The Dark Knight... may contain spoliers!!!

Yesterday, the four of us went out to see The Dark Knight. Kristine's mom had given her some movie passes, so we were able to go for free. It was so nice of her to share those with us. We arrived at the theater about an hour early and ended up second in the line so we got the seats we wanted in the theater.

The Dark Knight was actually a pretty decent film. It was not exactly what I had anticipated and definitely not the best Batman film of all time, but a good film none the less. The film starts out a little slowly with the set-up of the film. Kenneth described it perfectly when he said that it felt like an individual movie and not a sequel. This is a good and a bad thing. For people who may not have seen the first film, the set-up helps to bring all of the viewers to the same page, but for those of us who have seen the first film, the set-up seems a bit redundant. Once the film gets rolling though, it moved along smoothly.

One criticism I have for the film is the short existence of Two-Face. Aaron Eckhart did an excellent job at creating the Harvey Dent character. He was believable and an intriguing character. The problem was that they not only developed Harvey Dent, but once Two-Face is "born" out of the accident, they not only develop Dent, but they work in his entire transformation into Two-Face, Two-Face's entire development, and his death. Just like that, Two-Face has come and gone. I had anticipated Two-Face being created and then possibly coming back at a different time and place, but the way it was done, I think it took away from the Joker's character.

The other criticism that I have is the length of the film. This film is 2 1/2 hours, but it seems a bit longer as you get to the end of the film. Although it wasn't as severe, I had the same feeling I had after seeing Return of the King... There were a couple times where I felt the film could have ended and yet it kept going.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the movie.... I really did enjoy it. I found it to be better than Batman Begins. I just think there is something to be said for the original Tim Burton films. Yesterday morning prior to going out to see the Dark Knight, I was reminded why I enjoyed the original two Batmans so much. The true comic feel that comes with a Tim Burton film brings to life the creative and artistic form that Batman truly is as a comic series. Burton's playfully gothic films do not try to place Batman into our own reality, but instead place him in a world that resembles ours and twists it with a bit of artistic license and for lack of a better term whimsy.

In comparison, Chris Nolan has brought reality into Batman. Ricky thought that Gotham City was supposed to be "Chicago" but to me, I like the anonymity of the fictional location. I like being taken into a world that is not our own, and enjoying the fantasy of the stories. Nolan, on the other hand doesn't to bring too much of the fantasy into his films. He wants to do characters that can be seen as believable and realistic. For example, one issue I saw that no one else will notice, as teh use fo teh Illinois license plates. The Land of Lincoln license plates are so recognizable that every time a car drive by, I was taken out of the fictional story and into real life. Granted, I understand that's what Nolan wanted, but it was a bit distracting to me. This is also one of the reasons he decided to recreate the Joker. He felt that the Joker could be created to be a real villain and a truly evil person.


Now to the question that I know has been plaguing everyone's mind... How was Heath Ledger's performance? I must admit he did a very good job. It was the best character performance I have seen in a comic book film in a long time. He owned the character that he created, but do I think it was an Oscar worthy performance.... eh, not really, but it will depend on what else is released prior to the end of the Oscar season. I think it warrants a possible nomination, but I don't know that it is a winner. Of all the films I have seen Ledger in, (which is pretty much all of them), this was his best performance, and sadly his last. I was a true fan of Heath Ledger (even in his weaker films) and his presence will be missed. Ironically enough, the Joker does not die in the film. The character Heath created will be rotting in jail until the end of time. I will say this... if they decide to bring the Joker back for any reason, it is going to be incredibly hard to replace and equal the performance that Ledger delivers. Well done, Heath, well done!

When all is said and done, Jack created the Joker's personality. Kenneth said it best when he said, "I just think that there are elements of the Joker that wouldn't exist today if Jack Nicholson hadn't created them in the first place." I would have to agree. The Joker is who he is because of Jack and you cannot really question that fact. I will give Heath Ledger credit though, the laugh was PERFECT!

My personal ranking of the Batman films:
1. Batman (1989)
2. Batman Returns (1992)
3. The Dark Knight (2008)
4. Batman Begins (2005)
5. Batman Forever (1995)
6. Batman and Robin (1997)

One final thought... with the whimsy and creativity of the Burton films we get a much cooler BatMobile...