Obligatory Dark Knight Review

The most hyped movie of the summer is undoubtedly Dark Knight, which Jeanne and I saw last night.? Was it really as good as everyone said it was?? Does Ledger deserve an Oscar for his performance as the Joker?

The quick answer is that it was not perfect, but pretty good.? I liked it a lot more than Batman Begins.? Heath Ledger was awesome, but I don’t see how you can give him an Oscar.? I was most impressed with how Chris Nolan took the character and found some way of making it even a little believable.

Read the rest if you’ve seen the movie.

First off, let me say that I didn’t think Batman Begins was all that great. It was ok for a Batman movie. Dark Knight is better for the reason that everyone gives, Heath Ledger is an awesome joker. The movie is most interesting when he’s on screen and it’s truly disappointing that he’s gone. I’ve only seen him in four other movies: Monster’s Ball, Brokeback Mountain, Ten Things I Hate About You, and the god awful Knight’s Tale. In every one of those films he seemed dead in the eyes, but as the joker he finally woke up.

Why does every super hero movie have to two villains? At least they intertwined the stories more than the usual, “Hey, we should team up against this guy!” that is used in other Batmans and in Spiderman 3. The origin of Two Face was believable except when he took Gordon’s family hostage. Unfortunately, it’s the climax of Dark Knight.

It’s hard not to see the political commentary in the film. The government looks the other way while Batman uses the illegal methods to maintain security and thwart the evil doers. It’s a justification that I’m sure many people in government since 9/11 have and it’s definitely one that I don’t agree with. The Joker hates us for who we are, not what we do just like terrorists supposedly “hate us for our freedoms” and not because of our policies or presence in their home countries. Their actions are certainly not justifiable, but failing to understand the underlying reasons for terrorism won’t help stop it. The Joker doesn’t exist in real life, but our enemies are treated as super villains because it’s easier to justify brutal responses.

There’s a thorough, albeit over the top, analysis of this Dark Knight theory here.

Overall, I thought the movie rocked despite the political undertones.