Wednesday, July 23, 2008

It's A Dark Knight


Wow, just saw the movie and it was stunning. I didn't think I would go see a movie based on a comic book hero and it actually make me think. It's a good thing, and a great movie. But it was dark and disturbing.

Definitely not one for the kiddos. The Joker is not just a weirdo with makeup, but a demon trying to help people off the ledge. I could understand why someone would have a few nightmares filling in his shoes for a while. They outdid the last movie (we are a long way from Mister Mom wearing a cape!); it will be interesting to see how far they go the next time.

It was interesting in that it explored just how depraved we as a society are, and it barely gives a glimmer of hope (we don't ultimately blow each other up, but we would like to). It seems to want to bring up that old question - is humanity getting better or worse? - but I don't think it goes in one direction or the other, or even sits in the middle. It is not an either/or answer, but a both/and. We have our moments when we have that spark of goodness light up, but there is an ocean of darkness around it.

The Joker may get the spotlight, but TwoFace is the symbol - we want to be good, but sometimes it's just easier not to.

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3 comments:

Odgie said...

Yeah, we saw it this past weekend. I thought it was excellent, if profoundly disturbing. My favorite part is when Alfred says to Bruce about his efforts to overthrow the rule of the mobsters, "You spat in their face. Did you not think that they would retaliate?"

John Vaught said...

I'm going to post about a couple of my favorite quotes. More can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/quotes

Alfred had a few good ones. Just about everything the Joker said was quote-worthy.

Leann said...

I was disturbed mostly by the comment Batman said to Two-Face at the end. That the Joker was winning because he was proving to the world that the best of us (Harvey Dent) could become the least of us (Two-Face). I was really saddened by that because it embraced hopelessness.