The Dark Knight

This blog will not be as lengthy as The Graduate but that doesn't mean that I didn't like this one just as much. 

Great, great movie!  I am a huge Batman fan and own all of them... including the DVD with all the old television ones.  It does demonstrate the differences throughout the history of the comic coming to television and film and the technology and creativeness that has evolved with these characters. 

Holy collection of movies, Batman!

This week's text reading was on the color, sound effect and dialogue, musical score, director's style, and acting.  This was another great movie that demonstrated all of the topics discussed in our text.

One thing that made the movie for me was the sound and the sound effects.  The musical score by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard is incredible.  I didn't know that this won the Grammy for the Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Pictures. I understand why.  Like so many other great scores like Lord of the Rings Trilogy, this score brings the film to a different level of watching.  There were some comments on how the score wasn't as good as Danny Elfman's in the Tim Burton directed Batmans, but I really liked it. 

Chris Nolan directed both films and I think is currently filming the third and last in this series.  His style from Batman Begins carries through to The Dark Knight and I am anxiously awaiting the third. I have to become better at explaining the particular styles of directors, but I do recognize the different styles between directors and the similarities of the director's movies. When watching Tim Burton films you instantly know it is his film just like Guillermo de Toro's films. I could have told you without reading who directed Hell Boy II and Pan's Labyrinth. Toro's influence and style are unmistakable.

Side note: I am not thrilled about the Spider man remake and I am not certain I will see that in the theaters, but Holy Spock, Batman - JJ Abrams is directing the Star Trek II sequel!  It isn't named yet, but I loved the first one and will be heading to the theaters to watch this one. 

Back to the text reading, the colors in The Dark Knight were rich.  This may be a poor adjective, but there was a definite feel and look to both Batman Begins and Dark Knight.  According to our text Leitmotifs in color is used in accentuating the Joker, played by Heath Ledger and is amazing and effective.  The entire film is dark. 

The major flaw that I didn't care for in the film was the casting of Maggie Gyllenhaal.  I didn't think that her performance measured up to that of Heath Ledger's or her other cast members.  She just didn't fit the Rachael Dawes for me.  I wasn't a fan of Katie Holmes either.  I am not certain why the casting change, but neither added anything to the film. 

The other flaw in the film that is more tolerable each time I watch it is Harvey Dent.  Not that his character didn't evolve but it was a bit rushed.  I didn't like his makeup or FX and liked Two-Face as Tommy Lee Jones. I think that his performance or portrayal of Two-Face was better, but that may be because we see the development of Harvey in the Dark Knight. 

And I must touch on Heath Ledger.  It was very sad that he passed away but Holy Bulls eye Batman what a performance!  He nailed the character in such a way that you don't view it as a comic but as a real life psycho that is running loose.  The lines were delivered superbly and you are mesmerized watching him.  I wish there could have be a sequel with Heath as the Joker!

I have searched my cellphones for a picture of us attending the opening of The Dark Knight, but no such luck... I was the Joker.  As you can about imagine, it wasn't a award-winning look but we had a blast through the credits before I fell asleep! Holy Headache Batman... (these Holy statements are actual statements from the original series except for the first one.)

Holy Coffin Nails... Holy Fourth of July... Holy Hailstorm... Holy Shamrock.... Holy Fly Paper Batman!