the dark knight

the second installment of the new batman series has been a box-office blast and has beat out "the shawshank redemption" for the top spot on the best movies list on imdb.com.  if you're one of a few people who hasn't yet seen the film, be advised that some spoilers might be ahead.

there is no beating around the bush: heath ledger has completely stolen the show in the new batman film.  i have to start out by saying this because i can't wait to talk about his performance until later.  ledger's last performance [technically, i know that terry gilliam's the imaginarium of doctor parnassus will be his last performance, but he never finished shooting on that film] is UNREAL.  there is no way that you could look at ledger as the joker and see the charming young australian in "10 things i hate about you."  ...and that's not just because of the joker's grisly makeup.  ledger changes his voice, his mannerisms, and the way you view him for the role of the joker.  he does exactly what an amazing actor does to portray someone that is truly not themselves.  he makes himself completely unrecognizable to the point that you believe that the joker really does exist and that the city of gotham isn't fiction at all.  to be able to make something so real for an audience that is in actuality completely unreal is the essence of what an actor does and ledger nailed it 100%.  rumors of post-humus oscar nods have been surrounding ledger's performance and whether they are true or not, it is safe to say that ledger's portrayal of the joker was the greatest in his portfolio of work.  it's sad to think that he was becoming an exponentially better actor with each film he did and that we probably would have seen even more amazing roles from him if he had not passed away so young and suddenly.  

i have to tear myself away from thinking about ledger and how much i hate that he's gone and talk about the rest of the film because it's freaking awesome.  christian bale once again plays the best batman that we've ever seen [at least in my opinion].  the character of bruce wayne/batman develops nicely in "the dark knight" because we see that wayne understands what being a hero means.  he ends up sacrificing batman's non-homicidal image to take the fall for the murders committed by the white knight of gotham: the new d.a. harvey dent.  of course dent doesn't commit the murders until after half of his face is burned off as a result of the joker trying to kill him.  and then the joker pushing him over the edge into madness where dent becomes the villain two-face who is obsessed with fate and chance.  now, i've always hated aaron eckhart as an actor.  i'm not sure if it's the roles he plays or his acting.  my friend remy commented that possibly i don't like his large chin.  i don't think that's it.  but whatever it may be, roles or chin, i loved him in this movie.  i can't exactly pinpoint what i loved about him other than i think he played both harvey dent and then two-face exactly as i envision them.  

also adding to the greatness of "the dark knight" is the face that maggie gyllenhaal, whom i love, replaced katie holmes, whom i can't stand, in the role of bruce wayne's childhood friend/love interest rachel dawes.  comparing gyllenhaal to holmes is like comparing filet mignon to a hamburger.  gyllenhaal brings sexy swank to the character while still upholding dawes' fierce and unyielding call for justice in gotham.  even on the most basic level of appearance, gyllenhaal LOOKS like what you would imagine bruce wayne's love to look like.  no, she's not conventionally beautiful, but her inner beauty shines through.  wow, that was cheesy.  also, let's not forget that bruce wayne is a billionaire.  when he was a child, wouldn't it stand to reason that his closest friend would come from at least a little bit of money?  gyllenhaal has a "money" face while holmes just talks out the side of her mouth. seriously, what is that?  also, just as a sidebar, i think it was pretty neat how "the dark knight" sort of kept it in the family.  many of you may know that gyllenhaal's brother, the beautiful jake, is godfather to ledger's daughter matilda.  the gyllenhaals and ledger were a close-knit group so i think it was fitting that in ledger's last movie, he was among friends.

"the dark knight" also propels jim gordon's story line ahead as he finally becomes "commissioner gordon."  in the film, he's full of tricks that make him a great cop, even going so far as to fake his own death to be able to later catch the joker and once again help batman.  of course this backfires and results in rachel's death and the creation of two-face, but seriously gordon was just doing his job.  

"the dark knight" is full of themes: anarchy [thanks to the joker], fate, duality, and chance [upheld in a twisted way by two-face], the true meaning of being a hero [batman is criticized repeatedly but does what's right for gotham, even if it appears to hurt himself], and finally, i think it puts forth the lesson of not putting all your eggs in one basket.  gordon and batman put harvey dent up on a pedestal as the white knight of gotham.  they claim that dent is the real hero because he'll fight crime the way it's meant to be fought: through the legal system.  but after dent becomes two-face and murders five people, his white knight image would be ruined if the public found out about the murders.  gordon and batman admit that they were naive to think that one person could change gotham and that they didn't account for someone without rules or scruples [aka the joker].  when anarchy exists, even in crime, there is no way to fight back because there are no limits or boundaries set.  

the movie was amazing and if you haven't seen it, you should go NOW.  if you saw it and have an opinion about it, leave a comment!