I loved Batman Begins and have been waiting (im-)patiently since for the sequel. Today, that wait was over.
I will freely admit that when I first heard that Heath Ledger was going to play the Joker, I was skeptical. I will also freely admit that I was wrong. Really, really wrong. This is not the same Joker we've seen before. He isn't Jack Nicholson being Jack Nicholson in makeup. This Joker isn't funny. He's the Joker comic fans know who is a psychopath and when he makes one of his jokes, he's the only one laughing.*
I don't want to give away too much about the movie, so I'll just make a few more points before saying a couple spoilerish things in the comments (that way spoilers won't just show up in your RSS reader).
If you are planning to see this, hit the bathroom first and go for the small soda. It's a long 152 minutes when you get the 72 ounce mega-jug.
I'm still not sure I love the character of Rachael Dawes, but Maggie Gyllenhaal does a much better job than Katie Holmes did.
Don't expect a nice tidy back-story like you got for previous versions of the Joker. Much like in the comics, his story changes depending on who he tells it to. I think I like it that.
Aaron Eckhart was perfect as the "white knight" Harvey Dent and the counter-point to Batman's Dark Knight.
I love that Nolan never really gives us an answer as to whether it's ok that Batman is a vigilante and breaks laws or whether his mere existence creates the new version of criminal like the Joker. It's a morally gray area and we have to figure it out for ourselves.
When you see the mayor of Gotham, what pops into your head: "It's (a) Batmanuel! (b) Luis or (c) Richard Alpert"?
Before the movie, the were trailers for the new Terminator movie (good trailer, not sure if I care about the movie), The Spirit (ok trailer, not sure if I care about the movie), Watchmen (great trailer, and I really want this movie to be good.)
*Unless you were in a theater like the one we were in where people were so used to the Joker being funny (funny ha ha, that is) that they laughed no matter what he said. I kept wondering if they were really aware of just how crazy the guy was. This was scary crazy, not funny crazy.
July 18, 2008
The Dark Knight
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7 comments:
Ok, this comment is going to be full of spoilers, so read accordingly.
Clearly the intent was to have the Joker return in future films since Arkham Asylum can't keep anyone for more than just a few days at a time, but what will they do now that Ledger is gone? It would be hard to just recast, but to not do so would be eliminating a huge opportunity. They could simply leave him in Arkham and reference him, but not have him escape and cause trouble. The other option that intrigues me would be to have him (off-screen) manipulate a young psychiatrist named Dr. Harleen Quinzel and then Batman can do battle with the Joker by proxy. I have no idea who could (or should) play Harley Quinn if this were to happen, but I like the idea.
Was everyone else as surprised as I was that they killed off Two-Face when he had spent only a fraction of the movie as a bad guy? I assumed we'd see him in the third installment as the villain. I suppose that's still possible, since they could retcon the whole thing to say that the funeral was just a front and that they locked the real Dent away in Arkham.
If it isn't Two-Face or the Joker next time, who should be the next member of the Rogues Gallery to step forward? Nolan has been trying to keep things with some grounding in reality and had eliminated the Penguin, which I assume means we can rule out things like Killer Croc or a Lazarus Pit resurrected R'as Al Ghul.
I'm not a comic book fan so I don't know background and history and other villains or characters. But I've always loved the character of Batman anyway, however that happened. I don't know if I was introduced to some of these people via my friends who did read comic books or what. But Batman is hands down my favorite.
The Joker....dude! Heath nailed it! Friggin' nailed it. He was so creepy and so sadistic and so without reason or meaning that he was perfect.
And yes, I was surprised that Two-Face was killed off. Totally and completely.
And again, I don't read comic books or graphic novels* but I'm this close to going to B&N to get the Watchmen because that trailer intrigued the shit outta me! Oh!
*Fine. I read and own The Crow. True story.
So many things needing a reply...
Every time I see Richard on Lost I think of Luis (though I don't often admit to having seen that Brooke Shields show enough to recognize the actors) so I guess there's your answer. Except to add that the thought which ran through my head when he appeared onscreen - besides "Does every makeup artist he works with have to use such thick eye liner?" - was: "Hey, it's that guy from Lost who was also on that Brooke Shields show." Maybe (b) and (c) simultaneously.
Yeah, shocked that they killed off Harvey. (And shocked that they killed off Rachael, though no big loss there. However, if they had left Gordon on the floor, I would have been pissed.) But it made sense with they way they were going there in the end. Batman needed to be the dark knight. Though kind of a waste of a good villain, his see-through cheek kind of annoyed me. I don't mind the grotesque makeup, but at least make it believable. Someone with that much damage shouldn't be able to even move his jaw, much less sip a highball.
Next villain? Got to be the Riddler. After Jim Carrey's over-the-top-of-the-ham performance, I hate to suggest it, but they pulled off Joker in style, so I think they could do the same here. The Riddler as a manic-depressive personality who uses his psychosis to pull himself out of his own self-loathing. Nolan & Co. could make that work.
Trailers? Watchmen, awesome. Terminator, maybe. The Spirit? Ooh, I don't know. Looks good. But it also looks like Frank Miller learned exactly one directing lesson from Robert Rodriguez and he's back playing his only card. Hate to say it, but my first impression (from the trailer) is maybe he should have left the directing to the directors and stick with creating his usually brilliant graphic novels. But I'll follow along with poised anticipation to see how it turns out.
P.S... Andrea, I don't know what's keeping you this close from buying a copy of the Watchmen, but it might be time to convert. Watchmen is more literature than comic book.
From its Wikipedia entry: "To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time Magazine's 2005 list of 'the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.'"
Even if you're only midly curious, it's worth the $10.99 from Amazon, at least.
" Someone with that much damage shouldn't be able to even move his jaw, much less sip a highball."
To be fair, the drink did leak out that side when he drank it.
Lizard: I'm gonna get it. Craig and another one of my friends convinced me. Easily. That I should read this. So, it will more than likely join me on my upcoming vacation.
Craig: I totally forgot to address that for me, the mayor of Gotham will always and forever be Luis. Always. I see him and I hear him say "Todd" in my head. Every.time.
And when a movie is based on comic books, I suspend reality. Two-face can totally speak and sip a messy highball. Nothing unbelievable there at all...
I think I'm going to have to go get the Watchmen comic as well. I've only started reading them (Fables) so I'm excited about something new. Besides -- I know NUTTIN about them...
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