The Dark Knight

So I saw this at the Americana in the afternoon with Steph the first day it came out. Every show was consistently selling out, and there were a lot of shows. I'm wondering what turned little Batman Begins, that only made a total of $200 million domestic gross box office, into the biggest opening weekend of all time. I guess the previous holders of this award, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Spidermans were sequels too, but all I can say is that it must of been the Heath Ledger Hype. His death only added to the intrigue, but his performance alone could have garnered the interest if he was still alive.

After reading the excellent review in The New Yorker and talking to Dustin I feel like I understand where my disappointment with this film comes from. It stems from the disappointment in turning Maggie Gyllenhaal's character's death into the revenge impetus for the 2 male characters. She was supposed to be this strong, fearless DA, but reverted back to woman as only used for rape/revenge scenario. I might have been more OK with this if it truly had lead to the Batman's fall to "The Dark Knight." Batman should have been devastated and been pushed to the edge much like Aaron Eckhart's character was as Harvey Dent. They both should have gone to the brink and what separates them is that Batman came back and Harvey went over the edge. That would have been believable and phenomenal. Batman was only mopey and Harvey Dent was psychotic and great, but his story was smashed into what felt like 5 minutes after such a long long set-up. I would have preferred if he just left being evil (set-up for the next movie) and they focused on the Joker/Batman conflict, so when the Joker gets caught, he still has the last laugh because he made Harvey evil and Two-Face can now cause the mayhem the Joker so desires. The end was too packed together and both stories got slighted.

Of course no one can deny that Heath Ledger was phenomenal. I could not take my eyes from him and the whole middle of the movie, where he is orchestrating his genius plan to cause the fall of Harvey Dent and Batman, was just great. It was eerie and mesmerizing and everything he did set-up a great pay-off when we finally see his plan unveiled. He will definitely win the Oscar and probably would have even if he wasn't dead. My only complaint is the photography. For example, when he is telling Rachel about how he got his scars the camera is spinning around them frantically trying to mimic, I guess, his frenzied state of mind, but it was just distracting and almost nauseating and made me painfully aware of the camera. I would have preferred to just watch his amazing performance and not be told by the camera (and music) how to feel about it. The middle of the movie was amazing, but definitely petered out at the end for me. I would re-edit all the Harvey Dent stuff out and just make it about Heath. Christian Bale was disappointing, but I never really liked him in the role. Too much Michael Keaton love? Despite how stylized Batman was as Tim Burton's creation, Micheal Keaton just felt so human and real, where as Bale felt woody and mopey, even though this movie was trying to go back to realism, the human emotion, for me, was more real in Tim Burton's versions. When creating my stylized, comic book web series, this is what I need to keep in mind, real and accessible characters, always come out on top in telling a good story.

One last note, Heath's Joker make-up was so real, messy and creepy and Harvey's CG face was so fake and scientifically impossible that looking at his "Two-Face" really broke my suspension of disbelief.

Because I am typing this up after the fact, I'm going to include the notes that Grant Morrison mentioned about The Dark Knight at the Comic-Con panel I walked in on, because they were very insightful. He said the Dark Knight isn't about crime, but about human duality. The Joker and Batman as 2 different sides and Harvey Dent "Two-Face" bringing both these sides together. (This duality could have been played off each other much more effectively and brilliantly if the film wasn't so "frenzied," but maybe frenzied is what sells?) He also mentioned that Superheroes in general are moving away from fighting petty crime, which is important in a world where 50% of the world lives on less than $2 a day and environmental devastation runs rampant. It raises the question, what are superheroes fighting and why? Also why do we need them so badly in our media right now?

Another well-written review here. And a response here.