Dark Knight perfect analogy for Election 08
Just saw the flick and...
If you think about it Hillary is just like Harvey Dent. And Obama is kinda like Bruce Wayne and McCain is like the mob boss. Or no... Obama is like Commissioner Gordon and McCain, the police establishment. And... the Joker is... maybe Romney. Ok, truth is I have no political analogy that makes this post relevant (feel free to throw your own in the comments). It is funny to see though how many sites, in this s...l...o...w... news cycle (where Obama's gym habits make headlines) are trying to draw a parallel; like Slate.com and their piece on "The Dark Knight's smart serious take on terrorism" which claims that the director "turns the Manichean morality of comic books - pure good vs. pure evil - into a bleak post-9/11 allegory about how terror (and, make no mistake, Heath Ledger's Joker is a terrorist) breaks down those reassuring moral categories."
Ummmmmmm. Ok. Well, here's my two-cents (no spoilers): Look and feel: dead-on. Heath Ledger: fantastic. Bale: good despite using that dumb, raspy voice from the first movie.
Sadly though, the last hour of the flick drags right when it needs to build. This is a bullet train with the power cut. At some point the exhilarating ride begins to slow ever so imperceptibly until the audience is left rolling, creeping into the last station. Such a shame that the writing couldn't keep up with the visual appeal and Ledger's performance. A film with so much potential for greatness, ended up just being really good. Blockbuster? Yes. Classic? 'Fraid not.
If you think about it Hillary is just like Harvey Dent. And Obama is kinda like Bruce Wayne and McCain is like the mob boss. Or no... Obama is like Commissioner Gordon and McCain, the police establishment. And... the Joker is... maybe Romney. Ok, truth is I have no political analogy that makes this post relevant (feel free to throw your own in the comments). It is funny to see though how many sites, in this s...l...o...w... news cycle (where Obama's gym habits make headlines) are trying to draw a parallel; like Slate.com and their piece on "The Dark Knight's smart serious take on terrorism" which claims that the director "turns the Manichean morality of comic books - pure good vs. pure evil - into a bleak post-9/11 allegory about how terror (and, make no mistake, Heath Ledger's Joker is a terrorist) breaks down those reassuring moral categories."
Ummmmmmm. Ok. Well, here's my two-cents (no spoilers): Look and feel: dead-on. Heath Ledger: fantastic. Bale: good despite using that dumb, raspy voice from the first movie.
Sadly though, the last hour of the flick drags right when it needs to build. This is a bullet train with the power cut. At some point the exhilarating ride begins to slow ever so imperceptibly until the audience is left rolling, creeping into the last station. Such a shame that the writing couldn't keep up with the visual appeal and Ledger's performance. A film with so much potential for greatness, ended up just being really good. Blockbuster? Yes. Classic? 'Fraid not.
***Beware spoilers in comments***
By Robert - 7/19/2008
17 Comments:
I don't like Bale's "Batman voice," I'll grant you that. Otherwise I thought the movie was brilliant.
"I'll show you a magic trick! I'll make this pencil disappear!"
WHAM
"Ta-daaaa!"
-DHM
That was the best part.
Unfortunately the second half was virtually pencil-less.
SPOILER ALERT:
So much drawn out narration by the characters towards the end, too.
And the whole cellphone/sonar bit fell completely flat.
Two-face stole the last 30 minutes from the Joker, unfortunately.
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On Campaign Financing:
Heres one my mother just called to tell me
My dad is a longtime registered Republican. He is a true fiscal conservative
and supports all the traditional principles of conservatism that have
somehow been lost lately. I support most of those principles too.
My mother says that he has been "badgered" for money by annoying phone calls
and tons of mail and has many times told them to remove him from the list to
no avail. Thursday, the mailman delivered a registered letter from the
Republican Party labeled EMERGENCY. My mother says that it related some
high pressure bullcrapola resulting in my dad saying that the only way to
get them "off my back" is to concede and send them money -he wrote them a
fat check. Wrong move but viewed as the only choice by a disabled and
battered old WWII Veteran in light of intimidating marketing tactics..
As I probably told you, as Nuns taught me, never contribute to anyones sin -
so to me, giving money to politicians of any stripes is the same as giving
whiskey to alcoholics. I guess I am a contientious objector towards the
present expensive political campaigns which cost upwards of 500 million per
Presidential Candidate and further produce most annoying money soliciting
and all the crappy trappings therefore associated.
I view politicians extorting money from the elderly and disabled as very
low...and wish there was a sure way to get them to leave my parents alone.
I will be happy when this putrid $$$$BILLION$$$$$ Dollar "election" is
done.
I thought slate was bad.
Here over at CNN they manage to work The Joker and the Obamas into a political (?) cartoon together.
Talk about dead air.
**SPOILERS**
Pencil-less? I'll respectfully disagree. Although I seem to be echoing what everyone else is saying, Heath Ledger was phenomenal. He managed to be terribly creepy while maintaining a very, very dark sense of humor. I started laughing when he mouthed "Six?! Wow..." while he was trying to get the cop to beat him up after the interrogation scene until I realized just how awful that was. Plus, all of his scenes in the hospital (did you notice him wearing the "I Believe In Harvey Dent" button?) and his manic walk away from the building and repeatedly pressing the trigger to the detonator. Although none may have been as blatant as the pencil, I thought there were just as many subtle, yet brilliant, moments with the Joker.
The sonar bit...yeah. Agreed.
-DHM
**SPOILER ALERT***
DHM,
Yeah I agree all those were great. I think the thing though is that they spend way too much time setting up the two-face character. I felt like the scene between Dent and Gordon was the kind of thing that belonged in the NEXT movie. The Joker shouldn't have had to share the lime-light so much.
For me, the movie climaxed during the rigged oil drums scene. After that it was all down hill, mired in narration and a not-as-exciting finale.
And whatever the hell happened to Batman's voice in the last 15 minutes I'll never understand.
**SPOILER ALERT***
Oh and when Batman took the fall for the cops Dent killed I was just scratching my head.
Hmmmm. They needed a fall guy to pin the murders on... but couldn't think if one...
How about the Joker? Or the mob boss? Or the Scarecrow? Or pretty much anyone else in Gotham? It's not exactly a city where it's hard to find a scumbag/scapegoat.
Just unnecessarily bad writing.
**SPOILERS***
My last complaint is that the look and feel of these films is fantastic. It's fantastic cause it's so gritty and real; he hardly uses CGI.
I think the choice they made with Two-Face's CGI face was a huge mistake. Doesn't fit the series at all. I mean how hard would it have been to have given him a treatment like Ledger's? Makeup artists are great at "burned face."
It reminded me of T2 or something. Not good.
**SPOILERS**
Was his face completely CGI, though? It looked like only the "evil" eye and "evil" half of his mouth were CGI. Trust me, I hate CGI. I think, for the most part, it's done horribly *cough* Star Wars I-III *cough* and the only movies that have used it well are the Lord of the Rings films. I thought the rest of his face was made up (and I LOVED the "face goo" on the hospital pillows).
I think the break down of Dent was a great, natural flow to the story line and the Joker character. The Joker wanted to prove that no one was above being driven "mad" or selling out their convictions (which brought about that great exchange on top of the building towards the end, after Batman had saved the Joker and he went on about how he foresees them having a special relationship) and he did that to Dent, AKA the "White Knight of Gotham." Dude held a gun to a kid's head. Seriously so amazing.
I'm sure having Batman taking the blame for Dent's murders will be fleshed out (HOPEFULLY) in the 3rd Nolan/Bale movie. They've been playing out the "gangster" Batman story lines in these first two movies, and I think that could really bring some interesting twists to the third.
Oh, yeah, WHY did they have to kill off Two-Face?! Sure, they wanted to preserve Dent as a symbol of hope for Gotham to rally around and keep his whole "either die like a hero or live to see yourself turn into the villain" from coming true, but maaaaan! I seriously hate when franchises kill off villains (I'm looking at you, Spider-Man 3).
-DHM
**SUPER SPOILER***
They killed him off?!? I guess I didn't take it that way. I just assumed he was out cold, not dead. And that the funeral for Dent was an empty coffin affair with Two-Face landing in Arkum.
If he's dead than that's the shortest villain lifespan in movie history. Dude was Two-Face for all of about 48 hours.
It also sucks that they didn't resolve (aka kill) the Joker. Not sure how the franchise will deal with this down the road.
***SPOILERS***
I suppose he could have been out cold. I never thought of it that way at all. I was all, "What the eff?" when I thought he died from that short fall, so I do hope that you're right. How great was it when he put his seat belt on and shot the driver too? Man, I could gush about this movie all day.
-DHM
Spoiler alert
Bob,
They didn't kill off the Joker becuase they planned on him being in the next movie. This was obviously written well before Heath died. I think this was the greatest comic book movie of all time and I do agree with you on the weirdo voice thing. This was 1 notch above Iron Man and Superman 2. I think Ledger was brilliant and Jack should bow down to that performance. I am not sure why you are trying to search for too much reality in a movie based on comic books. I think they do the best they can to keep it fun and still somewhat grounded in reality. I do agree with you that Two-Face isn't dead yet. He is probably just chilling in Arkham with Scarecrow and Joker. I really hope they do one last Batman movie with this cast and the Nolans. I guess we will find out soon.
SPOILERS
Smittypop
couldnt agree more regarding Jack/Ledger. Heath Ledger deserves every bit of the praise he has been getting he was incredible. I also think they finally "got" Batman, the voice doesn't bother me, but compared to alot of the campiness that creeped into the first Batman series Nolan has NAILED these. Not only do I think Dark Night surpasses all other comic book movies, I think it transcends it's genre. I am not kiddig I was riveted by this movie. I always love superhero movies and am often content with enough fireworks and battle scenes to be reasonably amused even without strong dialogue and plot (Spiderman 3, all of the X men) but when they mix in enough human element (Spiderman 2) it can elevate the film. Nolan's film left me wrappped around the characters and their internal turmoil, I had similar feelings regarding Michael Corleone and his decision to go kill Tattalia, as I did in the interogation room, even though being fairly well versed in the comic I could have predicted the outcome. Unreal I totally love it. For me it has entered the pantheon of exalted levels currently only inhabited by Godfather I&II, Heat, (sometimes) Goodfellas, Cool Hand Luke, Platoon, Empire Strikes Back and Gili (kidding).
Robert, I dont really get the whole analogy btwn the movie and real life being accurate.
***SPOILERS***
I just thought of this last night, but it would be interesting to see if they introduced more "copycats" into the third film, like they did with the copycat Batmen. I've heard that Nolan has no interest in recasting the Joker, but it would be great to see Harley Quinn take the reins. (See: Batman - The Animated Series or Batman comics after 1999, I think, if you don't know who I'm talking about).
-DHM
DHM,
Interesting.
I just watched the movie and found that the analogy was very clear. In it the "Joker" stood as a citizen that wasnt corrupted by greed. For that matter the heroin Bruce Wayne wasnt either. I think the point of the movie was for everyone to look at america or the world for that matter and ask themselves what really matters in life as their number one priority...maybe greed maybe power...but hopefully self sacrifice will prevail over. I think it also pointed out how loosing the one you truly love the most if your not aware can actually change your life to the point where you become so cynical that you take your pain and hatred out on anyone that surrounds you...I know there could be alot of arguments against this in theory but at any rate this was....A GREAT MOVIE!!!
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