***SPOILER FREE***
I’m writing this only one day after the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Only one day. This is not a review. I was lucky enough to be one of the many to catch a midnight screening of the film, and let me tell you… it was jolly good. A wonderfully written, acted, directed, shot, and toned piece of respectful comic book cinema. Heath Ledger’s performance was, no doubt, astounding… possibly the best overall part of the movie. However, since the last frame rolled through the projectors at around 3 am on Friday morning, the entire film/geek/online community has completely jumped overboard into the crazed anus of praise-land, forsaking all else in the name of The Dark Knight. All there is to be seen or heard, from the giddy and temporarily irrational masses, is the following:
“BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE OF THE YEAR!”
“BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE OF THE DECADE!”
“BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE EVER!”
“BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR!”
“BEST MOVIE OF THE DECADE!”
“BEST MOVIE EVER!!!”
“HAVE THEY EVEN EVER MADE ANY MOVIES OTHER THEN THIS!?!?!?”
“HOLY HELL! I CARVED HEATH LEDGER’S NAME INTO MY INFANT’S FOREHEAD!!!”
“LET’S GET THE POSSE TOGETHER AND MURDER JACK NICHOLSON’S FAMILY!!!”
It does not end there even. It is already number one on the IMDB top 250 movies list and if you are bored enough to mosey on over to the IMDB message board for Tim Burton’s Batman, you will find a constant ongoing war between the Bat’s fanboys trying to have a bigger dick contest. Sentiments such as “Well, Nolan just put this movie to rest.” or “Jack should be ashamed of himself considering Ledger’s performance.” can be found through out. To everyone involved, all those calling out these insane, quick claims of instant cinematic glory on behalf of Nolan’s Dark Knight, I would just like to say one thing…
CALM… THE FUCK… DOWN!!!
I understand how you feel. I’m excited too. There is a wonderful new Batman movie playing at my local theater, the best in almost 20 years. It’s an amazing blessing and all living Batman fans (of which I very much am) are lucky to be alive to see it. However, no matter how good it is or how amazing the acting might be, that is no reason to instantly spew geek splooge all over your shorts and act like it’s the greatest film ever. The beginning of my second column on this magnificent site details Matt Damon’s and my opinion on the true judge of quality… time. Now, that argument does not fully negate the instant notion that something is good, which this new Batman movie most certainly is. All I am trying to say is take a big deep breath, and think for a minute… just a minute. I’ll wait.
Ok, feel good? Calm? Alright. Was it a great movie? Yes, yes it was. I agree too. Was it the best movie of the decade, possibly ever? Keep breathing… no, no it wasn’t. Now, let’s examine why you had the initial reaction that you did. First, because the overall quality of the movie, production and acting all considered, crossed with the fact that it is a Batman movie makes it all the more astounding to you as a fan. Now, if we remove Batman, change characters names, keep the Joker as the villain but call him The Clown and show you a movie much akin to Michael Mann’s Heat (Nolan’s supposed inspiration for The Dark Knight) would you be nearly as excited even if it was of the same quality in the acting, directing, writing, and action department? No. You would most likely dig it, as would I, and move on with the possible thought of picking up the DVD in a few months. You wouldn’t scream insane notions of superiority from the mountain tops, you wouldn’t get extremely defensive to those of us who also enjoy the (fictional) Tim Burton Heat-esque movies, and you wouldn’t rush over to the Internet Movie Database and cast your vote to rank a two-day-old film as far superior to about 200 classics that have gestated in the public stomach for decades on top of decades. You would dig it, and leave it at that. Am I wrong? This is a great film, but the only reason I feel people are freaking out is because it is great and it involves a character they love… which does not make it GREATER, it just makes it a pleasant surprise to fans of that character.
As for all the hate being heaped on Tim Burton and Jack Nicholson and their defenders, it is completely unneeded. The 1989 Batman is a different take, by a different director, from a different time, and made in a different world of cinema. If you dislike it that is fine, but why is there a need to be threatened by it? The same goes for the Burton defenders; The Dark Knight does not erase Michael Keaton’s life. If you want to argue comic-book accuracy then both sides have nowhere to go. Either of the two films has just as many comic book inaccuracies as the other… don’t believe me, fine, but you’re wrong. Please understand I don’t care about them being accurate, I am just trying to point out that neither one nor the other is a complete comic book bull’s-eye. I, for one, like all four movies, each of them good or great in their own way and am happy to have a variety of tonally different Batmans to choose from (excluding Schumacher of course.)
Heath Ledger’s tragic death aside (now all the more painful after seeing his amazing performance,) the argument of Ledger being superior to Nicholson is also useless; they are merely two separate performances with two extremely different actors, both doing a great job and giving their own spin on the character. If you are a fan of Heath’s Joker (as am I) and want to tell off all the Nicholson-Joker fanboys (as am I) then you should be fair and also attack all the Cesar Romero fans as well, because when you want to talk about differences of portrayal… I think Romero’s live action Joker is just a tiny sarcastic tad farther from Ledger then Nicholson ever was. This is not the same thing as getting angry because of a remake or a re-envisioning of a character. Batman and the Joker are not screen-derived characters, much like James Bond or Jack Ryan they are derived from an external source, so several different takes on the character are common and there is no reason to get viably angry at the actor whom you don’t prefer. Now I could understand the hatred if, say, they recast Snake Plissken, Ash, Feddy Krueger (they already did), or Doc Brown. Those are SCREEN DERIVED characters, the actors that played them ARE the characters, it is a different story then with the Joker. Anyway, It was a great movie, just not the greatest ever made and if you don’t know who Cesar Romero is, then this entire rant has been directed at you. Damn kids. Thanks for reading!
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