believe in hell!