I'm tired but I'll give it a whirl. Ok, so here goes..I just re-watched TDK for the first time in a long while. It is not a bad film by any means. Now that's out of the way.
The Blu-ray transfer does help immensely. Here the IMAX scenes are shown at a more open 1.78:1 (orig. 1.44:1) and then it jumps back and forth to regular 2.35 scope. I only saw the film in 35mm and the IMAX sequences looked a bit odd cropped down to standard scope. Plus there are many establishing shots that are IMAX as well.
There are moments of depth and great insight, but these are like the IMAX sequences, in a word: fleeting. The film doesn't know what it wants to be and neither does Batman himself. This is the key problem. I felt at times as if I were watching some other guy in body armor and not Batman. And this time around, Christian Bale does little other than say lines in a relative monotone, have some smarmy bits as Bruce and of course give new meaning to gravel in the throat. The performances that stand out are those that have presence, vitality and energy. Caine and Freeman again steal every scene they are in, and Ledger's characterization is one of those increasingly rare performances that is truly captivating.
To further compound this, some of the editing is nonsensical and extremely confusing. I think in the editing process it was decided to make the viewer's mind to work at a higher level. By changing shot order, dropping linking shots, and other subtle little tweaks and cuts this creates a highly kinetic but downright muddled vision for the brain to comprehend. There are even several jump cuts in the film that make absolutely no sense, even for a jump cut! Here's a great example of what I'm referring to, detailing the editing of a part of the police convoy chase: http://vimeo.com/28792404
And to my eyes the cinematography is a bit too drab with its overreliance on blues and fluorescent lighting. The IMAX scenes are almost a relief to get away from the style used on the Panavision scenes. The use of Chicago as a generic backdrop works until it becomes a nonentity altogether. What's the point of having a Gotham City if the city itself could be anywhere? Finally there are several endings too many, and Two-Face is shoehorned in much as Harvey Dent was for the entire story. We are left with a conclusion that rings a bit hollow, but if that's the way they want to play it, it's their movie.
Perhaps empty is the wrong word for me to have used. It's really more confused than empty.
Knowing it was a big summer movie clocking in at 2.5 hours, I thought it would be really tightly plotted and cut to match. Coming out of the theater, I was convinced that WB or someone else had done a big hack job on Nolan's final edit to get something more releasable out quickly. After the well laid out Begins, this just couldn't be the way they wanted to continue. But it was. This was the final cut, and there wasn't some longer and more relaxed edit out there. In the final release version, there's just no time to savor, enjoy or even take in what the heck is going on. (Once again, thanks a lot Bourne Supremacy for starting this editing mess!)
I really want to like this movie. I did going in and still do after watching it three times, but darn it if I still don't come out with a bad taste in the mouth. Despite my misgivings here, I have high hopes for TDKR....I think. I liked Begins, and though I felt the film glossed over some elements to quickly, it has a much more complete narrative and thus to me at least is much more satisfying as a movie.
BTW I meant hockey pads as a joking reference to Batman's poetic and airy diction.
And finally one thought: can there be a Batman movie without a love interest? And featuring hardcore detective work as both Bruce and Batman? Sounds a tough as making a spy film with actual spying. I guess there's no love for Matches Malone: The Movie. ;)