My thoughts on "The Dark Knight" itself

I have seen this film last Saturday, the morning after the day it opened. I grounded myself with some skepticism about Heath's Joker, but I tempered it with some giddy Batman-fan anticipation. After all, the last thing I want to do is eat my own words.

So, yeah, it's a fucking great movie. This is worth noting because we're all used to summer blockbusters being brain candy, and dramas and such are contenders for Oscars. In an effort to justify this claim, I'll relate the general formula of the blockbuster as I have been taught (yes, I took a film class once). The formula--or template, if you will--is basically a film with very well known movie stars (who sometimes differ from actual actors), tons of action, and simplistic dialogue. It has to be an action-packed movie because the story is told primarily through visuals, kind of like a music video where the visuals tell a story, but there's no dialogue or anything because, well, you're watching a music video and there's the song. Anyways, visuals move the story, and dialogue is simplistic so people don't have to think as they watch. This makes it marketable to the lowest common denominator, but also to people overseas who don't feel like reading subtitles. And the blockbuster can follow any drama as long as action and fantastic visuals are abundant. This is how "Jaws" differs from "Midnight Cowboy".

I think it was with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man when we started seeing blockbusters that were legitimately good movies with heart and soul. Well, maybe we were already used to it, but we're talking comic book adaptations. Previously, these were only moderately better than video game adaptations (which are better than....well, let's face it, they suck), but I think it was with Spider-Man when we finally started seeing how good comic book movies are made.

So, not only is The Dark Knight a good comic book movie, but it's also a great crime drama. And this kind of irks me because people are saying that if it's such a good crime drama, then it's not much of a comic book movie. This is bothersome because it suggests that the comic books themselves are too simplistic or immature to be regarded as crime drama fiction. I mean, there's a reason people talk about the great "Batman mythos" and "Batman pathos", because it really is that deep.

It's also one of the few movies I've seen when Batman has to deal with two of his nastier adversaries and you don't feel like the time with one is gypped with the time spent with the other. In Batman Begins, he begins facing against a mob boss, then Scarecrow, and it develops into a battle with Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Shadows. It works because the first two are basically stepping stones up to Ra's Al Ghul. In this one, the Joker is just as significant as Harvey Dent and the rise to "White Knight" to the transformation into Two-Face (I'm trying not to include spoilers, but it's not exactly a secret that this happens anyway).

I also have to praise Nolan for correcting his fight-scene flaws. In Begins, it was a jumble of black movement, and trying to follow the fight was a little like vertigo. Here, you can actually appreciate each punch, block, and kick. It's great.

Now, as far as this being a crime drama versus a comic book movie: it's both. The Batman comics are crime drama. When any of these comics are done well, they're just really rich stories of conflict of some sort. Movies like Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, No Country for Old Men, and so on, are more or less just that. When something is really good, then it should transpose very nicely into just about any medium.

Back to The Dark Knight...I really do like Heath's Joker. He didn't have that grin. That spooky, creepy, skull-revealing grin. But he had the derangement, the apathy, and the insidious nature. I mean, some people are interested in the opinions of this person and that. And granted, I am interested in what Tim Burton, Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, Frank Miller, and Alan Moore have to say about it. I'm also interested in Michael Bay's opinion since I read a joke script supposedly written by him for The Dark Knight. Or Will Smith, since a trailer for the film was included in his "I Am Legend" movie and his "Hancock" superhero movie is now overshadowed by The Dark Knight. Or anyone involved in Mamma Mia!, for that matter.

But mostly, I want to know what Robert Deniro, Al Pacino, Martin Scorsese, and Joe Pesce have to say about it. These tough guys who play the typical New York mob villains. I wonder about this because The Joker is the greatest villain, ever. And Heath did the character justice. And it's one thing to hear Pesce and Deniro talk tough and give you a glare like they're about to beat the crap out of you. But they're just angry assholes. This villain is fucking evil and dangerous. It's nice to see a villain that doesn't care about mob rule, or money, or drugs, or ANYTHING! We're used to villains being dangerous because they'll do anything--even kill--to get what they want. Here's a villain that kills...just because!! He's made it clear that he doesn't care about all the things other criminals care about. And that makes him even more dangerous.

So, yeah. Good movie, go see it.