The Dark Knight
I am a week overdue in telling you about The Dark Knight. This is the best movie I've seen this year, in a summer when my expectations are unprecedented.
You remember I said that in order to avoid bankrupting myself on theater tickets, I would only see this season's crop on video, in second-run theaters, or as a gift from a friend, as an excercise in moviegoing self-discipline. I've held to that. Jen asked me months ago to pick one film as a gift from her, and on the strength of the trailer and its predecessor Batman Begins, I selected The Dark Knight.
The plot was superb. Usually I hope against hope that a summer blockbuster's story will at least make sense, and this one did, but I had no idea what was going to happen. It tied everything together with themes about whether or not there is any real courage.
Heath Ledger performed the Joker as if from beyond the grave. Aaron Eckhardt was just amazing as Harvey Dent. The supporting cast was stupendous. It's not often I get to see Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Gary Oldman for the price of a single ticket!
I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I clapped, I was on the edge of my seat. No, I mean it, all of those things, out loud. How often can you say that about a movie?
My favorite line was delivered by Morgan Freeman to the accountant. If you've watched it, you know the one. I realized at that moment how strongly we were sympathizing with the Batman, very concerned for his well being. Was not Morgan Freeman's delivery perfect to put it in perspective? So very funny.
Where on earth could the Nolan brothers possibly go from here?
1. The obvious choices seem impossible. Nobody wants to see the Penguin and Riddler. Those characters, like most Batman villians, have been done with such campiness so often that it became their identity. They get no love. No crime lord in the Nolanverse will be named Oswald Cobblepot. But he doesn't have to be. This is forgetting that the Gotham of Nolan is one of re-invention. In Batman Begins, a villian wore a burlap sack on his head, and it worked. Don't say that they can't make a trick umbrella seem plausible. The problem is merely a failure of imagination.
The best evidence I can show you is that the comic book Doctor Octopus was a chubby guy in a leotard with a bowl haircut, but the costume design and the performance by Alfred Molina in Spider Man 2 made it into what was, at that time, the best superhero movie ever. I don't want Spider Man 4, I want a film titled Doctor Octopus. I am that much of a Doc Ock fan now.
2. The villians from The Dark Knight again. Right now, Heath Ledger has a sacred aura with fans, so this may be risky. But if anybody can find a replacement for him, it's the creative team that chose him in the first place.
3. Minor villians. I think this is most likely. Batman Begins had Scarecrow and Ras Al Ghul, remember? I pored over the Batman's Rogue Gallery growing up, and even I said, "Ras-al-what?" Well, OK, Clayface will never happen, but there is no reason not to do a realistic version of Killer Croc. That way maybe the third movie will be about Batman again.
Comments
justbeast on Jul. 25, 2008 4:40 PM
I could have made an identical post -- I LOVED this movie! And reacted the same way!
(And that's what I was asking, too - where are they going to go from here? But honestly, I trust them to even do something campy like Penguin really well)
chance-sparhawk on Jul. 25, 2008 5:49 PM
Penguin hasn't always been portrayed in a campy style. in Batman Returns he was a very dark character. Not that I particularly want to see another batman movie that has penguin in it,but there you go. They will obviously make another movie but they will be hard pressed to top Dark Knight no matter what villian they go with or who plays it.
steelwheel on Jul. 30, 2008 4:14 AM
Ra's al Ghul was quite an important part of the Batman mythos in the early to mid 70s, as the character was being reshaped in the wake of the cancellation of the TV show.
I loved the movie as well, but was disappointed that they kind of made it impossible to build a whole third movie around Two-Face as the main villain. He's always been a favorite of mine, especially those early stories, where he would do stuff like rob a bank, then flip the coin to determine whether he should keep the profits or donate them to the orphanage--stuff like that. Too bad.
I agree that Penguin is just a little too campy for the modern day audience. Catwoman would probably bring up too many memories of the Halle Berry effort of a few years back. I am alone in thinking that Jim Carrey's Riddler from the last series of Batman films was actually kind of interesting, so I'm sure the Nolans could do something with him.
Clayface would be possible in theory, but the Nolans seem to want to do as little CGI as possible, and that villain more or less demands that treatment, so he's out. But here's two ideas that have never been done in any Batman movie: From way back in the '40s, there was Doctor Hugo Strange (not to be confused with the Marvel character with a similar name), and then again from that all-important post-TV show era, they could try to do a movie based around Man-Bat. He could maybe be brought in initially as a replacement for Lucius Fox, and then have his experiments go out of control.
Anyway--just some weird late night musings..
mscherie on Jul. 31, 2008 12:47 AM — the portrayal of the Joker
There was this moment while watching the movie when I realized that Heath Ledger's portrayal of Joker was so breathtaking, so chilling, so remarkable that I began, in a way, to urge him on or understand his motives and character so much more than Batman's. Heath Ledger had developed the character so well that the full aspect of his role was like watching his peel layers away right in front of my eyes. He, at a point, made Batman seem dirty and brutish.
Oh... and HI Matt!
Leave a Comment