The Dark Knight

Incase you are in doubt at all about seeing this film - let me reassure you it is awesome. I'm not particularly hard to please as a movie-goer, especially when it comes to actin type movies, so I knew I would like it just fine. It's been getting great reviews, so I figured it would be better than normal. But after seeing it this weekend I think it is phenomenal. There hs been a ton of talk about Heath Ledger getting an Oscar for his portrayal of the Joker - and I basically attributed that to his death. Not that I thought he wouldn't be good (he always is), but superhero movies don't typically get that type of recognition, and I figured he might earn the honor here as a way of making up for all of the truly Oscar worthy rperformances he won't get a chance to give. But having seen it, I have to say that I think there would be buzz even if he hadn't died. It is almost a shame that in his final complete performance he dissappears so completely behind the makeup and the mask. His Joker has none of the humor behind his menace that we have seen before - he is sick and depraved, aiming to sow discord and harvest chaos, but you can see that while he accepts his role he doesn't cherish it. His motivation is not the pain of others for personal pleasure, but just pain itself. In this he is more the yin to Batman's yang than ever before. Both are solitary figures, doomed to suffer their roles in society even as they accept they are the only ones to fulfill them. When the Joker tells Batman he can't kill him because he is too much fun, he doesn't say it with the joy we have seen in previous performances - he says it because there is no other way to express that anarchy without opposition means no sacrifice. This is definitely the darkest episode in the Batman franchise - and possibly the best yet. Oh, and the toys are super cool too.