Finally saw Dark Knight.

[cygna_hime]

(Almost a week after everyone else, I know, but these things happen.)


I thought this was excellent. I don't like Batman much, but this? I liked this. Maybe it's because Batman's character wasn't really the focus. He was just there when needed. Shoddy acting on Bale's part? Maybe, but like I said, I'm not that fond of Batman, and I enjoy Gotham stories most when Batman's character isn't the focus--he has some of the best supporting characters out there.

They really sold Harvey Dent in this one. Every time early on someone said something ironic (often featuring the word "face"), I flinched. Did a great, great job of making me see a tragic hero. In my opinion, what made this movie so strong is that it used the two greatest of Batman's villains, the one who is most like him and the one who is most unlike. What makes Two-Face so compelling, what has always made him so compelling, is that Harvey Dent was truly a good man, a man Batman was willing to work with, a man to whom Batman in some versions was on the verge of revealing his identity. He was the kind of person Bruce Wayne might have become.

The Joker, on the other hand, is so compelling because he makes 99.9% of other villains look like your close friends. Most people, you can understand what motivates them, can see where they're coming from, can imagine a world in which you are on the same side. With the Joker? No. He's alien in a way none of the true aliens of the DCU are. You can't be on his side even for a minute. And this was a masterly performance. *votes for posthumous Oscar*

It's interesting to look at this as a mixture of several Batman stories, especially The Killing Joke, and see how it changed--in this story the man who was given "one bad day" was Harvey Dent, not Gordon, and it did break him as TKJ didn't break Gordon. (I'm just as glad for the change, since somehow Rachel's death felt much less like fridging to me. Maybe because she was involved in the plot on her own? Maybe because it really could have been her or Harvey?)

Speaking of which, wow, slashy much? I must go quest for fic now, because WOW subtext.

♥ Alfred, as always. Just assume a whole lot of ♥ all 'round.

Comments

[svz-insanity.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I loved the part with the Joker standing outside wondering why some of the bombs hadn't gone off.

Also, Tiny Lister= amazing. I really like the ferry part.

[cygna-hime.livejournal.com]

Joker in a nurse's outfit may be the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life, no lie.

[svz-insanity.livejournal.com]

According to an interview I read, the scene with Dent and Joker in the hospital was totally ad-libed and improvised on the spot.

[tigerdreams.livejournal.com]

Really? I think there may be something wrong with me, because when I saw that bit, my first thought was, "Huh. The Joker makes a cute nurse. I shouldn't be thinking that, should I?"

(Not in the woobie-fying sort of way, mind you. But the fact remains.)

[cygna-hime.livejournal.com]

He *did* make a cute nurse. That's the problem. Because part of me was thinking that while the rest was curled up in a little ball shaking, resulting in trauma.

[rhaella.livejournal.com]

Harvey Dent's use of the coin, even before he became Two-Face, was creepy as hell. X_x

And Joker's psychosis was so damn hot... loved the part with him sitting in the jail. Every word out of his mouth was twisted genius.