The Dark Knight
July 18th, 2008Oh man, just got back from the midnight show… that was amazing. Loved every second. Very good, fantastic film. But you all knew that, yeah?
Go, enjoy, I gotta get at least a LITTLE bit of sleep before driving to Austin… though it’s not likely I’ll be able to sleep after that…
Feel free to post your thoughts on the movie here — I’ll try to check the comments from the hotel if I can over the weekend.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:57 am
…i still hate you
July 18th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Remember when we high fived?
July 18th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Lisa and I are going tonight…I’ll post my thoughts later.
July 18th, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Okay. THAT…was…AWSOME! I think it’s the best depiction of The Dark Knight and The Joker that has ever been shown on screen. Too bad Heath was a little too alergic to not breathing and won’t be around to play the The Joker again. He did a fantastic job!
July 21st, 2008 at 6:33 am
Couldn’t agree more. Joker was so creepy that I was having some messed up dreams that night! Of course, it might have been the fact that I only got one hour of sleep between seeing the movie and having to get up for work… oh well.
I watched it again on saturday, and liked it even more the second time. I picked up on some foreshadowing, acting and cinematography subtleties I hadn’t noticed before.
One aspect that really impressed me was the sound design. There was that buzzing white noise sound whenever the Joker was doing something, and that sound became like a symbol for his character, a cue for chaos. It was quite frightening, what a cool concept.
Great film, great film…
July 21st, 2008 at 11:13 am
I too had some messed up dreams that night (and Saturday night too.) Interesting because that rarely happens to me because of a movie. Anyway, I hope to see it once more in the theater and then I’ll be buying the DVD for sure. I agree Mike…great film. I think Heath actually deserves at least an Oscar nomination. Not often you can say that about a comic book character.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I’ve seen it twice and will probably go a third time. Found it equally amazing. Ledger definitely rocked the part. Something I picked up on in the final scene between two-face and batman/gordon is the side of two-face the audience sees when he’s speaking to the other characters.
I wouldn’t say I loved every minute, but it was only b/c I was like “Hurry up and get to the sweet part” for 3 seconds while they transitioned to the next scene, but I guess it’s only 3 seconds…so yeah I loved every minute.
I actually had some sweet ass dreams before I saw it about batman, so I was pretty pumped.
I also found it interesting to see the crowds reaction to the joker. I found that typically his comedic relief tapered as the film went on. I think part of it was because his laughs became more maniacal. Very interesting social commentary.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:57 am
Awesome Kevin, glad you liked it! I was also interested by the audience reaction… on my second viewing, I noticed that during the parts where the joker was being particularly frightening, the bulk of the crowd would laugh pretty hard, which I just couldn’t figure out… yeah I laughed at joker sometimes, but most of what he did was so dark and horrible that it was just creepy, yet most people around me thought it… funny? Am I missing the joke, or is there another ironic layer of social commentary built in there?
July 22nd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
Yeah…I’m remembering some of that too. Some of what’s presented in “Dark Knight” is kind of reminiscent of “A Clockwork Orange.” Both present to you a typically humorous or pleasant thing (A giggle or laugh; “Singing In the Rain”) verses a violent or evil action (Joker holding a knife to someone’s mouth; the rape scene in the couple’s home.) The question being whether or not something is wrong because you are told it is wrong or because it truly is wrong. Do YOU decide or do the moviemakers decide FOR YOU?
Obviously, “Clockwork” is more focused on the social commentary, where in “Dark Knight” it is a more secondary thing. However, it is possible that the same question is being explored.
Who says comic books aren’t real literature? (Too many of my Lit teachers, honestly.)
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Good points about the nature of evil, and who better to explore that nature than the joker? Funny you bring up Clockwork, because I was reading that Ledger watched Clockwork Orange many times over to help him prepare for the role of Joker. Creepy tie in…
yeah, anyone who thinks comics aren’t real literature hasn’t read enough books by Alan Moore. Read Watchmen, From Hell, V for Vendetta, or pretty much anything else with his name on it and be prepared to be shocked into literary genius.
There’s plenty of other comics-as-literature examples, my favorite being Craig Thompson’s “Blankets,” Or maybe David Mack’s “Kabuki: Circle of Blood.” Maybe we should start a thread of great comics literature?
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Well…even “simple” titles like Spider-Man and X-Men explore the age old struggle between good and evil. I’ve read “serious” and “classic” books that didn’t have a clear point. I think if we start that discussion, we’ll be on it for quite awhile. Only closed minded, literary elitists ignore all comics as “kids stuff.”
Speaking of “Watchmen”…that movie looks pretty sweet. I haven’t read the book…should I read it BEFORE the movie or AFTER?
July 24th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Hey guys, I started a thread for this at the Dorm Dorks Facebook page, where we can talk more about comics as literature — jump on in and let your voices be heard!
July 25th, 2008 at 7:56 am
Ahhh man….I’m not signed up on Facebook. (Hey, myspace was good enough then and its good enough NOW, d@(*#t!) I have actually refused to join Facebook just out of the principle of the thing. Not sure if I will or not…I’ll think about it.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:01 am
What have you got to lose by joining facebook? Give it a try, all the cool kids are doing it… you want to be popular don’t you? Just one for the road…
…wait that last one doesn’t fit… how about… join the dark side!