Peryton and I watched the Dark Night on Monday, and yes it was great.
The writers "soap opera" it up to make this take on the Bat-Man appealing and modern enough for our times and climes. The Nolan brothers, Jonathon and Christopher, have a nice eye for Batman detail that serves them well. The Joker loves to lie about his origin, and Two-Face does have a passion about "being fair," at least in a brutal fashion. And ever with a pragmatic eye for not overdoing it, the movie plot winds itself out without the obvious need for a follow-up movie, as well leaving itself open to another, if the market just demands it.
The only problem I have with the Nolans' direction is that for all their realism, they forget the heart of comic book heroes, it is the ideal reality which they are placed in, not the nitty-gritty. While Two-Face's story makes for classic, hard to find tragedy, operatic in scope, all the cop-killing and holding the city for ransom by the Joker, never gave Gotham a chance to like having costumed heroes around. When in a scene when the Joker ask if things are any better for having a guy in bat-suit running around, the viewer ends up being hard pressed to think of a reason why the villain isn't right. they actually have to have the Stan Lee plot device of a kid running around reminding us that we are supposed to like the superhero.
Perhaps from this artistic decision, the distrust of actual positive reinforcement for rather amoral, maybe sardonic zen, the script shows its strength over the Burton Celeb-A-Cameo-A-Go-Go flix of the 90's. That strength is the refusal to let Batman become his gadgets. Here we see the Batmobile, as well as his army of vigilantes, as well as the super-computer, the Oracle, and even the Bat-Cave is are all disposable for the character(s) that uses them. It is the character, and that person's character that makes them important, so only mild nodding to toy merchandising was seen in the movie.
As for Heath Ledger's Joker portrayal, I am one of the people that agrees he should get an Oscar. It's not the hype, the guy did a wonderful job and he did not over do it a bit. If anything, he smirked a bit while mouthing the writers' exposition to the non-Batman fan (is there such a beast?) as to the relationship of the arch-villain and the superhero. But can we blame him for the scripting weak point?
This movie was not lacking for talent to say the least, and Christopher Nolan utilized the actors and actress's strengths as already accomplished dramatists to revel in the grand drama that Gotham City, which can New York or Chicago or LA or Honk Kong or where-has-one, as the rest of us just read about it. The man-crush between Batman and Harvey Dent make the attorney's fall into darkness compelling and very understandable. Commissioner Gordon's rise to his office is full of intelligence as well as luck, and not just a little chemistry between him and his superiors. Smart choices, if a little rushed on the flik's love story and focusing on the constant struggle without the points of happiness after the victories of the characters as a comic book usually does.
As said before i'd like to see a third flik fill out this cycle of the Bat-Man-- hey everything else gets a trilogy! There is still Cat Woman, the Riddler, and the Penguin who'd benefit from being seen as new and sexy in this new millennium. But is Nolan up to the task after indulging his inner Wagner and Frank Miller in this one? Still if you rate movies from being Smurfs to Godzilla, this is one Godzilla of a movie!
Tags: BATMAN
