The Dark Knight

[strokeof_genie]

Saw The Dark Knight last night at midnight. It was freaking amazing. I already have (vague) plans to see it again. Don't listen to people when they say "Blah blah blah it was too long/too drawn out/wtf was that plot because I don't get it." It was all necessary, and there was not one wasted minute. I'm biased, but I've asked people who aren't, and they feel the same.

Heath Ledger has been my favorite of the Jokers', hands down. Aaron Eckhart was great as Harvey Dent - scenes he was in he just captivated. Unless he was in a scene with the Joker because, holy crap. This was Heath Ledger's movie. It was, hands down, his show. Christian Bale was great as both Batman and Bruce Wayne, and showed the struggle of being both very nicely. He's still a young Batman, and I'm really looking forward to how they have him grow into the role. He's not quite there yet, because he doesn't realize that there will always be need for Batman as long as Gotham stands. He starts to at the end of the movie, though.


BUT. The Joker. He's just, he's this chaotic force throughout the movie and the first half, things make sense because Batman thinks he is in control. And then, in the second half, things go to hell in a handbasket because it isn't Batman's plan at all. The Joker orchestrated the whole shebang and it's going perfectly, as far as he is concerned.

His ultimate goal throughout the whole movie is to do two things; force Batman's hand into deathly action because Batman doesn't kill - but the Joker can make people die because of him. And they do die, and it's sinister. The second thing the Joker wants to do? Prove that anyone - anyone - can be brought down to his level, or at least that anyone is capable of evil.

He does this by essentially creating Two-face. You good comic fans will know that Harvey Dent eventually = Two-face. In this, Joker creates circumstances that warp Harvey's mind so totally that his sense of justice forces him to hunt after and kill. It's just.

It's a gorgeous and ingenious and beautiful movie, and the Joker is by and large the best part of it. It's creepily wonderful to watch him, and to see how clever and insane and strangely rational he is. He is completely uninhibited. He is exactly who he wants to be, and there's a part in the movie where he tells Batman, "You complete me." Which is strangely true, because Batman is exactly who Bruce doesn't want to be. The Joker is the unrestrained and gleefully manic side of Gotham, whereas Batman is the exact opposite.

There are parts in the movie where several different people tell Batman and/or Bruce Wayne that Batman himself created the Joker and opened the door for more people like him when Bruce stepped up and went where normal people wouldn't. It's said at the end of Begins, too, when Gordon mentions it at the end of the movie, after the credits. And it's true. Joker says, "This town needs a better class of criminals."

Speaking of which, don't bother staying after the credits. Nothing is there. I had to pee before the movie started, and didn't move from my seat until the credits were done, and GOD that was painful.

Comments

[strokeof-genie.livejournal.com]

YES. I loved how he kept everyone in the dark, and even at the end of the movie you were left with so many questions about the Joker. "No fingerprints, no identity, nothing. His clothing is...custom. All he had in his pockets were knives and lint." When Gordon said that, I was just like, 0_0;