Sorta spoilers but I won’t ruin anything significant.
Batbman: the dark knight the first thing i’ll mention is that the acting is pulled off magnificently christian bale was a lot more comfortable as the role of batman (though this may be y’know an issue of plot too. Bruce wayne being more comfortable as batman) even still, I think its noticable how much he improved playing the character. This performance is almost eclipsed by both “The Joker” and “Harvey Dent” in the movie, as great as christian bale’s acting is, its basically swamped by the other two.
The off characters like rachael and gordon were also fantastic.
That being said I think the most interesting aspects of the film come with accepting some of the source material. Most batman movies, including ‘batman begins’ felt to me to lack a certain ‘batmanish’ quality, this movie sovles that problem. The movie is very dark on that account, batman’s descent into vigilantism is pretty brutal and he brutalizes people in an almost nonbatman-like fashion.
The joker was also quite a ‘dark’ character compared to previous batman movies.
The best part of the movie for me was the moral ambiguity. There were many layers to it. The Joker seemed to justify himself in Batman’s existence; Harvey Dent began as a knight, becoming evil and vengeful; the scene with the boats. It all made it pretty hard to identify who was good and who was bad, or at least to identify why certain people were where, and it definitely showed that there is no hard and fast line. Very thoughtful, and really well executed (much better than I’ve just described it).
The only thing that bothered me was the Batcycle, with it’s weird floating wheels.
Actually I think Heath Ledger as the Joker more than overshadowed the rest, I thought his performance was phenomenal. Too bad he won’t be able to accept the awards, because people won’t know how much his death played into his receiving them.
The part I liked the least was Harvey Dent. His going from being so good to so screwed up so fast just doesn’t fit with how people really are unless he’d been drugged–which was possible, but then that takes away from his character by removing his volition.
Standout scenes were the one with the truck, and the Joker sliding down that pile of money like Uncle Scrooge.
There was also some good dialogue which always turns my head. My favorite line was delivered by Alfred, some social/philosophical commentary appropriate for these forums: “Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
It was a good description of the Joker, and a good definition of pure evil.
It would depend on where my family was. If it was just me on that boat there might exist a moral dilemma to be thought out carefully. But if my family is there with me on the boat, I’d press the button a couple dozen times for good measure without so much as a second thought.
This is a variation on the lifeboat dilemma, only here the victims have to evaluate whether the Joker can carry out his threat. Will it work? Can somebody stop him in time? But I think before they had had a chance to consider it all, many on both boats would have, by reflex, rushed for and pushed the button.
The real question is, what would you do if you had time to think? If you had no time? I can’t say for sure, not actually being in the situation makes all the difference, but I probably would have pushed it in either case, knowing I’d be unable to live with the guilt.
Easily the best film of the year so my quibble is really just that,
the many references to harvey dent being the best of them all and yet
it is clear from the several references to internal affairs that he wasn’t,
“two face Harvey” isn’t a complement. so that suggest that the real “best of them all”
is Gordon.
It is clear that this role played a role in the death of ledger, perhaps the
best acting seen in a Hollywood film in many decades.
“Actually I think Heath Ledger as the Joker more than overshadowed the rest, I thought his performance was phenomenal.”
Alot of people say that the joker just overwhelmed the entire movie. but although he was significant in representing the “bad”, batman is vital and underplayed in the movie. he represented the fight each person has in them, and the will we all posses against evil. the joker seems so overshadowing because he is primarly the only evil figure shown in the movie, contrasting with the dozens of good people. i would just like to give the credit back to the batman and recognize that batman is what we all stand for, and without the “batman” spirit within us, there would be no world order, no peace any where and ultimatly chaos.
