The unbearable darkness of being
We spent a half-hour flagging cabs in the rain, hired an overpriced hotel car, sat in traffic for an hour, broke my rule about setting foot in Maul of Asia, missed the cocktails, had to surrender our phones, and ended up having a late dinner in the last place on earth that still plays Bobby Brown, in order to watch The Dark Knight premiere at IMAX, and it was worth it.
This is the Frank Miller Batman: bleak, intense, often scary. The amazing Heath Ledger takes us to dark places we wish we didn’t have to look, but suddenly we understand the Joker. Did you even think that was possible? What a flat cartoon Nicholson’s Joker now seems. Maggie Gyllenhall has the best gaze in the cinema today. Christian Bale holds it all together with dignity and the terrible intelligence of the hero who knows that society must reject him.
Remember how, in school, there were DC and Marvel factions? The DC fans were regarded as silly and shallow, while the Marvel fans were complicated and troubled? The Dark Knight makes the recent Marvel movies (and Batman Begins) look glib and happy. Christopher Nolan reminds us that there is nothing simple about the battle between good and evil. Brilliant. This is possibly the best superhero movie ever made.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 15th, 2008 at 06:03
Those were the pre-Crisis days, DC was really silly back then, what with Superboy’s and Supergirl’s superpets, Robin-spanking scenes, and all those gorillas…
But I always dug the DC folks, primarily because they have more girls. The X-Men may be tackling a lot about racism, teen angst, and alienation, but DC will always have girls hot costumes.
July 15th, 2008 at 07:51
It’s comforting to hear your vote of confidence for this picture. I’m looking forward to seeing this at a DLP screen now. If only I could navigate the streets of Las Vegas looking for one…a whole separate issue.
July 15th, 2008 at 08:45
Jessica, you lucky devil! I hope that you’ll provide a detailed review on The Dark Knight later on. It comes out in Australia on 17 July 2008 and I can’t wait.
July 15th, 2008 at 22:17
Is Maggie Gyllenhall’s character the same as Katie Holmes’ in the last movie? Does she do any better?
July 15th, 2008 at 23:04
i can’t wait!
July 18th, 2008 at 00:17
It does make me wonder if the audience would have the same impression of Heath’s performance if he were still alive. What about you, Jessica?