Movies/TV

Ok, it wasn't a subtle title for this post, but hell.. it's a nice and fitting title nonethesame. As you will have guessed, I've seen The Dark Knight at the movie theater. Actually, as of today, I've seen it twice. And I'm not sure I can say I've seen it for the last time during it's theater run. You see, I find that the movie pretty much rules everything I can think of. And there are numerous reasons for this. But it wasn't until I emerged from the theater today, that I realized just how to explain what made the movie so good to me. In short, it's the paradox of the tagline (why so serious) vs. how serious the movie actually is. Because it deals with issues that I can relate very closely to. Not great personal issues, for once, but issues I have with views of the world. I saw someplace, somebody wrote: there is a little joker in all of us. And rarely are truer words spoken. You see, that's exactly the point I've been trying to formulate in my head for years. And finally, Heath Ledger and Chris Nolan visualises it so supremely for me. Because that was exactly what made the movie so good for me. 

The Joker represents the insanity in all of us. The wish for anarchy and the wish to see just how far you can push people before they snap. The movie is a sociological study in my eyes. I've always thought that every living person on this earth was a psychopath in the clinical sense of the word, and the degree of manifestation was relative to how far they were pushed by society or other people. The movie does explore into this, and concludes that people are, when push comes to shove, inherently good. I'm not sure if I agree or not. I don't fully disagree, let me say that much at least. But that's besides the point. I enjoyed this movie, if for nothing else, then the fact that the joker was so spot on the purified version of every human being. Besides this, of course, the movie just simply kicks ass. Heath Ledger. Well, he shouldn't get sole credit, but he does an amazing job with the Joker. I've always been a big fan of the original Batman movie, with Jack Nicholson as the Joker. But whereas Jack did a spiffing job, his Joker was goofy. Not a negative Disney kind of goofy, but he was light hearted, and while he was a murderer and so on and so forth, he had a controlled madness about him. Heath Ledger on the other hand, takes that, and adds a whole new layer. The layer of uncontrolled chaos. He takes the wish for chaos to another level, by really inciting anarchy at every chance he gets. Pitting people against people, and turning honest men against their peers is his sport, and the character study is interesting, and cool. He's cool as the Joker, plain and simply. His uncontrolled chaos and mannerisms makes for smiles and breathtaking excitement at the same time. He has you wanting more. Wanting him to come up with new schemes and plans, so you can spend more time in his company. He appeals to the person in us who'd like to shout at people who annoy us in our day to day lives.

Ok, I won't go deeper into it all for now, since some of you might not have seen the movie, and don't want too much ruined. I will say briefly, that another really interesting character study is Harvey Dent. He's played very well in my opinion, and the turn in his persona is excellent. Very impressed by Aaron. I didn't like Maggie Gyllenhaal too much, but then again, I didn't like Katie Holmes too much either. Rachel Dawes wasn't an appealing character to me, so who plays her doesn't upset me too much. And finally, of course, Christian Bale returns as Bruce Wayne, and he's doing with the role what you could expect of him. Solid performance, that doesn't disappoint. Mostly though, the overall feeling of the movie is that while the Joker makes you smile, and Batman inspires awe in you, you can't help but feel the movie creep up under your skin. And I felt that was extremely different from what you'd expect from a superhero movie. It had a message other than Good vs. Evil. Other than evil scientist vs. human race or similar plots. It was very down to earth in a sense. That made a huge impact on me. And it made me take it very seriously. You should too.