Why so Serious? Well it's because I got 4 hours of sleep last night thats why. But it was for a good reason. After work my girlfriend, friends and I decided to wait in line for 6 hours to see the 12:01 showing of The Dark Knight at the AMC Van Ness 14. Dedication my friends. Let me tell you, I would have waited 12 hours to see this film. Notice I say "film" there. That's because this wasn't your run of the mill action/super hero movie. This had every bit the panache of a cinematic masterpiece. Director Christopher Nolan and his cast and crew can rest easy knowing they have made history with their work.
There was a lot of hype around the movie because of Heath Ledger and his tragic passing. Much deserved hype. His performance, whether dead or alive is nothing short of amazing and should take it's lion share of awards next winter. He will have forever embedded himself in Hollywood folklore having passed on such a theatrical high.
Another hot topic was that Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker far supersedes that of Jack Nicholson's. Let me clear the air here. Heath Ledger gives a flawless performance as a darker more vindictive Joker in a darker more malevolent installment of the Batman franchise. No one can question that. He was incredible. As was Nicholson in an entirely different version of the story. People forget that although they both played the Joker, it is a different character entirely.
Jack Nicholson's character has a name beyond the Joker in Jack Napier and is transformed into that criminal. As far as we are concerned with Ledger's Joker in Dark Night, he's just a nut looking to inflict chaos in Gotham's citizens and expose Batman for who he is. Not much background is given. Each actor does the most with the feel of each movie. Picture Nicholson's Joker as P. Diddy in Mo' Money Mo' Problems with the flash and glam. Ledger's Joker is more of the underground figure head who doesn't care about recognition, just chaos. Both 10's in my book. People should go back and watch the original Batman and remember that is was done almost 20 YEARS AGO and Nicholson’s performance was top class.
With all the hype around Heath, it's easy to overlook the performances of the others. But only a fool would do so. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart all give top-notch performances. Maggie Gyllenhaal is less than desirable. I don't know, maybe it's because she looks like Deputy Dog or Harry Redknapp.
The movie as a whole is a 9.9 in my book. It’s more than an action movie in that it applies a philosophical element to it to go along with gadgets, explosions and thrills. I am not going to give anything away here because I want everyone to experience the film the same way I did. Please, when you are done reading, buy your ticket online at http://www.moviefone.com/, http://www.movietickets.com/ or http://www.fandango.com/ and go see it. If you are a Batman fan like myself, you will not be disappointed. Hopefully you won’t have to wait as long as I did. In the end though, I earned it and it tasted f-ing sweet.
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