Everyone’s talking about this movie right now, and I see why. It combines the things that make a modern movie memorable and “great.” It is quite possibly one of the best comic book movies up to this point.
In the past, movies that were “great” and classics certainly didn’t rely on computer generated imagery (CGI), major car crashes, lots of blood and guts, or anything like that. Look at most of Hitchcock’s films; films starring classic actors such as Humphrey Bogart, Bing Crosby, and so on. These films, like Casablanca and The Birds, are old news, yet are still remembered. What makes them so “great” is their ability to grab us, hold on to us, and brings out that atom of the human experience that we experience with the people on the screen. It takes a hold on our emotions and pulls or pushes them around with the experiences of the characters on screen. The best movie will make you break out into tears then smile through them, all the while forgetting that you’re sitting in a chair watching images flickering at ~30/sec (~25/sec in SECAM & PAL parts of the world) across a screen. (Although, with digital projectors, it may be higher.)
While I mention these films and their techniques, I know that The Dark Knight will never touch them. Why not? It’s a comic book film. It won’t hold up to the test of time. There will always be different ways of telling the exact same character’s story. For instance, the 1966 Adam West version (naming actors who played the Batman) is not the same origin plot as the 1989 Michael Keaton version, which is not the same as the 2005 Christian Bale version. Why not? Because the comic books themselves have presented different versions. The secondary issue with comic book films is the inevitable set of television series that come after them that are co-dictatorial with the comic books. (The books influence the series and the series influence the books.) The origin story in Batman Begins is different from the 1989 Tim Burton directed film because of the cartoon series in the late 1990s, early 2000s. It’s the origin story kids and teens know these days. I’d get into it further, but you can see all the juicy and not-so-juicy bits at Spike TV’s CineMassacre.
Moving on, though… What makes The Dark Knight such a great film? First of all, it has a plot and an ending that allows for an end or a sequel. It makes us subconsciously ask ourselves what we would do in the positions the people are in. It has fairly seamless CGI and special effects, and marvellous acting. I agree with the Spike TV guy that there is no comparing the different Jokers from over the years, and I, too, like Nicholson over Ledger. Don’t get me wrong, I thought Ledger’s performance was amazing. Actually, almost all of the acting was great in this one. I won’t go too much further into the film as there are probably some people in this country who haven’t seen it. I will say this: DON’T let the kiddies see it! It’s VERY dark and disturbing.
What I give you now are a few web sites and some embedded media.
Wikipedia (SPOILER ALERT): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Knight_(film)
Official Warner Bros. Site: http://thedarkknight.warnerbros.com/
IMdB Entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/
The Infamous “Trailer 3″ on YouTube (same as on official site):
“Trailer 2″ on YouTube (see above note)
I will say this, though. While I find that DC’s movies are much better product than Marvel’s, I can’t wait to see what they’re going to do with that little tidbit after the credits in Iron Man. More particularly, how in the world they’re going to pull it off.
Cheers,
Red Wolf
