Movie o' the day: The Dark Knight

Normally, I don't bother writing about movies unless I really like or (rarely) dislike them. This movie... well, I liked it well enough, but, frankly, I was underwhelmed. Between a Batman in need of a good gargle, a Scarecrow cameo that doesn't even begin to live up to what the character's capable of, and a grisly Two-Face that dies too soon and too privately (I'll come back to this later), the front-line supporting cast is pretty forgettable. Combined with "toyetic" tools for the Bat (a sticky bomblet shooter? An emergency-escape motorcycle in the Batmobile?), all the makings of a dreadful movie are in play.

Enter the Joker. I don't know why, but, every time a new Joker rendition comes forth, I'm always prepared to absolutely loathe it... yet always get won over in the end. Maybe it's because the base concept of the Joker is just such a rich mine for material that, while different, each interpretation just fits. At any rate, this movie provides another fine Joker, one without the obsession about his appearance of Nicholson's Joker... in fact, he just makes it part of his killing shtick, telling different victims different stories as he sends them on their way. In fact, if I had to choose one defining element of this Joker, it's his utter lack of self-consciousness over his acts while he performs (and I do mean perform... no other Joker that I've seen would have pulled his introductory "magic trick", because it takes the focus off the Joker to the trick).

Of course, the Joker has to play with the other characters, otherwise there's not much of a movie to be had... and he plays all too well the "twisted" portion of his persona. It's nothing short of amazing, however, as to how long it takes anyone, including the Batman, to look beyond "twisted" and "crazed" to see that there's method to his madness, that he has quite the capability for planning and forethought. In spite of his protestations while turning Harvey Dent to the dark side of Two-Face, he is indeed a plotter and a schemer... just one who's more mentally nimble and adjustable than his rule-bound opponents.

This is as good a time as any to bring up the short and hidden career of Two-Face. He kills a dirty cop and a gangster, kidnaps Gordon's family, then prepares to kill again before being taken down by Batman... but, because he used to be the pretty-boy DA who took the mob to court, the public can never know that the Joker broke him? Instead, Batman and Gordon take it upon themselves to martyr Harvey Dent and demonize the Batman? How is this a noble act on anybody's part? For all that the Joker may be wrong about showcasing the "truth" of human nature under dire circumstances, you really want the final message of the film to be that authority lying to the public, and police altering evidence, is a good thing and for the public's own protection? Honestly, especially in a property with the background of Batman, you simply should not reduce the lifespan of a major villain to a backroom deal, even between the "good guys".

So, as you can tell, I'm a bit mixed on this movie. It's worth watching in the theater for the size and sound of it... but it's been run so heavily for so long that you might see some effects on the prints. At this point, I'd say catch it at your local bargain theater, once it starts making the rounds there... they'll probably be able to cobble together a workable print from the whole mess.