For those unaware, Batman was my first superhero. My dad, older sister, Cindy, and I used to watch the old Adam West re-runs in the den when I was little. How could I not be captivated? I fondly remember my Batmobile toy from Burton's 1989 movie, and the Batman action figure with the belt that acted like a grappling hook. I've been sporting Batman t-shirts for nearly two decades. I'm proud to say I've never seen all of Batman and Robin. I saw Batman Begins after graduating high school and loved it. The Caped Crusader is in my blood. I'm actually writing this blog draped in my Batman blanket. So, by January 2008, I had binders and notebooks covered in Joker smiley faces, Bat-Symbols, and "Why So Serious?". I think I might've even been working on a Joker voice because yes, I am that kind of person. Once we started seeing footage from the movie, I was nerding out hardcore. The entire summer before the release, all we talked about at work was The Dark Knight. I saw it at midnight in Joker facepaint and green hair because, once again, yes, I am that kind of person. What Heath Ledger did with the role blew me away. I immediately planned a trip to Raleigh for an IMAX screening. I saw it again when I went to Greensboro to visit friends. I may or may not have acquired it to watch while waiting for the DVD/Blu-Ray release. And you bet your ass I was there the day of the release to get the Blu-Ray. I love it and count it among my favorite films.
Yes, it has problems. Chris Nolan has trouble figuring out how to film Batman's fighting style. In Batman Begins it was fast and blurred and tight. We were supposed to feel like one of the guys getting pummeled. A lot of folks complained about that style, claiming the action was hard to follow. I agree and disagree with that; it was hard to follow every single hit, but I don't think Batman's fights are about individual moves. What they did in The Dark Knight, though, was a bad call. They pulled the camera back and didn't have much in the way of quick cuts. Sounds good in principle, but the choreography for the fights made Batman look slow. Really slow. It didn't feel right. That Batman-voice was bad news, too. Yeesh. Harvey Dent's arc was rushed, no two ways about it. Whether or not Nolan had any plans to do a third movie, killing off Dent after a rushed descent into madness and climax was not the right call. That's one of those threads you could leave open-ended and still have it feel satisfying. In that same vein, Nolan seems to struggle with the third acts in his Batman films. The first saw a main villain tased and a fight on a train. The second was drawn out. The idea was good, but the execution just felt off. And that shot of Batman running from the cops looked silly, like a kid in a Halloween costume. There's slight series inconsistencies, too. Wayne Enterprises is in a different building and the old one is completely ignored, despite the truck flip occurring right in front of it. There's not a single mention of the Narrows, or its current condition. And what about the train? We see it in one, maybe two shots. These latter two things were such huge, huge parts of the first film that it was odd to just completely move on from them. But I let myself look past all of that. Here's why:
—The story continues in a logical way. As Batman Begins ends, Gordon talks to Bats about escalation. We have Batman copycats, trying to fight crime with guns and hockey pads. The mob's getting desperate and dangerous. And of course, there's the Joker. He pushes Gotham to the brink, to what he sees as the next step. One of the few times he speaks honestly is in the interrogation room with Batman. There's no normal anymore in Gotham. Only freaks.
—The camera work and cinematography. Holy crap did this movie look amazing. Wally Pfister deserved an Oscar for his work, especially with the use of IMAX. Honestly, I have no idea why Hollywood hasn't jumped on that bandwagon. Yes, the cameras are heavier, harder to work with. Bigger, too. And louder. But if James Cameron can develop new technology to film 3D, why not IMAX, too? Why spend tons of cash to convert movies to crappy 3D in post when that money could go towards improving IMAX cameras?
—Harvey Dent. While Two-Face gets the shaft, Aaron Eckhart does a great job as Gotham's White Knight. He balanced the good, lawful man on a mission with a violence and anger just under the skin. Watching him fall was a pleasure, as bad as that sounds.
—The subtlety. In the opening heist, Joker gets himself a sawed-off shotgun. He also leaves in a school bus. He uses that shotgun at the fundraiser and again in the tractor-trailer. He leaves the hospital aboard a school bus, which is probably how he got there in the first place. There's also Scarecrow showing up again. Even if Nolan relegated him to a drug dealer (stupidstupidstupid), it's nice to see that these characters are still in Gotham, and not disappearing after the credits roll.
—Heath Ledger's Joker. Plenty has been said about this performance. Heath ate up scenery like it was edible underwear. If he was on the screen, he's all you watched. The Oscar was more than earned. Heath transformed himself into this character. He's completely unrecognizable, and it's not just the voice and make-up. Even when we see him sans facepaint, that's not Heath Ledger. It's the Joker, through and through.
Comic aficionados have also said plenty about this interpretation of the character. No, this it's not the playful but morbid Joker from Batman: The Animated Series. It's also not the insane Clown Prince of Crime from the comics. It's not Nichelson's Joker, or any other Joker. As it turns out, there is no THE Joker, no definitive take on the character. Alan Moore has a version. So do Grant Morrison, Tim Burton, Jeph Loeb, Chris Nolan, and so on for seventy-one years. He changes based on the medium and the writer. He changes based on the context of the story. Maybe Heath's Joker wasn't so playful. He didn't laugh as much as some might've wanted. He used facepaint instead of being scarred. But so what? This Joker was as charismatic and engaging and thoughtful and destructive as any we've seen. He was Batman's foil. And those, I think, are keys to the character.
Central to this version was manipulation and planning. This plays out beautifully in a bedside chat in a hospital, between Dent and the Joker. Every sentence is there to serve a purpose, to take Dent on a very specific journey down, down, down into madness. He masterfully shifts the blame of Rachel's death from his own shoulders to Gordon's and the mob's. Joker claims he's not a schemer, when in truth, no one schemes more, or better, than him. From the top of the movie, the bank heist was thoroughly planned. His meeting his the mobsters? Watch how he carries himself. He's reciting a practiced speech. When Gambol interrupts and calls him a freak, we see Joker go off-the-cuff. He planned out killing Gambol. He planned out the murders of two public officials, attempted the assassination of two, and one of those was in plain sight. And of course, there's the tractor-trailer/SWAT chase. Now, I read a lot of people complaining about this. How could Joker have planned all of that to work out that way? Well, readers, he didn't. Unless he had a crystal ball, there's no way he could've predicted the Batmobile's destruction or Gordon being alive and well. No, I think he just planned for lots of scenarios. There's also the meeting with the Russian mobster. Again, a rehearsed speech and act. He even had a cue for his goons to come in and douse the money in gas. I love it. I love that he lied to everyone except Batman.
I've waited to post about The Dark Knight for a while now. I meant to over the summer, but there's a ton of things I meant to do over the summer I never got around to. When January rolled around and I realized I still hadn't blogged about anything in over a month (now over two months), I got to work. And I waited to post this today. Three years ago today, Heath Ledger died. I remember coming home from my screenwriting class, heading into my room, and getting a call from my friend, Chad. He told me Heath Ledger was just pronounced dead. I called bullshit. It just seemed so far-fetched. The timing felt wrong. If you remember, the first teaser for The Dark Knight had just been released ahead of I Am Legend in early December 2007. It was a true teaser, too: no images from the film, just dialogue and a chilling laugh. The seven minute bank heist had also been attached to the IMAX screenings of I Am Legend, and the viral marketing, which had started in May 2007 (revealing the first image of the Joker), was in fifth gear. Word was starting to spread about his performance, even before we got to see a trailer. And then his death. Selfishly, the first thing I wondered was whether Chris Nolan and co. had everything they needed, or if reshoots were necessary. I was worried about whether or not The Dark Knight would be finished and released. Later that day, I read about Heath's little girl, Matilda, his relationship with her, and some anecdotes from their Brooklyn neighbors. Then it became about a person, a father, not a character or a movie. Here was a kid who would never get to know her dad but from the movies he made and the stories she's told. And the thing is, this happens all the time. Children lose parents every day. This isn't uncommon, but we're all taken by surprise when it happens to a celebrity. We hold them to some odd, immortal-esque standard, when really, they're just as fucked up as you and me.
Author's Note: Why so serious, Joey? That ending's a bit morbid. I should lighten up. Next blog will end on a happier note. Funnier too, maybe. I promise.
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