Saturday, July 26, 2008

THE HERO GOTHAM DESERVES: I guess we haven't had up a full-on spoilerrific discussion of The Dark Knight yet, but it's about time. (i.e., saw it tonight.)

And I want to start with what didn't work about the movie for me, so I can get it out of the way (not that it's insignificant), but the problem of the movie is Batman himself. Specifically, that he's basically physically indestructible (and esp. in hand-to-hand combat), and that he seems to have an unlimited ability to conjure the devices and resources he needs to do whatever he wants. A hero without limitations is not terribly interesting, and as good as Christian Bale was in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige (or, for that matter, American Psycho), I didn't feel he was given a lot to work with here.

Heath Ledger, however, was, and the performance is all that and then some. There's nothing at all linking this performance to his in Brokeback Mountain other than the presence of a Gyllenhall; it's all twitchy and crazy and all sorts of awesome just like you've heard that makes you sad once the film's over. Not that I'm among those who believes that learning this part made him mad; I'm just sad we won't get to see what else he could do.

The other part of the awesome was the plot -- in general, all the post-9/11 ruminations about what it takes to defeat irrational, implacable evil, and whether one must always abide by "the rules" in doing so; and specifically, holy frack, the prisoner's dilemma, one of those genius plot devices which, in concept and execution, even surpasses things like the endings of The Usual Suspects or The Prestige because it was about more than just entertaining the audience but also provoking them to reconsider the film's theme. (In that regard, the film that comes to mind is In the Company of Men, mostly because of the Aaron Eckhart connection.)

It's impossible to talk about this movie further without going into spoilers, and almost certainly we can't do it without lifting the No Politics ban for a bit. Play nice, and I'll meet you in the basement.

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