Movie Review: The Dark Knight

Can you believe it!?!  I said I was gonna get back on schedule & I did!  Woohoo! 2 weeks in a row.  I'm unstoppable.  That is until I stop again, & who knows when that'll be...

I'm gonna talk about one of the best movies of the year today.  The latest Batman installment, The Dark Knight.  I know what some of you are saying, "Oh Paul.  We all know you're just a comic book geek, & this is all just one big fangasm.  It couldn't have been that good."  Well, douchey reader with your snide comments, you're partly right.  I am a comic book geek.  Not a nerd, but a geek.  I'll get into the differences between those at another time.  But, to your other point, this isn't just fan joy I'm spewing.  Because this movie goes beyond a genre film.  When it comes down to it, it's just a really good crime thriller.  The star just happens to wear a costume & talk like he's been gargling sulfuric acid.

The most interesting things about this movie, are the areas of psychology they delve into.  The Joker has been reinvented in this film, from the last we saw him.  Nicholson portrayed a Joker much closer to the Cesar Romero.  Just with a little violent streak added.  Heath Ledger brings out what the Joker has become in the past decade, or so.  A true sociopath, with no real purpose than upsetting what he sees as the "natural order of things."  What makes his character even more fascinating, is when you put him face-to-face with the Bat.  Batman, known as the world's greatest detective, approaches crime & criminals from a very logical & precise way.  Every step planned out, & every circumstance taken into account before executing said plan.  The Joker on the other hand, has no plan.  He only has drive.  A drive to make others see the world as he sees it.  Corrupt, selfish, petty, insecure, cowardly, chaotic.  He proves all of this by corrupting the one true shining beacon the city has, Harvey Dent.  Turning him into a villian, Two-Face, who is looking for fairness & justice, dispensed by him.  through the flip of a coin.  Guilty, or not guilty.  A 50-50 chance, to live or die.  And all of this just really cracks him up.  Batman sees all of this also.  But he also sees hope.  And that is his drive.  A hope that he can make Gotham a better place, & do it without taking lives.  And that is the final biggest irony.  Batman who won't kill, must face the Joker over & over, with the hope that someday he may be reached.  And the Joker, who the only person he won't kill is the Batman.  Because, where's the fun in that?

Another relationship that is explored, is between Batman & the city of Gotham itself.  At first, everyone embraces what he's doing for the city.  But, once the consequences of Batman's actions are taken out on the city, they are ready to sacrifice him for their own perceived safety.  As it turns out, that is what Batman truly needs to be a real difference maker in Gotham.  He needs to be the city's martyr.  He needs to carry on outside the law, & he can't do that while being celebrated by the police.  He needs to be a vigilante, working on his own terms, doing what they cannot do, nor should be doing.  Batman is the type of saviour the city deserves.  Not a white knight, but a dark knight.

See this movie!  Put aside your notions of caped crusaders & boy wonders in green speedos.  This Batman would punch anyone you said "Holy Half-Faced Villainy, Batman!"  This is not your Father's Batman.  This is my Batman, & I love it!