Dark Knight Rises – Spoiler Alert

Is it me or does Christian Bale‘s voice get raspier at each new Batman movie that follows? I was barely able to understand what each character was saying due to the overload of IMAX theater surround sound, the heavy artillery gun shootings in the movie, extreme dramatic music and the freakish masks on every actor’s face. I could have watched this movie in Farsi and it would mean the same to me. Ok, Farsi is Persian – an Iranian Language. If you didnt know what Farsi was. By the way, I ended up watching this movie twice to really understand what the characters were actually saying. Conclusion: Christopher Nolan did another great job at creating a extreme evil antagonist with this conflicting morality.  Every character in this movie had this flowing theme, that we are human and none of us are perfect. We strive to be good but due to circumstances and survival we make choices that lead to negative consequences. Mr. Nolan tries to plug in some socio-economic justice issues about income disparity but ultimately cant really complete that task. The end just became an extreme case of Occupy Wall 3.0. A quote by catwoman aka Anne Hathaway would say in the movie, “There’s a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.” Basically, this line is giving us Mr. Nolan’s ultimate message. Unfortunately, his evil character Bane, played by Tom Hardy, doesn’t really show concern for “the people”. There really isn’t any social morality to Bane for  his distaste of Gotham City. Rather, in the end we find it was all for a woman. Now isnt that a typical reason for anything a man does? It’s to impress a woman.

I have to admit the new Batman gadgets really was awesome to watch. It got hotter when Catwoman sat on the Bat-motorcycle aka Batpod.  Check it out! I wanna look that cool!

I love that the Batpod was able to switch it up and make all these flipping turns. Even if I didn’t understand anything the actors were saying, at least I got to enjoy the latest technology. Honestly, I think what made this movie for me was Anna Hathaway. Truthfully, I dont really enjoy watching Hathaway’s movies. But I have to admit, she plays a really freaking hot and spicy Catwoman. The fact that she can stretch her legs as high upto a 5′ 10″ man’s face wearing 4-inch heels is AWESOME!  Hathaway plays Catwoman perfectly. She has this internal conflict between doing good and doing what’s necessary to survive. Isnt that the truth in all of us?  I guess I really like Catwoman because I identified with her. Basically, Catwoman betrays Batman 2x in the movie. She is willing to do anything for self preservation and to erase to her past. Yeah, dont we all want to do that.

Then you have Christian Bale playing Batman. He’s plays the same role as usual. This sad, morbid, and dark person who cant face the world because of his hopelessness towards mankind. This character is played out too much and its getting old. Sometimes, I just want to see a happy Batman.  Yeah, it wouldnt hurt to have Christian Bale break a smile. This Batman is sadistic and has no fear of death. We later find Christian Bale in some hellhole trying to break free by climbing out of this hellhole. The only way he does it is by learning to fear death again. I dont understand much of Batman’s character. Maybe because I never experienced such hopelessness. But for all you hopeless people out there, dont lose hope, because Batman didnt.

The rest of the actors you can figure out. I dont want to spoil the ending for you, but beware of all the different characters in the movie because the real villian isnt Bane. Oh and as for Joseph Gordon-Levitt, I really liked his wannabe Irish/Bostonian accent.  Between Gordon-Levitt’s accent and the NYC skyline, I wasnt sure if Gotham City was suppose to be New York City or Boston.

For a summer blockbuster, I guess this is as good as it gets now a days. This Asian American Fob is giving Dark Knight Rises: 4 thumbs up. That’s only because Hathaway kicked-ass!

Confession of Pain – 2006

Of course this Asian girl needs to review some Asian films too. It is not all about American summer blockbusters. Sadly, summer is coming to an end.  If you ever watched any Cantonese/Hong Kong movies, you will usually  find the same stream of thought – police/detective story with the supposedly protagonist character becoming the antagonist. Confession of Pain’s dominant factor was the role playing between Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung.  You can’t go wrong with these two person’s acting. Phenomenal!!! Ok so maybe I’m a bit late in watching this film.  It was done back in 2006. But it’s never too late to give my audience some suggested movies to stream from youtube. Please go ahead and enjoy. This is a definite must see. Dont worry, there is english subtitles on youtube.

Confession of Pain gives us this dark outlook to the inner thoughts of a human being. We cant fully understand a person and the reasons for their decisions. We can only accept their decision because they have their own logical reasons. But as their friend/family, can we still support everything this person does even if it crosses the line of your moral judgment?

Tony plays a detective who marries Susan, daughter of a former Macau drug dealer. Takeshi plays a private eye who is also best friends with Tony. Susan’s father gets murdered and of course early in the movie we see the murderer is Tony Leung. So why did he kill his father-in-law? Was it for money? Revenge? Drug secrets? Takeshi is hired by Susan to find out the real death of her father. I dont want to spoil the movie for you, so I’ll stop here about the plot.

The movie is absolutely well done. The very beginning of the film we see a suicide and that’s how it ends as well (2 different suicides). The cinematography is set in dark tones and the characters are deeply developed. The storyline is intricate and well-thought out through the lens of a murderer. So how do I feel about this movie? Love it!

If you want to feel cultured and watch an international film and read subtitles, then this movie is a must watch tonight. Just warning you, it is a slow storyline. So you need to be patient and let the story play out.  Maybe this Asian is a bit bias, but I love Tony Leung’s stoic acting and his ability to control emotions. As for Takeshi – he’s just freaking HOT!  Inter-racial people are always hot. Yes, that’s right. He is a mix of Japanese and Chinese. Some people may not think that’s inter-racial, but for us Asian peepz, that IS considered a mix. Chinese and Japanese  ARE NOT the same!

This Asian American Fob is giving Confession of Pain 5 thumbs up!!!