Holy Awesome Movie, Batman!

Ok, so I just watched The Dark Knight. Again. And after a second viewing, I feel I'm past the hype and the excitement of a new Batman movie and can give an unbiased opinion of the new film.

And I have to say, it's amazing. Let's start from the beginning. Once upon a time (back in 1989), Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, and Jack Nicholson got together and made a little movie called Batman. And it was wonderful. People were lined up for weeks to see the Caped Crusader battle the evil Joker in a charming, stylized world of darkness that could only emerge from the whimsical mind of Tim Burton. The toys, the Batmobile, the mythology; nobody could get enough. It was, after all, the first comic book movie that was done right, with the possible exception of the first two Superman movies.

Except Batman was different. Superman was an alien; a person from a different world with amazing powers. He could fly, shoot laser beams out of his eyes, and bounce bullets off his chest. Batman, on the other hand, didn't have that luxury. Batman was a human, like us, with no special abilities whatsoever, except perhaps the extraordinary discipline required to become, well, Batman. He represented an ideal to which we all should strive, always choosing the right path, always fighting for the side of good. We could all relate, because there was a little Batman inside all of us. Batman was a great movie, and was exactly what we needed in a superhero movie at that time.

Burton followed up on Batman with a worthy sequel, Batman Returns, and then the series went downhill in the less than capable hands of Joel Schumacher. The movies became a joke, much like the 1960's TV series and movie. It had degraded to mere camp, completely losing sight of the poingnancy of the Dark Knight, and the future for Batman looked darker than ever.

Enter Christopher Nolan. In 2005, Nolan brought forth a new vision for the Caped Crusader. In this vision, none of the other movies had even happened. Not even Burton's. In Nolan's movie, Batman Begins, the franchise got a reboot. The talented Christian Bale was tapped to play Batman, who would be pitted against the little known Ra's Al Ghul, and on a deeper level, himself. And it was a rousing success. The story of Batman's roots, free from the camp and cheesiness of recent memory, struck the same chords that Burton, Keaton, and Nicholson had way back in 1989, only in a darker, more realistic fashion. The Batman franchise was resurrected.

And now, with the recent release of The Dark Knight, the reboot has hit its stride. Since the end of Batman Begins, when Gordon handed batman the calling card of a new villian in Gotham, a joker card, the world has eagerly awaited the day when Batman would once again battle his nemesis and arch-enemy, the Joker. That day has arrived, and it is everything that we had hoped for and so much more.

A lot of that has more to do with the villian than the hero. The late Heath Ledger's final performance as the Joker was the performance of his life. It was a role that the competent Jack Nicholson had made his own, but Nicholson's performance had never sat quite right with me. The Joker that I knew was much crazier than the suave Nicholson. He was a wild card, dangerous because of his unpredictability. He was the anathema to Batman's strictly disciplined ideal. In the hands of Ledger, that Joker was finally brought to life. When you see him "make a pencil disappear," you'll understand. This ain't our parents' bad guy.

The story wasn't half bad either. The inclusion of Harvey Dent/Two-face, played by Aaron Eckhart and the way the story played out around the fates of the three main chacters and their own individual struggles was masterful. The battle between good and evil that goes on in each of us is played out before our eyes. Not to mention the parallels with our own society, which I can't go into without giving too much away.

I only have one gripe about it. Maggie Gyllenhall. I mean, she's a good actress, sure. Maybe even better on paper than Katie Holmes (from Batman Begins). But I just really couldn't get behind her as Rachel Dawes. Her performance was stiff and I never felt a connection between her and Bruce Wayne or Harvey Dent. Plus, let's face it, she looks like a foot. I'm just saying.

Anyway, go see the movie. I don't care if your favorite movie is Rambo or The Notebook, The Dark Knight won't disappoint. After all, what doesn't kill us only makes us stranger.

Until next time,

Clay