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Let's talk about The Dark Knight (with Spoilers, if need be)
I fear this is mostly free association, but please bear with me. There's a lot of ground to cover.
Heath Ledger was a far more interesting Joker than Jack Nicholson. I said it. And thank god there was no stupid Joker origin story to bog it all down. I especially liked all the lip-smacking and loose tongue-flicking action. At first, it looked like Heath was trying to channel Jack, but he claimed the character for his own.
I'm a little worried that Joker didn't meet his demise at the end -- any word on whether anybody's been fingered to take the role in future films? I was waiting for Bats to drop him off the skyscraper, which would have been dark indeed.
At least there was no, "You created me, Batman" rhetoric. I found that Joker being an incredibly intelligent and not-so-goofy psycho with a philosophical agenda to be refreshing. It wasn't about money, or jealousy, or politics. It was about making a statement.
Still, at nearly 3 hours, TDK got a little long-of-tooth for my taste. Did anyone else think it suffered for the Gordon's-family-getting-kidnapped subplot at the end?
And did anyone else think Rachael Dawes was a two-timing whore who should have kept it in her pants (so to speak)?
Also, I took a picture of this clown at a midnight screening:
To sum up: Five stars, but still a bit too long. Ledger stole the show. He should get a posthumous Oscar for his performance. Nothing after the credits, so don't waste your time sitting there. Two Face's makeup was very, very good. And the organic introduction of more than one villain was seamless, unlike my issue with juggling both Scarecrow and Ducard.
Also, I command you to debate: Gary Oldman's best role?
Heath Ledger was a far more interesting Joker than Jack Nicholson. I said it. And thank god there was no stupid Joker origin story to bog it all down. I especially liked all the lip-smacking and loose tongue-flicking action. At first, it looked like Heath was trying to channel Jack, but he claimed the character for his own.
I'm a little worried that Joker didn't meet his demise at the end -- any word on whether anybody's been fingered to take the role in future films? I was waiting for Bats to drop him off the skyscraper, which would have been dark indeed.
At least there was no, "You created me, Batman" rhetoric. I found that Joker being an incredibly intelligent and not-so-goofy psycho with a philosophical agenda to be refreshing. It wasn't about money, or jealousy, or politics. It was about making a statement.
Still, at nearly 3 hours, TDK got a little long-of-tooth for my taste. Did anyone else think it suffered for the Gordon's-family-getting-kidnapped subplot at the end?
And did anyone else think Rachael Dawes was a two-timing whore who should have kept it in her pants (so to speak)?
Also, I took a picture of this clown at a midnight screening:
To sum up: Five stars, but still a bit too long. Ledger stole the show. He should get a posthumous Oscar for his performance. Nothing after the credits, so don't waste your time sitting there. Two Face's makeup was very, very good. And the organic introduction of more than one villain was seamless, unlike my issue with juggling both Scarecrow and Ducard.
Also, I command you to debate: Gary Oldman's best role?
Comments
As I said, I have yet to see the film, but I am sceptical that it could top his performance as Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved.
But yeah, Heath Ledger, you will be missed. I liked how joker kept changing his origin story, nice little homage to the comics.
* Accidental Tourist, The (1988) - Lawrence Kasdan; Charles Okun; Michael Grillo
* Dangerous Liaisons (1988) - Norma Heyman; Hank Moonjean
* Mississippi Burning (1988) - Frederick Zollo; Robert F. Colesberry
* Rain Man (1988) - Mark Johnson
* Working Girl (1988) - Douglas Wick
I really don't think film standards were so much drastically lower at that time period than they are now.
I thought the movie was pretty good, overall. It wasn't knock-your-socks off good (or the second coming of Jesus Christ), but it was still pretty good. I really, really liked Ledger's Joker, and I don't think many people will dispute that he completely stole the show. In fact, I think he might have done so to the slight detriment of the rest of the movie. I didn't really feel that connected to any other characters, not even Batman. The next most vibrant character was Harvey Dent, who still seemed to be a bit flat in parts.
The technical parts of the movie were all superb, especially in the vehicle sequences. The batpod was made of 100% awesomeinium-fantasticite alloy, as far as I was concerned.
On a last note: is anyone else bothered by Christian Bale's growly Batman voice? I understand he can't go around using his Bruce Wayne voice in that costume, but for goodness sake, he could have picked a voice that didn't make him sound like he was in danger of sanding his vocal chords away with every syllable. x_x
The Joker indeed stole the show. After the "pencil trick," everyone in the theater was stunned and awed, and started cheering and laughing. That was perhaps the best part of Heath Ledger's performance - all the depraved, horrible things he could get you to laugh at. The perfect Joker. I can say without reservation that he showed up Jack Nicholson. Most of the time during the movie, I was just waiting to see what he'd do next.
However, Eryn is right about the Joker outshining Batman; I often felt that Batman wasn't even the main character of the movie. Bruce Wayne doesn't really do much in the story besides (1) Throw a fancy party and do assholish millionaire things, and (2) Whip out hi-tech stuff and chase criminals while in the throes of self-doubt. Okay, whatever. After the Joker, I was more interested in Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes (with a much better actress this time!) than Batman. I rather liked the turn of the story and what happened to Rachel in the end, too.
Finally, I liked the moral quandaries the film presented. It's pretty clear there's no easy solution to all the crime in Gotham. Even in the very act of fighting crime, Batman is creating more, and giving birth to villains because of his choices. None of the situations the characters were presented with had clear-cut "correct" answers, either; not a single person remained stainless by the end of the story. There's also the constant questioning of Batman's vigilantism, and the blurred lines between heroism and villainy. Awesome.
Overall:
+ Joker
+ Difficult moral issues
+ Interesting action scenes
- Too long
- Batman lackluster compared to other characters
@ Jason: No, I don't think Rachel was a two-timing whore. Look at Bruce Wayne. I mean, look at him. He gets points for being the childhood friend, but he really did grow up to be a pompous asshole. And with his dual life - what sort of happiness could she have with him? Dent was a much better match for her personality.
And Harvey's decent to the "dark side" was done amazingly well. I could see the reasoning in his choices, going from sad, to angry to evil.
In Star Wars episode III, the choices Anakin made before turning to Dark Vader, didn't really connected with me. But the way this was told, the performance, it was so clear it couldn't go any other way.
I do wonder if Harvey is really dead or not, and it really is a shame we won't get more of this Joker
Oh and I don't know why but I really liked Anthony Michael Hall in that reporter roll.
It was long but justified because it was awesome.
Sorry this has become even more of Joker Discussion instead of Dark Knight, but the way Ledger played the character left such an impact on me.