Woodcarving the Country Bear and His Friends: 12 Simple Projects for Woodcarvers Book

This book is satisfying in some ways, disappointing in others.

The satisfying part is, "The Complete Script." The Nolans wrote an amazing story, and then filmed it almost word for word. If you liked the movie and you enjoy screenplays, this book is a must-have.

The disappointing part is, "The Art of..." Because there really isn't that much. Or, not as much as I was expecting anyway. Compared to similar books for movies like Lord of the Rings, Hellboy, The Matrix, and even the original Batman, the sparse offerings of concept art in this book are sorely lacking, and really, it's marketing's fault.

Somewhere, a law is written that books like this are to be released just prior to the actual film, so that it can drum up anticipation for the movie-going public. Unfortunately, since Nolan & co actually like surprising their audience, much of the defining imagery of the movie is left out - we get fuzzy concept drawings of Two Face's appearance, and glimpses of the green-screen effects used to create it, but no money-shot. Same with Joker. Granted, part of The Dark Knight's charm is its use of Chicago as Gotham, rather than the whole-cloth creation from Tim Burton's movie, but for such an amazingly photographed film, this book has hardly any stills or screenshots -- again, I can only assume, preserving the surprise for the audience. It makes for honorable intentions, but a disappointing product. The screenplay alone earns this book its 4 star rating, but the lack of satisfying art keeps it from being a 5.