O.J. does "The Dark Knight" (Some SPOILERS)

[orangejesus]

When I sat down in the theatre, I knew, without a doubt in my mind, that it was going to be awesome. I had nary a moment of fear that the hype had been too much. This was going to be THE greatest popcorn movie of my summer, and I've seen them all.

Get Smart made me laugh. Indiana Jones made me smile thouroughly. Iron Man. . . Dear God that one was worth all three viewings. Incredible Hulk was even good enough to warrant a return trip, and I was ishky going in to it the first time (for those who don't know: ishky (adj.)- describes a state of distrust or general unease).

I knew The Dark Knight was going to be worth my time. I knew it was going to be awesome, but. . . I thought it was going to be awesome in the same way that Die Hard, Terminator 2, or Raiders of the Lost Ark are all awesome. I went in expecting to see a bitchin' action flick that took its characters seriously without taking itself seriously, and was complete with the requisite one-liners and explosions. I went in expecting that.

What I discovered was something. . . not entirely different but different enough that I was shocked by how it affected me. Dark Knight has the explosions and the one-liners and the big action moments (there is one sequence in the film involving a kidnapping, a skyscraper, and a plane that, quite frankly should never have worked outside of a comics page, but somehow it isn't cheesy--I don't know how they worked that).

But it is also a good movie. A really good movie. Shawshank Redemption good. Heat good. Second season finale of West Wing good. This is a really GOOD film.

You see, I love the character of Batman. Comics, movies, books, trading cards, you name it, I've owned most of them at some point, and I have never been beholden to the idea that Bruce Wayne is just some sort of mask to hide the Bat's real face from society. I much prefer the takes on the character in which Bruce is the driving force, and the Batman is a tool he uses, and that is the Batman movie I got to see. Bruce's feelings, affections, interests, and desires driving the Caped Crusader to make some complex and, oftentimes devastating decisions.

Batman isn't some lone vigilante casting about and involving himself in fisticuffs on a nightly basis just to satisfy his own sadomasochistic desires. He does what he does because he believes it has to be done, and he does it with help (in this case help consisting of the beautiful and talented Gary Oldman, Micheal Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhall and Aaron Eckhart). He has friends and a family of sorts that he turns to for inspiration and consultation, and there are several times during the movie that his behavior is driven solely by a desire to do right by these people.

And there is the Joker. The Joker, my Joker, plucked from the best notions of the character and plastered across the big screen: horrifying, harrowing, and (obscenely enough) somewhat hysterical.
I can't say anything more about this portrayal (the best of any comic book villain I've seen, from script to direction to performance). To say more than what little-to-nothing I have already said might be to actually reveal something about this character, this bastion of anarchy and pinnacle of inane insanity, and that would be an injustice to all of you who may have ignored my headlined warning of spoilers to come. That won't stop me on the next part though. . .




Two-Face is beautiful. I mean, uh, absolutely grotesque, but, y'know, in that happy way that says they took the time to make it like that. Harvey's storyline is sad, Eckhart's acting is superb, and my only complaint about the Two-Face story is that it was too shortlived in this film. I would have sat through another 2 1/2 hours just to see more of him.

I do have to say, that I walked away with two very minor gripes. The first is actually one I had with Batman Begins-- it seems that in the Christopher Nolan Batuniverse (Batniverse?), Bruce Wayne, he borne of the silver spoon, has absolutely no problem with massive and wildly unchecked property destruction. I know Brucie-boy himself wouldn't have an issue if his Jalopy was blown to hell by a vigilante with a rocket on his motorcycle, but is a little consideration for the common man of Gotham too much to ask?

Number two on my gripe list is the speech given by Jim Gordon at the end of the movie. It was the only bit of dialogue I couldn't see someone giving in real life, and that took me out of the story a wee bit. But it was only a moment.

Also, it should be noted that the scene on the rooftop between Lt. Gordon, D.A. Dent, and Batman himself completely eliminated any possibility of the movie getting a less than complimentary review by me. On the off chance that Nolan had edited the last hour of the movie to be nothing but Batman trying to figure how to pee without removing the entire suit, whilst Govenator Freeze taunted him from a nearby stall, and Chris O'Donnell "borrowed" the Tumbler for a spin (just to see how this one drives), I still would've handed out a thumbs up.

So, onward and upward, meine freunds, to the theatre with you. Join me in my revelry and begin gearing up for the next Bale/Nolan collab on our Caped Crusader. I'm hoping Bane shows up. The *real* Bane, from the comics. The drug-addled genius who figures Bats true I.D. and beats the holy hell out of him just to prove that he can. Aah. . . how I long for the next Batman excursion to reach celluloid. Damn Terminator: Salvation. Get on it Bale. How many pop culture icons must you play, seriously?

P.S. My viewing came complete with the Watchmen teaser trailer, and I swear, upon seeing that ship rise out of the water, I got so excited, I may have peed a little, just a tiny bit, right there in my seat.

[orangejesus]

P.P.S. I couldn't go through with the promised spoilers. I just couldn't. I even had some typed, but this one deserves as cold of an entry as one can give it--ergo, they had to be erased and replaced with some much more obscure flattery. Sorry to any punishment addicts out there who thought I was going to give them a taste. You know now that Batman blows stuff up. Be satisfied.

[wdm0744]

Nice review, O.J. And congrats on having the stones to be the first to tackle this film in a review.

I agree with you. TDK is as close to a perfect live action Batman film as we are likely to get. It is 99% perfect. There are just a couple of things I would change (MINOR SPOILERS):

1. Like you, I feel that Two-Face, as great as he was, was underused. I understand that his story arc in the film made sense, but I would have liked more. As you say, it may have worked even better as a stand alone film, but it still works very well.

2. While Heath Ledger was simply awesome as the Joker, I kept wishing he could have been a little bit more "Jokerish". You know, cracking more awful one-liners and producing more wry, dark laughs. Granted, there was some of this and it worked great, but I could have done with more. I also felt like he could have laughed more too, in that crazy Joker way.
But these are really minor quibbles. Ledger was superb in the part, and this is by far the best live action Joker and I loved it.

Anyway, great review. Well written and fun. Truly great movie, too.

[orangejesus]

Thank you much, sir; I had quite a lot of fun writing that one. A bit longer than most would probably want to slog through (through which most would probably want to slog), but I had stuff to ramble about, and that's always fun.

For the record, I absolutely agree about the Joker. Ledger did very well, but my biggest issue with that was the script (NOT that it was bad, by any stretch of the imagination). Because, while some of the Joker bits in the movie were funny (that thing with the detonator made me laugh really hard--and I was the only one in the theatre that seemed to find it funny), the Joker himself wasn't particularly funny.

In the best comics he is, but I still thought it was amazing, because while he does often make me laugh (Batzarro, anyone?), he also scares the living crap out of me (re: The Killing Joke). I got that more than anything, and that they still found a few laughs made the whole thing worth it.

Man, I gotta go see that flick again. . . and again. . . and again. . . and, possibly, forty-seven or so more times after that.

Also, wdm, your. . . tag?. . . I don't know what the thing under your posts is called. Hmm. The "Ghostbusters" quote under your post made me laugh really flippin' hard. It'd been a while since I thought of that bit. All hail Rick Moranis.

[wdm0744]

Yep, we're on the same page on the Joker. Ledger's take was excellent, but I kept wishing for him to be a little bit more like Mark Hamil's Joker in the Animated Series. I know that this seals my membership in the geek community, but Hamil's Joker in the cartoon has always been my favorite.

I heard someone describe that Joker like this: " He's scary because you don't know if he is going to crack a joke or stab you." That seems perfect to me. Ledger's Joker was great , but I think he would always stab you.

What I did like was that the Joker in TDK was less of a criminal and more of a terrorist. That, I thought was cool. And I loved that he was an "absolute" with no real back story.

Anyway, keep up the good work. And I'm glad the tag (or whatever we call it) made you laugh. I'm probably one of the few people on earth who can quote that whole section from memory (although the other people who can are probably on this site).

[bladestarr]

As most in the business will tell you: there is a fine line between comedy and horror.